SFC on second hard drive?
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Thread: SFC on second hard drive?

  1. #1
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    SFC on second hard drive?

    Is it possible to run a SFC /Scannow on a damaged hard drive that was installed as a second hard drive in another working XP machine? I have a damaged hard drive that I installed into another machine and I would like to try and repair it. Can I just go to a command prompt and type "drive_letter":\sfc /scannow where "drive_letter" is the damaged drive?

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    Almost positive it won't work...What's the story behind the bad drive? Error messages etc....Have you run the drive maker's tools on it?
    If you're happy and you know it......it's your meds.

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    I'm actually running it right now. It allowed me to change drives and it is doing a scan right now. I will post with the results tomorrow.

    The damaged hard drive would try to boot but run a scan disk instead and stop at 67%. It would never complete. If this doesn't work I will run Data Lifeguard. I guess I should have done that first.

    I was able to see the damaged drive installed as a slave in the good machine and save files so all is not lost. When I tried to delete files I got an error saying something about the recycle bin being damaged.

    I just wasn't sure if I could run sfc on a slaved hard drive. We'll see what happens.

  4. #4
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    It's Alive!

    SFC worked and booted up fine when put in the damaged computer. I don't know how long it will last but at least it gives me time to save data. Nice to know things work out once in a while.

  5. #5
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    Offline SFC Check

    SFC does support scanning an offline installation. Simply run the command with administrative privileges like this:

    c:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=x:\windows /offbootdir=x:\



    Quote Originally Posted by jpw2ch View Post
    Is it possible to run a SFC /Scannow on a damaged hard drive that was installed as a second hard drive in another working XP machine? I have a damaged hard drive that I installed into another machine and I would like to try and repair it. Can I just go to a command prompt and type "drive_letter":\sfc /scannow where "drive_letter" is the damaged drive?

  6. #6
    photolady's Avatar
    photolady is offline Lifetime Friend of Site Staff
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    corysober you do realize this thread is 8 years old. I doubt the person needs anymore help. Please pay attention to thread dates before posting anything again.

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    Does it matter? While this person may not need help, others might. I mean, after all...I found it during my time of need. Don't be lame. We're here to get help.

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    photolady's Avatar
    photolady is offline Lifetime Friend of Site Staff
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    Well, it matters because the original poster and the person who answered him will get an email each time someone posts.
    I didn't close it, which as a vdr moderator, I have that option, but I left it open in case it might help someone else.

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    May help me with this one reimaged partition on this one new box...installation media repair option gives on second run "system file integrity check" failure, error=676670 - never seen that before - but drive size is different and it is possible that sector location differs also; not certain as box from which image came unavailable permanently. might be a partion table thing, or just as repair from media claims, a system file...

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    email

    Quote Originally Posted by photolady View Post
    Well, it matters because the original poster and the person who answered him will get an email each time someone posts.
    I didn't close it, which as a vdr moderator, I have that option, but I left it open in case it might help someone else.
    Only if they chose to have notifications and perhaps they are not irritated by them as you would appear to be. As for the answer posted I found it very helpful and saved me a lot of headache and head pounding.

  11. #11
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    Thank You

    Quote Originally Posted by corysober View Post
    SFC does support scanning an offline installation. Simply run the command with administrative privileges like this:

    c:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=x:\windows /offbootdir=x:\
    Thank you for this post, helped a very large amount

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by don544 View Post
    Thank you for this post, helped a very large amount
    was helpful here also in win 7...managed to complete repairs. reimage on win 7 then booted but hung...apparently win 7 unlike the 8.* versions just WILL NOT properly instal drivers for all hardware system needs or will hang up upon encountering on boot. (Blew as the flying colored orbs appeared).

    reinstalled win 7 os on reimaged partition, relocated relevant application and user files from windows.old, cleaned up old os from reimaged partition. had to reinstall a couple of apps - office, several browsers - but otherwise, working now as planned.

    also manually installed drivers for monitor and for nic.

    it's fine, now.

    learning of cli command(s) <I found others> for running system tools 'off line' helped A LOT.

    NOTE: this underscored for me how much improved the interface is, hardware <-> OS, in win 8.1 Spring 2014 and the more recent versions of windows as well. I find the Win 10 Technical Preview especially great, for low resource use, fast boot, stabile performance, ease of navigation, and general support for all my hardware and software. CAVEAT: new OS imho needs to be experienced on SEPARATE drive or partition or computer, NOT on production system...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by corysober View Post
    SFC does support scanning an offline installation. Simply run the command with administrative privileges like this:

    c:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=x:\windows /offbootdir=x:\
    I realize this is an old thread, but I need some verification, as I don't quite get it

    C: is my working HDD F: is my bad HDD

    With the above c:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=x:\windows /offbootdir=x:\
    I replace x with F? to run sfc on my F: drive if C: is my good one
    or vise versa?

    C:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=F:\windows /offbootdir=F:\

    or F:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=C:\windows /offbootdir=C:\

  14. #14
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    C:\>sfc /scannow /offwindir=F:\windows /offbootdir=F:\
    would be the command.

  15. #15
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    The coding you posted worked, thank you. The SFC did not, unfortunately. I didn't think it would. It was just wishful thinking on my part. I don't have XP I just saw the thread with the coding I wanted to try, it just happened to be an XP thread. A search of sfc results in many people thinking it is not possible to run on another drive. So instead of explaining over and over, I posted to this one, because some people here know it is possible.

    Now that it didn't work, I will create a new thread in the windows 10 forum.

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