exFat External Hard, Dirty Volume

[Trying91]

Hi everyone,

I keep getting "Error 0x80071AC3: The operation could not be completed because the volume is dirty. Please run chkdsk and try again" every time I try to use my hard drive (exFat).

I tried to run "chkdsk /f", "chkdsk /r", "chkdsk /x" and "chkdsk /f /r /x". They keep running for hours at a time and never give any results.

I tried "chkexfat /x". I got "DNS server not authoritative for zone."

I got Windows 7.

Anybody can help?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hello there, @Trying91!

Do you have any important data that is not backed up stored on that external HDD? If you don't, try re-formatting the HDD through Disk Management
and see if that will fix the issue. Keep in mind that procedure erases all the contents on the drive.
I'd also advise you to check how it appears on another computer/laptop. It might also be a good idea to use the HDD manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic tool to check up on the health and SMART status, instead of chkdsk. You might also use their formatting utility to low-level format (fully erase) the external.

Afterwards attempt to format it again using the same file system (exFAT) or the Windows-specific NTFS (if you are only using it on your computer).

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting & Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD