Unreadable sections of C drive - cannot copy

[bullwinkle]

The Acronis clone procedure failed again - at the same place.  Obviously this is a major HD error.

What to do now?

P.S.  I just read up on chkdsk.  I gave the command   C:\chkdsk /r D:  should the drive come between the command and the switch?  It sounds like I put the commands in the wrong order. 

If so, it should read   C:\chkdsk D: /r  At least it seems this way from what I read on the DOS prompt when I ask for help on the chkdsk command.

[BC_Programmer]

Replace your hard drive and restore the most recent image. This is what the image files are for.

It seems doubtful you'll get anything usable off your drive as it is. It has almost certainly failed.

[bullwinkle]

I don't have any image to restore.  If I have an image file, I don't know about it.

Right now I just want to be sure that my DOS command was correct or not.  If that doesn't correct the error, I'll worry about image files then.

[BC_Programmer]

I don't have any image to restore.  If I have an image file, I don't know about it

I always keep an Acronis copy of both my C drive and data drive.  I make this copy every month.

You've been making an image every month from the sounds of this, unless I misunderstood.

Right now I just want to be sure that my DOS command was correct or not.  If that doesn't correct the error, I'll worry about image files then.

Switches and the drive specification can come in any order. However you don't want "C:\chkdsk". That tells the command interpreter you want to run chkdsk, and it can find the program in the root directory of C, which is not the case. You want to omit the C:\.

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chkdsk /r D:
You'll want to verify that the C: drive from your PC is actually D:. Forced dismount is fine if that is the case. D: may be a recovery partition on the other computer, or a Optical drive if you have not checked.

[bullwinkle]

OK, let's review...

I have been making Acronis clones for years for each of my hard drives.  Is this an image file?  To me it is simply a duplicating hard drives.  At any rate, the current clone doesn't boot so I don't have a viable image file (if that's what it is).

Regarding the DOS command, I included the C:\ because I'm duplicating what is on the screen.  I certainly didn't type this in, it's the DOS prompt.  Yes, I checked to insure that the target drive was my old C drive - it was given the D: label by the system. 

If indeed it does not matter which order the commands are in, then indeed the CHKDSK /R attempt failed to correct the read issue on the C drive and I have to turn to other options.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.  I've heard of Spinrite that might help.  Also System Mechanic - if those "speed up your PC and fix all problems" packages are any good.  Ideas?

[bullwinkle]

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!! 

Since you guys tried to help me, I thought I'd share how I solved the problem with you.

My option was to purchase Spinrite and fix the unreadable portions of the C drive.  However it seems as if this drive may be failing and Spinrite puts a lot of pressure on the drives it tests  (I remember using it once before), so I thought that it might kill the drive if the drive was beginning to fail and then I'd be up s**t's creek without a paddle.

So I thought of a softer option - defragmenting.  When I did that the only section it couldn't read was one containing my anti-virus files.  That told me that the affected data wasn't vital.

I tried to clone after that, but no go.  Then it occurred to me...at the 3% mark where it sticks, it asks Retry, Ignore, or Ignore All.  The Retry and All options paralyze the system.  But when I hit Ignore, it continues to the next problematic sector.  So why not ignore every one?  So I hit the "I" key about a million times and went to dinner.  When I came back the drive had cloned!  I'm running the cloned drive as I type this.

Now I'm going to buy a drive exactly like the cloned one and use that as my new clone.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Thanks for trying to help me.  BTW, do I need that ISO file thing to boot from a CD?  Would that be helpful in the future?