chkdsk on external usb drive

[oldwww]

Hello

I have a rather simple, basic question regarding running chkdsk on an buffalo 1TB external drive attached to our windows 2003 r2 server... used for backup data.

This drive has been throwing eventID 7 repeatedly during the backup process; the question is this: would it be safe to take this disk offline and run a chkdsk /f on it from the server? Would this operation negatively impact the server's performance?

Or would it be kosher to take the disk offline, remove it, run a chkdsk /f from a different device, specifically a desktop running windows 7? Would the OS difference cause issues?

I have searched for an answer to this particular question; so far no luck.

Thank you.

 

[goombawaho]

You can do the check right from Server 2003 with no problems or major slow down. Just don't have any files open on it or a backup running to it.

What might be more advisable is AFTER the CHKDSK, run the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostic tool on the hard drive. I don't mean Buffalo, I mean the drive manufacturer - Seagate, Western Digital, etc.

Look in Device Manager and then get the appropriate tool for that brand. If you don't want to run the tool or boot to a CD with the tool on it FROM THE SERVER, you could move the external drive to a workstation to avoid interfering with normal server activity.

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

 

[oldwww]

Thank you for your reply goombawahao. If I choose to run a chkdsk from a windows 7 desktop on this usb drive (after taking it offline and physically removing it), would that cause issues? Sorry if this seems a 'duh' question. I am very hesitant to run it on the windows 2003 r2 server; it is our single production file server and I don't want any possible problems to occur.

 

[goombawaho]

Doing it either way it wouldn't cause a problem, so do it how you feel most comfortable. Do it on another PC and do it the same way as always since XP. But I still think you should do the manufacturer's test, ESPECIALLY if you've got it on another PC where you can boot to a diagnostic tool OR install the tool on the PC and none of it would disrupt the server. Try the manufacturer's SHORT test first to see if there are any issues. If you find anything or it recommends it, run the LONG test.

The only "issue" I can think of is that you make sure the drive gets the same letter when it's reinstalled OR if using Windows Server Backup, that the backup still sees the drive and tries to write to it. You know that with the windows backup, the server hides the backup drive from you by not showing a drive letter.

 

[oldwww]

goombawaho,

Thank you again for your response.

When I view the drive in device manager, it clearly states it is a Buffalo External HDD USB device (under Display Name and Friendly Name). I did look for a diagnostic tool for buffalo external usb drives (this one is model HD-CE1.0TIU2), however, I couldn't locate one.

I did download the original software available from Buffalo, but that doesn't specifically identify any type of diagnostic tool (I have used WD's in the past on some of the hard drives here).

Checking the Buffalo site was pretty worthless also. I'll keep looking...

 

[goombawaho]

Interesting that it didn't tell you what actual brand is inside. You could try to run WD Data Diagnostic tools on it and it should give you a hint as to the actual brand inside UNLESS Buffalo has buffaloed you by somehow masking the brand with the firmware in the external drive case.

In that case, you'll have to run more generic tools. There are a bunch on The Ultimate Boot CD if you want to create one of those.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html