Copying files error
 

Hey guys

I'm trying to copy mp3 and picture files (mostly jpeg) from my computer to my external hardrive, however for random files I'm getting an error message that says "Cannot copy (nameoffile): Data error (cycle redundancy check)"

I've reset the computer several times but it hasn't made must difference.
Any help would be appreciated
Argentis

Check your system log for NTFS (or FAT32 if you're using it) errors. And start backuping...

Sneaky solution: try zipping the files up first. That could help.

Backuping, are these signs of a harddrive crash?

EDIT: That could work - can't currently test it yet as I'm running the test
God I hope I don't lose anything. I was gonna buy a new harddrive in october as well ><

I doubt it's as serious as all that. I get CRC errors every now and then as well, when attempting to copy stuff. At worst it tens to mean that you won't be able to copy the files in question at all.

I hope not.
The errors have gotten particularly worse over time - when copying folders/ albums over to the hard drive it's usually the first file that fails to copy. The error check still hasn't finished

I just hope it's resolves the problem :/
Trying to digest this CRC page, it's a little beyond my AS level IT skills.

Additional Spam:
Ok scan failed to finish (it was the option screen where the Defrag option is right (PC Windows XP)) and how exactly do I carry out this scan?

The error message keeps popping up is still there, and zipping doesn't seem to resolve the issue. Copying just on the computer isn't a problem neither is copying from the harddrive. Copying to is still the issue.

Unfortunately it is rejecting zip/ rar files as well. I'm having no luck in moving anything.

A CRC error can occur if the file you are copying happens to reside on a defective sector. The data on the bad sector is effectively undefined (would come back random every time the head tries to read it). If you are seeing more CRC errors as time progresses, this is an indication that your hard disk is failing.

Start backing up and looking for a new drive.

Ok :(
Thanks for everyone's help on this

And the usual stuff:
1) Don't do anything on this harddrive until you have a new one
2) If you really have to access it then do it read-only (so you don't accidentally destroy more of the filesystem)
3) If you're brave issue a short selftest via smartmontools (using a linux live disc) and check for the results

Tools that could help:
dd_rescue (to clone the faulty disc to the new one)

For CRC Errors:

1. Run Steve Gibson's Spinrite application on your external. You will need to load USB drivers onto it. If this is not possible, run a CHKDSK /r /f on the drive.
2. After SpinRite/CHKDSK finish, immediately copy over everything to a new hard disk. As LiquidAcid said, it is better to have that new hard disk available before you attempt step 1.
3. Throw away the old hard disk.

Or replace 3. by "sell on ebay" :D

How old is the drive? What's the level of fragmentation like? And have you run chkdsk at all? If check disk doesn't report any problems with the disk it shouldn't be that serious of a problem - yet. Specially if it turns out you've been lax with defragging.

Though, if you still want more reassurance you should download and run HDD Regenerator. This program will help you to repair any bad sectors on your drive. I've used the program many times in the past and I can attest to its effectiveness. If you download and run the free trial version it'll attempt to fix the first bad sector. It it was successful, hit up torrentspy for a cracked version and have it fix the rest of the drive.

However, in the event that it shouldn't be able to fix the first bad sector, as far as I know there's nothing you can really do. There must be something seriously wrong with the drive.

Huh? fragmentation doesn't produce bad sectors.

Want to know what I think? This tool is fake. Anyone with a bit of hd technology knowledge knows that you won't get acess to the low level bits of the platters when using ATA commands. And you don't have anything else than ATA commands for access.

You calling me a liar?

I also tried the software, and it proved rather useful, a bunch of times. And it DID recover physically bad sectors, as mentioned here.
The only drawback might be the recovery time. It took me around 2 days to recover a 40Gb Maxtor HDD. This can be annoying if you have a huge Drive.

Nonetheless, it wouldn't be a really safe solution, as the recovered sectors have a slightly reduced lifetime, and are still threatened of premature failure. You should probably check out your HDD Health, using any S.M.A.R.T. featured tool (i usually rely on SpeedFan's In-Depth Analysis). You will want to replace it ASAP, if it reports a critical HDD status. =/

It's about 2 years old, 320 GB (and a bit of a dodgey fan). I recently defraged it, and it was was fine as far as I could tell. I'll give the program a try
I've decided to replace it, back it up, and re format it (and hence reuse it). I don't want to touch it until I'm ready to back everything up, I don't want to risk continuous power ups.

Hmm, last time I used it - on a crashed 200 GB Maxtor - I guess it took it about 12 hours to complete. So, as I guess the time it takes to recover any given hard drive depends on how many bad sectors it's got, it sounds to me like yours was in a pretty bad state =D

Oh, and that Maxtor drive has been working just fine ever since (must be a few years now).

@seanne: I only doubt that the application can recover/restore/regenerate/whatever sectors in some magical way. And I don't find any reliable source that analysed what this application really does. And as long as nobody can't show me a technique to gain low-level access to the physical media of the drive (PLUS: independent of the drive vendor) I won't believe what you, the developer or anyone else says.

The problem with HDD Regenerator is that you are paying $60 for a feature that already exists in the firmware of you hard disk. Sector remapping occurs transparently by the disk's controller the moment a defective sector is written to.

Chances are all this program does is attempt to read a defective sector, and then write back to it which triggers the reallocation mechanism in the drive's firmware. This is not an amazing restorative technique--its the way a modern hard disk is supposed to function.