How long should Startup Repair take?

[Giminiman]

I have a Windows 7 acer laptop. I have never noticed it doing anything unusual until yesterday.

It wouldn't start up in safe mode(it would stop while loading a driver then never finish)

I attempted Startup Repair upon being told to do so.

It has been running for 16 hours.

Sorry if I'm being vague, I can provide details if needed.

Thanks.

 

[WyomingKnott]

That's too long. What messages did you see? Are they coming out like ten minutes apart, or did it get to a certain point and freeze? If so, what were the last messages that you saw?

 

[Giminiman]

That's too long. What messages did you see? Are they coming out like ten minutes apart, or did it get to a certain point and freeze? If so, what were the last messages that you saw?

The Startup Repair? "Just"Attempting disk repair This might take over an hour to complete"

 

[WyomingKnott]

Oh, disk repair - I thought you were doing a repair installation. First guess is that your disk is hosed.

 

[Giminiman]

Oh, disk repair - I thought you were doing a repair installation. First guess is that your disk is hosed.

Thought so. Should I stop the repair;what is your advice from here?

 

[WyomingKnott]

That depends on whether or not you have backups, I am afraid. Do you? Do you have another machine available? I'd like to check the drive to see if it's bad or if there's some other, less obvious issue.

 

[Giminiman]

That depends on whether or not you have backups, I am afraid. Do you? Do you have another machine available? I'd like to check the drive to see if it's bad or if there's some other, less obvious issue.

I have backups of everything absolutely important, but there is alot of stuff I wouldn't want to lose.

I have a Lenovo which I can use for whatever you need me to do.

What do you want me to do with it?

 

[WyomingKnott]

What I would do in a case like this is try to check the disk while not trying to run from it. Either (or both)
1) Boot the machine from a boot CD like PartedMagic or Hiren's and attempt diagnostics
2) Take the drive out of the current machine and attach it to the motherboard controller on a different (tower) machine.

Hey, other storage experts, weigh in here!