Thanks for the help. It is the same problem. I was able to mirror the drive last time. At least it said it worked. I did not try to use the mirrored information or ever try to do a recovery set point.

This is the first time I tried that and it has failed.

I did the chkdsk of my internal drive and it did find trouble, but it ran at boot up and the good information didn't remain on the screen long enough for me to read it. Is there a log file some place I could locate?

Anyway, I attached the partInfo.txt file (I hope)

partInfo.txt (20 kb)

Hi RodFranklin,

When you said at the beginning it is the same problem, does that mean you attempted another image backup after running chkdsk and it still does not work? You can check the Application events and try to find an entry something like 'wininit' and see what it has but I believe this event is pretty cryptic to understand. Event viewer can be run by typing "event" in the start menu search box and then click on Application events.

I would say try to run chkdsk one more time and see if it reports any further errors. You might be able to get the screen to pause long enough to read it by hitting Shift+Pause on your keyboard.

I looked through the partinfo.txt (thanks) and don't see any problems there.

If you search on the error code "EAB03F1" in the Search box at the top of this thread, which you referenced above you will find lots of hits on this error code. All indications are that the hard disk (C drive) is the issue.

You could try uninstalling Ghost and reinstalling and see if that helps, I suspect it won't in this case but it would not hurt to try it. You can also use what is called the Norton Removal Tool to ensure that everything is cleaned out properly prior to reinstalling. If you want to use this removal tool please be aware that it uninstalls ALL Symantec products so you will not only need to reinstall Ghost but any other Symantec products you may have. You can find more information on this at the following:

 http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&ssfromlink=true&sprt_cid=1a13409b-29db-4397-a286-9dec49f8e252&seg=hho&ct=us&lg=en&docurl=20080828154508EN

If definitely would not hurt to try these methods and see if it helps. In fact I suggest that you do to make sure.

Beyond that I would like to see what happens if you follow the suggestion in my earlier post above which you can link to at:

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&message.id=15357#M15357

I would also suggest that you check the manufacturer web site for your internal drive and see if they have a more in depth diagnostic tool to check out this drive (C drive). You should check with their technical support if you have trouble locating such a tool on their web site.

Also, what Anti Virus program do you have? Please try disabling your AV and Firewall and do another test. However, before disabling these important components please disconnect yourself from the internet, e.g., remove your Ethernet cable during the test.

Thanks

Allen

Hi! RodFranklin,

I have read the new information in this post and have reviewed your previous problem as well.  I would like to know what is in the event logs from your disk check.  The path should be similar to Start>Right click Computer>Manage>Event Viewer>Application. Select View>Filter>Event Source drop down>Chkdsk or Winlogon.  The listed events should be the scheduled system startup disk check logs. I would also recommend downloading and running the Western Digital Diagnostics tool from here. You will need to select your drive type and model before downloading the tool.  The Windows version will work fine for the external drive but you will need the non-Windows version for the internal drive.  We need to determine if either of the drives are suffering from mechanical failure or not.  Do you have laptop or a desktop?  This will determine the next step.

I'm back. Thanks for the help.

I couldn't locate any kind of log for the chkdsk. 

I did try to create a restore point after running chkdsk and it did fail with the original error.

I ran the WD diagnostics extended test. It did find bad sectors. 

I no longer have my internal drive backed up. There is no mirror or completed restore point on my external drive.

The diagnostic is halted at a point where I have chosen to allow it to try to fix the bad sectors, but it has stated that all data in those areas will be lost and I must confirm this is OK before I can continue.

The computer sits, awaiting your next kind and expert instruction.

Hi RodFranklin,

Under the cirmumstances I highly recommend that you follow my above advise and configure Ghost to ignore bad sectors. This should allow it to complete the backup. Have you tried this?

If this works you should get this drive replaced ASAP. It is very possible this drive could be heading toward a complete failure.

If this still does not work (using ignore bad sectors) then I would suggest that you purchase another internal drive and go ahead and try to perform a Copy Disk as you had done before. After that we can help you to get this new drive bootable so you can successfully run Windows from the replacement drive.

Again, the ideal is to use "Ignore Bad Sectors" and see if the backup will complete.

Allen

I did the ignore bad sectors thing and created a backup image without error.

Should I allow the WD program attempt to fix the bad sectors?

It promised I would loose all data in these sectors. Is this really gonna matter? I mean, have any of my applications actually been using these bad sectors? Doesn't the operating system know where these bad sectors are and prevent their use? Don't all apps, or at least the operating system just as a matter of course do checks to make sure reads and writes to the drive are accurate? 

Anyway, this laptop is from PC Laptops and I have one of those lifetime parts replacement guarantees. So, into the shop tomorrow... again.

Thanks Allen, Tech83 and Brian.

---

RodFranklin wrote:

I did the ignore bad sectors thing and created a backup image without error.

 

Should I allow the WD program attempt to fix the bad sectors?

 

It promised I would loose all data in these sectors. Is this really gonna matter? I mean, have any of my applications actually been using these bad sectors? Doesn't the operating system know where these bad sectors are and prevent their use? Don't all apps, or at least the operating system just as a matter of course do checks to make sure reads and writes to the drive are accurate? 

 

Anyway, this laptop is from PC Laptops and I have one of those lifetime parts replacement guarantees. So, into the shop tomorrow... again.

 

Thanks Allen, Tech83 and Brian.

---

Hi RodFranklin,

Good, we have progress now. It would seem that since you are obviously still able to boot Windows and go about your daily activities that the errors are "probably" in a non-critical area of the drive. E.g., not affecting core system files, etc. And yes these things are monitored by the OS and once a sector is determined to be bad it will get marked as such at some point to prevent its further use. This does not however mean that sectors containing data won't go bad and prevent that data from being accessed.

By default Ghost will abort the backup (for your protection) if bad sectors are encountered. Because of the unique circumstances I recommended that you have it ignore bad sectors so that you could complete the backup.

At this point it is your choice. You could:

1) Attempt to repair the bad sectors using the tool you downloaded from the Manufacturers web site. If this is successful you should keep a very close eye on this drive for further problems. If any further problems are seen you absolutely should replace the drive. Perform another backup after the repair as a NEW recovery point, not incremental. To be sure that all the sector errors are gone, please uncheck the "Ignore Bad Sectors" option. This will ensure that Ghost is able to complete the backup, thereby indicating it sees no further errors on the drive.

2) Replace the drive anyway - this is probably the best choice if it is under warranty. However you may wish to first attempt to repair the drive and then perform a fresh backup. The reason I recommend this is because the backup you just performed has copied everything from the C drive including the bad data. If you are going to replace the drive, better that you get a fresh backup after repairing it. And then get the drive replaced.

Please mark the relevant post which you believe contained the solution by clicking on the green Solution button that only you can see. This will allow others to know the problem is solved and quickly get to the solution when they search the forums.

Thanks

Allen

Hi RodFranklin,

A follow on. Below I give you the procedure to properly restore the system drive if/when you do replace it with a new drive. Be sure to follow the recommendations in my previous post before getting this drive replaced.

Boot to the Symantec Recovery CD (SRD) and select "Recover my Computer" and then select the appropriate image to restore. Note that you need to select "Filename" from the drop down menu and NOT "Date". If you select "Date" the options below will not be presented. When you select FileName your recovery points will probably not be visible so simply hit "Browse" and browse to your recovery point file and select the appropriate image. Then select the target space (on your new HD) to restore your image to and click "Next". Note that if the target space on your new HD is of a different size than your original OS partition you need to make sure that this space is left "unallocated" and not formatted or partitioned.

Check the following options:

Verify recovery point before restore
Check for file system errors after recovery
Resize restored drive - use this option if your new OS partition will be of a different size than the original.
Partition type - primary.
Set drive active for booting
Restore original disk signature
Restore MBR

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please mark the relevant post which you believe contained the solution by clicking on the green Solution button that only you can see. This will allow others to know the problem is solved and quickly get to the solution when they search the forums.

I think you will be happy with Ghost once you get your new drive.

Allen

Thanks Allen. Gotta leave right now but tomorrow I'll try to pick the one post out of all the great answers I received to be the solution.

Thanks for all the help