Question CHDSK Unexpteced Errors - SSD broken?

[Lumberjack88]

I wanted to power up my PC yesterday and noticed that the password screen froze. Once I restarted it, the BIOS screen informed me that the G Drive (SSD) needed to be repaired, but about 4-5 minutes later, Windows 11 (latest version) started. I did notice that the file system felt quite a bit slower than it did before this weird occurence. Dragging files from one desktop folder to another takes a minutes, whereas before it took a second. The "installed applications" system window doesn't list any applications and the G drive is shown as present, but there's no space information bar and no drive name.

Thinking that this faulty G drive is behind all this, I ran the chkdsk G: /f /r /x in an administrator command prompt. Then two "unspecified errors" occured and the repair thus failed. The task manager performance window displays active time for this disk G at a permanent 100% even though I can't access it at all via the file explorer. Does this mean that this SSD is unusable?

Since I have a system restore point from a few days back, I tried to use it, but now, for the last 4 hours or so, the screen is stuck at "system restore is initializing". Even though the circle is moving, the message remained the same for quite a while.

I thought about cancelling the restore process and restarting the system, but I'm afraid that this will only lead to bigger problems. I could try to use a bootable windows 11 USB and run disk repair commands from there, or even a new Windows 11 install that leaves most of the data on C intact (not sure if that's even an option).

What do you guys recommend?

My C drive is an SN850x with 2TB (of which only 300GB were left free) and the data G drive is a Samsung 870 QVO 2TB (about 200 GB of free space). The CPU is an AMD 5950x.

 

[CountMike]

I wanted to power up my PC yesterday and noticed that the password screen froze. Once I restarted it, the BIOS screen informed me that the G Drive (SSD) needed to be repaired, but about 4-5 minutes later, Windows 11 (latest version) started. I did notice that the file system felt quite a bit slower than it did before this weird occurence. Dragging files from one desktop folder to another takes a minutes, whereas before it took a second. The "installed applications" system window doesn't list any applications and the G drive is shown as present, but there's no space information bar and no drive name.

Thinking that this faulty G drive is behind all this, I ran the chkdsk G: /f /r /x in an administrator command prompt. Then two "unspecified errors" occured and the repair thus failed. The task manager performance window displays active time for this disk G at a permanent 100% even though I can't access it at all via the file explorer. Does this mean that this SSD is unusable?

Since I have a system restore point from a few days back, I tried to use it, but now, for the last 4 hours or so, the screen is stuck at "system restore is initializing". Even though the circle is moving, the message remained the same for quite a while.

I thought about cancelling the restore process and restarting the system, but I'm afraid that this will only lead to bigger problems. I could try to use a bootable windows 11 USB and run disk repair commands from there, or even a new Windows 11 install that leaves most of the data on C intact (not sure if that's even an option).

What do you guys recommend?

My C drive is an SN850x with 2TB (of which only 300GB were left free) and the data G drive is a Samsung 870 QVO 2TB (about 200 GB of free space). The CPU is an AMD 5950x.

That checks only file system, not hardware. Use a program like Crystal disk info and look at SMART table

CrystalDiskInfo

About CrystalDiskInfo A HDD/SSD utility software which supports a part of USB, Intel RAID and NVMe. Aoi Edition Standard Edition Shizuku Edition Kurei Kei Edition Download System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64...

crystalmark.info

 

[Ralston18]

Two comments:

1) Is all important data backed up to other locations away from the system and drives in question?

2) Both drives are very full. That can be problematic. Have there been any disk cleanups to free up space?

I limit my drives to 70-80% of capacity. That is just me....

 

[Lumberjack88]

That checks only file system, not hardware. Use a program like Crystal disk info and look at SMART table

CrystalDiskInfo

About CrystalDiskInfo A HDD/SSD utility software which supports a part of USB, Intel RAID and NVMe. Aoi Edition Standard Edition Shizuku Edition Kurei Kei Edition Download System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64...

crystalmark.info

Thanks for the recommendation! I tried this application, but the "faulty" G drive doesn't show up. Interestingly enough, the C drive is labeled as "good", even though removing applications or navigating the file explorer is extremely slow.

It's not like the system can't really see it, it's there, but in this weird way...

Two comments:

1) Is all important data backed up to other locations away from the system and drives in question?

2) Both drives are very full. That can be problematic. Have there been any disk cleanups to free up space?

I limit my drives to 70-80% of capacity. That is just me....

1) No, a lot of important data is still on C, along with many important applications and audio plugins.

2) I tried some cleanups, but the best I can do is about 400 GB of free space on C.

I always read that 10% with modern NVME SSDs should suffice, after all, most of the manufacturers already implement an inaccessible portion of the SSD that should ease the strain on the SSD.

 

[CountMike]

Thanks for the recommendation! I tried this application, but the "faulty" G drive doesn't show up. Interestingly enough, the C drive is labeled as "good", even though removing applications or navigating the file explorer is extremely slow.

It's not like the system can't really see it, it's there, but in this weird way...

1) No, a lot of important data is still on C, along with many important applications and audio plugins.

2) I tried some cleanups, but the best I can do is about 400 GB of free space on C.

I always read that 10% with modern NVME SSDs should suffice, after all, most of the manufacturers already implement an inaccessible portion of the SSD that should ease the strain on the SSD.

If any drive is faulty or problematic, windows will also have problems because it's constantly checking all drives. If you disconnect G, system should return to normal operation.
According to those pictures, only G: disk controller is visible but not data on it-
1. Run Disk management, is and how is G seen there ?
2. Run Device manager>Disk drives>Properties(of G)> Volume> Populate.

 

[Lumberjack88]

If any drive is faulty or problematic, windows will also have problems because it's constantly checking all drives. If you disconnect G, system should return to normal operation.
According to those pictures, only G: disk controller is visible but not data on it-
1. Run Disk management, is and how is G seen there ?
2. Run Device manager>Disk drives>Properties(of G)> Volume> Populate.

Disk Management seems to be stuck in a loop once I open it. It tells me that it's loading the drive information, but meanwhile, there's zero information visible except that little info in the bottom left.

I can't run the device manager right now as I'm currently booting via USB windows 11 stick to check the C drive for any faults and possibly also check the G drive while I'm at it.

The windows setup also takes extremely long, not even the language screen has appeared, only the blue circle and a white windows 11 setup window with a purple backdrop. Is it impossible to start the setup/command promp via USB stick if a faulty drive is in the background?

I assume the G drive is ultimately the culprit here. Disconnecting it fully would not really solve the issue, as I'd like to repair the drive if at all possible.

 

[CountMike]

Disk Management seems to be stuck in a loop once I open it. It tells me that it's loading the drive information, but meanwhile, there's zero information visible except that little info in the bottom left.

I can't run the device manager right now as I'm currently booting via USB windows 11 stick to check the C drive for any faults and possibly also check the G drive while I'm at it.

The windows setup also takes extremely long, not even the language screen has appeared, only the blue circle and a white windows 11 setup window with a purple backdrop. Is it impossible to start the setup/command promp via USB stick if a faulty drive is in the background?

I assume the G drive is ultimately the culprit here. Disconnecting it fully would not really solve the issue, as I'd like to repair the drive if at all possible.

Disconnect it just temporarily to see if everything else is normal.
You could also make a bootable, portable Linux on USB nut I suspect file system or software is not the problem but hardware in it. It's difficult to salvage files from SSDs even in best state, let alone when faulty. In any case avoid any writing to that disk before you run out of options.
Depending how valuable data on it is, suggest you take it to professional data salvage to make backup. More you try now, less chance to restore data.

 

[Ralston18]

@Lumberjack88

B: drive?

Did you letter that drive?

https://umatechnology.org/why-are-the-a-b-drives-not-used-by-windows/