Question DiskGenius shows damaged ESP partition

graveller39

Reputable
Jun 30, 2019
28
0
4,530
Not sure if I've got the right forum location, but didn't know where else to post this.

I recently ran RiskGenius on my PC and it shows I have a damaged ESP partition. I can still boot from it, but it often freezes before the windows logo screen and I have to try again - it'll then boot fine the 2nd try.

The only message DiskGenius is giving me is "Warn: The number of sectors in DBR less than actual value" in the Partition Table Problem Report. Is it typically advisable to simply click the 'Correct' button to fix this? I'll backup the partition first of course.

And yes, I'm still running Windows 7 Pro.

Any advice would be most welcome.
 

graveller39

Reputable
Jun 30, 2019
28
0
4,530
The only data on the drive (its a Samsung SSD 870EVO) is the Operating System - everything else is on a separate HDD. I just finished a partition backup of the C drive with DiskGenius.
 
The partition table "issue" is something else. It sounds more like the drive is affected by bad blocks.

See this thread:

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=42876

Can you retrieve a SMART report with CrystalDiskInfo or GSmartControl?

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gsmartcontrol/

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/

Do you have a Gigabyte or Asus motherboard with Xpress Recovery BIOS? The BIOS in these boards grabs about 2000 sectors from the end of the boot drive to store a backup copy of itself.
 
Your SMART report is telling you that your drive has begun to degrade (attributes 3, 183, 187, 195). I believe that's the most likely cause of your stability problems.

I see nothing wrong with your partitions, but then I don't understand what "DBR" is. However, half the user area is unallocated, but I expect you know that.

Edit:

DMDE's Indicators column has highlighted the "E" indicator for the NTFS partition. That does suggest an issue with partition metadata. To see the details, you would need to examine sectors 0, 1, 2, and 205824. That said, I don't think this will address your real problem.
 
Last edited:

graveller39

Reputable
Jun 30, 2019
28
0
4,530
Yes, I've just never got around to expanding the partition - it was migrated from a 250GB drive.

So even though the drive is only 6 months old, should I be looking at a new one? Any recommendations? I always thought Samsung was supposed to have the best SSDs.
 
Yes, I've just never got around to expanding the partition - it was migrated from a 250GB drive.

So even though the drive is only 6 months old, should I be looking at a new one? Any recommendations? I always thought Samsung was supposed to have the best SSDs.

The cloning process may be the root cause of the partition anomaly. The partition metadata probably reflect the size of the original source drive rather than the target.

You could try to refresh each sector with a tool such as DiskFresh. However, I wouldn't trust your model with my data.

http://www.puransoftware.com/DiskFresh.html
 

graveller39

Reputable
Jun 30, 2019
28
0
4,530
So I'll be looking for a new drive before long - and RMAing the Samsung for what its worth.

One question about the SMART data - which column is indicating status of my drive? Norm-ed, Worst, or Raw?