Question Window install stuck at disk check Stage 1

[huynhat]

Hello everyone,
I really need help here.
After installed clean and new Window 10 from USB boot, the installer went smooth and pc reboot.
However, upon reboot, pc got into disk checking "Fixing \(F:\) Stage 1: 14% ..." for 3 hour already.
Tried install again, still same result.

Please does anyone know what is happening?

(Updated) Specs:
CPU: i7 8700
RAM: 24Gb RAM
GPU: 1060 6Gb
Storage:
BRAND NEW installed (as tagged) 2x 500Gb Kingston NVMe SSD
1x 256Gb Patriot E:\ SATA SSD (run programs)
1x 120Gb Kingston C:\ SATA SSD (old Window, also can't boot can't repair)
1x 1TB Toshiba B:\ HDD (data)

No other devices connected except monitor, lan, mouse and keyboard.

 

[alceryes]

So I took the risk Beside it's quite hard to do wrong with 2 unallocated drive.
Pic of when choose drive to install.

Perfect.
That's exactly what you want to see on a fresh Windows install - no partitions just unallocated space.

 

[huynhat]

I fished around for i7-8700 downloads at Intel and found only the following. 2 things for graphics and a couple of other things you shouldn't need.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...essor-12m-cache-up-to-4-60-ghz/downloads.html

I wouldn't get excited about the chipset driver at this point. Maybe Windows supplies all that's needed or maybe someone else can comment.

Yeah I don't see it either.
Pic of 8700 driver list

I have a CPU a couple of generations older than yours and did use the chipset driver on my install, but as I said I don't think it's a necessity.

Would you like to share what CPU that is? And how you feel about its performance?
I would like to know

Get lined out on activation, proper basic functionality...boot OK repeatedly, no obvious issues, seems as fast as you'd expect, etc.

twin Display: checked
external Spearker, Youtube, music: checked

Normal usage smoothness is not much different from SATA SSD
But it's a Speed Devil when it comes to installing. Holy Hell such speed.

Pic of CMD confirmation of Window activation.
However, I don't remember if this digital key is attached to the MS account or the PC's mainboard. That might be an issue, later perhaps.

 

[Lafong]

All looks OK to me.

Yeah, you can't expect to notice much difference between drives when you're not really demanding much of the disk. But it can show up on stuff like virus scans, large file copies/moves/backups, loading 20,000 files into a jpeg dupe detector or something like that.

Benchmark it for a few laughs.

Your Product Key should be on Windows activation servers and you shouldn't have to worry about it in the future, but keep it on hand regardless.

I've got an Intel i5-6600K, built in 2016. 8 gb of RAM, 2 SSDs and 1 internal spinner. Asrock micro ATX board. No video card; no gaming; no overclock. Nothing fancy; standard home user. Browsing, Word, Excel, mp3 manicuring, video playback, etc. The only changes I've made since I built it was to change to an Intel 660p NVMe 2 TB data drive. I did upgrade from Win 10 Home to Win 10 Pro a few weeks ago.....only because I was bored and had an itch to upgrade something. Did me absolutely no good other than to relieve the itch, but I knew that before I hit the buy button.

 

[huynhat]

Think about Windows Update. You can delay it for I think 35 days if you want. Otherwise, if you even look at Update, I think it's going to start downloading a bunch of stuff that may be a distraction for you at this point. So maybe check it tomorrow?

Already done an hour ago
Pic all updates
Pic optional update
Pic of up-to-date
As I said, Speed Devil of installing

Got Windows antivirus going?

Ready to Rock n' rolll

Browser up and running OK? Bookmarks gone forever or not saved?

Both main browsers Chrome and Edge now fit for a fight;
Synced using MS and Google account; thus re-acquired all bookmarks and extensions.

Email rocking?

Done 2FA, worthy again.

Run a benchmark or 2 on the new drive to be sure it's as hoped for?

Pic of benchmark current Window drive
Drive 1: fully satisfied
Drive 2: me lazy UwU

 

[huynhat]

Perfect.
That's exactly what you want to see on a fresh Windows install - no partitions just unallocated space.

Eyes' candy, isn't it well, minus the potato camera quality.

 

[Lafong]

Looks good all around.

Device Manager unremarkable?

Thinking about system backup?

Are you now fully inoculated against upgrade itch?

 

[huynhat]

Looks good all around.

Yayy

Device Manager unremarkable?

Normal as usual.
but err ... I though that should be check when I re-connect drives and devices one by one?
Like it's not something you checked one and pc good.

Thinking about system backup?

Teach me senpai. Me want your experience. UwU

Are you now fully inoculated against upgrade itch?

Aight, these upgrades ain't nothin'
Also me:

@huynhat crying HALPP on Tom's Hardware Forum hour ago

 

[Lafong]

Check Device Manager whenever you care to. I generally look at it after any major change....several times a year regardless. I rarely see anything of significance. Sometimes a yellow bang will be easily solved and quite often they can be ignored without consequences, but I'm just obsessive enough that I get antsy if I see one.

System Backup:

Do you keep any personal data on your boot drive? Or is it strictly on some other drive? My boot drive is for OS and applications ONLY. Data elsewhere.

General idea is to make a system image of ALL partitions on your boot drive periodically. I do that monthly. I keep the 2 most recent months images and delete the oldest every time I make a new one.

So right now, I have an image file made in early November and another made a few days ago.

In probably 20 minutes, I could restore my boot drive to its state as of that November date or as of that December date. I might do that because of a total drive failure or I might do that because of a major software foul up or because of any significant problem I can't fix pretty quickly.

I've only had to restore perhaps 6 or 8 times in the last 10 years.

The purpose is to save you the time required to fully reinstall Windows and all applications and configure them properly. You spend 20 minutes rather than X hours.

I could also make an image of my data drives to back up pictures, video, mp3s, etc, but I don't........because I back up data through other means (a dedicated file backup program). Imaging is a complication that I don't want to get between me and my data backups. I can always reinstall Windows and apps in a bad situation in a certain number of hours if imaging fails me, but I'd be totally out of luck if I couldn't access my personal file backups because of some imaging problem (corruption, failure to acknowledge the image file, whatever).

My image files are about 25 GB in size; about half the size of occupied space on my C drive.

Several apps can do this. I use Macrium Reflect Free Edition. I've never had it fail me and I'd guess success rate is probably 98 or 99%.

 

[huynhat]

Hi again @alceryes , and @Lafong, I now move to re-connect drives.
How to know if that drive .. err .. working properly?

 

[Lafong]

Hi again @alceryes , and @Lafong, I now move to re-connect drives.
How to know if that drive .. err .. working properly?

Either you can access it and the files on it or you cannot.

I assume these drives have data on them already and were thought to be in good working order before you did the new install?

Shut down, connect the cabling to the drive, and restart.

Can you see it in File Explorer?

Is it visible in Disk Management without any obvious anomalies? Expected partitions are seen?

 

[huynhat]

Ah @Lafong, @alceryes I see it already. First Window told me to restart to repair disk.
I said Nope, do manual repair. Result:
Pic of CMD repair disk
The godforsaken old Window boot drive decided it doesn't like being called C:\ change drive letter.
Folders contain data inside also make Window explicitly say Folder corrupted and unreadable. RIP Data.

But hey, I need to sleep, it's 1 AM. Now I have a long day of work tomorrow.
It would be very kind of you guys to post tips of how to recover data. Can your Macrium Reflect do that, dear Lafong?

Once again, or if I have not; Thank you very very much @alceryes and @Lafong.
You guys saved my day.
Gtg, see ya tomorrow.

 

[Lafong]

All of your personal data was on your old Windows boot drive and nowhere else?

 

[huynhat]

All of your personal data was on your old Windows boot drive and nowhere else?

Well, no. The most important data is either on cloud and in the other 2nd SSD, which is safe, for now.
Boot drive contains recent games' saves and some personal (pretty much the least important but I do prefer not to lose any)

 

[Lafong]

No. Macrium cannot recover data in any sense unless you had previously made an image.

Data recovery is a b word.

Presumably the drive is not physically damaged.

There are "partitions" and then there are "files" within the "partitions".

It's one thing to have lost a partition and another thing to have lost files. If the partition is recoverable, the files may be there in plain sight, easily recovered. If the files themselves are fouled, you may be up the proverbial creek.

I'm not qualified.

Below is a paste from a doc I have, captured 2 years ago. Not my writing, but the advice of someone I knew was pretty savvy.

Use it at your own risk:


For many users who came with data recovery requests, we first try freeware TestDisk. In cases where TestDisk finds the MFT corrupt but unable to repair it, we have as a last resort recommended Active @ File Recovery and Getdataback. They both work in the same way, are the best in class and safe to use since they only scan the drive and don't write anything to the disk. Many users have used it and were able to recover the data successfully.

Active @file Recovery USD 29.95 Find & Restore Lost Files: Undelete deleted files and recover damaged disks

Getdataback USD79 Data Recovery Software Products - Runtime Software Products

You can download and run the Demo versions. After scanning the drive the folders and files are shown Windows explorer style. You can preview/open/play each and every file and check the integrity.. If you are happy you can buy the license to copy the files.

Recommended.

For undeleting deleted files one can first try the freeware TestDisk. TestDisk: undelete file for FAT - CGSecurity
( Do not get mislead by the title. TestDisk can "Undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2 filesystem")

 

[alceryes]

Test Disk sometimes works well. You'll specify the source (bad) drive and then the target (good) drive and the program will try and recover any media-type files it can find and just dumps them on the good disk. Make sure the good disk has a LOT of free space.
You could also try the freezer method. I have recovered client data using the freezer method previously. Note: watch out for condensation as the drive warms up. you don't want that dripping onto anything inside the computer. https://unix.stackexchange.com/ques...a-from-a-damaged-hard-drive-the-freezer-trick

If the data is super important you could try professional data recovery methods. They will probably run you over $1000 though. If you want to go this route PM me. I can recommend a good one.