# will using ntfsfix cause files to erase on windows hard disk?



## needhelpwindows (Sep 23, 2011)

i think the filesystem messed up in windows and i cant get in and dont have a windows cd. does ntfsfix on an ubuntu live cd have a chance to corrupt files like chkdsk or is it safe? also i have a pata hard drive and ubuntu smart status says failure is imminent and bad sectors. could it be wrong? that warning happened after days saving files to ext disk. some files said inputoutput error.


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## hal8000 (Dec 23, 2006)

needhelpwindows said:


> i think the filesystem messed up in windows and i cant get in and dont have a windows cd. does ntfsfix on an ubuntu live cd have a chance to corrupt files like chkdsk or is it safe? also i have a pata hard drive and ubuntu smart status says failure is imminent and bad sectors. could it be wrong? that warning happened after days saving files to ext disk. some files said inputoutput error.


You may find that if you have a bootable windows CD chkdsk may not run.
Ntfsfix on linux resets the NTFS journal file and schedules an NTFS consistency check.

After running:

ntfsfix /dev/sda1

(replace sda1 with your windows partition)
Reboot into Windows., it will then run scandisk.

Linux wont destroy your data but anything windows cant read may be overwritten, for this reason, I would strongly recommend backing up anything critical from linux.
To do this, boot from Ubuntu live CD, mount your windows partition and
copy any valuable data to a memory stick or external hard drive; its that easy.

The smart status reads the smart information from the hard drive. This will
not be wrong, but you don't know how long until the drive fails.... again buy a new hard drive and backup your data before the inevitable happens.


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## needhelpwindows (Sep 23, 2011)

i ran ntfsfix and it said it was successful and i restarted and went to windows xp but it said a file called hal.dll was missing or broken, i cant remember which. i pressed enter and it restarted and i pressed windows again but it stayed at a black screen. is my only option to buy a drive and install linux 11.04? i was going to ask if it's safe to clone windows, bad idea now.


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## needhelpwindows (Sep 23, 2011)

sorry to split posts. my phone wont allow many characters. id like to be able to browse with ubuntu 11.04 live cd, but firefox keeps closing. is something wrong with the cd? i can't get into addons to disable any included things like flash because it closes when i try. i ordered the disk on amazon from zareason.


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## hal8000 (Dec 23, 2006)

You have more than one problem on your XP installation.
The ntfsfix may have allowed scandisk to run but hal.dll is missing, moved or altered in your installation. This is not important as you can still recover all of your data from a live linux session.
It's not a good idea to clone that system, you will only clone a broken system.

Firefox should run ok from a live CD but does not include any plugins like flash.
These can be installed from synaptic (search for flashplugin). You should not need flash for TechSupportForum.


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