Question Random CHKDSK taking a really long time

[IamTyphoon]

I turned my PC on yesterday and left the room, when I came back it prompted me to hit a key to cancel Chkdsk, I was too late and it already started doing it's thing.

It has been about 14 hours now and it is only at 18% progress with an ETA of 65 hours and increasing. I haven't really had problems with the hard drive, it is 5 years old but the worse thing that happens is Windows Explorer is a bit slow, and to fix this I sign out and sign back in (Could this have caused Chkdsk?)

With the current speed it should finish in 10 days. I have bought a new HDD to clone the data on to, but with the way this is going I don't know if I'll have a chance.

I am contemplating shutting the PC down but I don't wanna lose important data, but I don't know how long this will take, it could take weeks but I need this for university work.

Help guys, please.

 

[fzabkar]

CHKDSK should not be allowed to "repair" a sick HDD. Yours appears to have serious internal problems, so the best DIY approach would be to clone it with HDDSuperClone or ddrescue and then run data recovery software against the clone.

 

[mdd1963]

Once a spinning drive starts to go south, there is often no magic 'chkdisk' that will help...

In fact, if chkdisk is taking forever, I'd expect a clone attempt to as well.

I'd jot down what files you actually need, and, assuming it boots again, concentrate on extricating what files you really need elsewhere just in case your time is limited (which occurs often with failing spinning drives)

 

[fzabkar]

In fact, if chkdisk is taking forever, I'd expect a clone attempt to as well.

Those two tools I mentioned will skip over bad areas of the disc. HDDSuperClone in particular attempts to avoid a bad head, leaving it until last. HDDSuperClone will also execute a firmware repair for certain WD models that are exhibiting a "slow responding" problem.