Corrupted FAT

[Chuck]

Just wanted to contribute my experience about a goofed up FAT and files in my iPod 60gb 5G.

Not sure how the problem originally happened.  It did not occur after an upgrade of Rockbox.  But it may have happened because I put my XP computer into Standby after iPod charging was done, in order to get XP to release the iPod, since I was in a hurry and it was not releasing otherwise.  I do not know if going to Standby flushes the writing cache on removable drives, but maybe not.

Anyway, on the next Rockbox start, fonts were messed up.  Font folder and a couple files in the \.rockbox folder had corrupt filenames.  After searching the forum I tried using the suggested chkdsk utility from a command window.  Many errors were found, including 6gb of lost drive space.

But chkdsk refused to fix the errors, saying ‘another program was using the file system’ and to stop that program.  Not possible.  Over several weeks, I tried many things, including booting into the iPod software and working from there, but nothing succeeded.

Then, after more searches of the forum, I came across a very brief mention of a Windows scan disk function.  Further searches elsewhere indicated that is accessed in XP by right-clicking on the removable drive, choosing Properties > Tools > Error-checking > Check now.

I checked “Automatically fix file system errors”, and started it.  Interface between my XP and the iPod using USB 2.0 is always *very* slow, and the process took about 15 minutes.  There was no information on what it had done or found, but when it was finished, another run of chkdsk showed everything 100% okay, all corrupt filenames removed, and a folder added with the corrupted chains in it.

And the lost 6gb was recovered.

So, if you have a similar problem and chkdsk will not do the trick, try the scan disk utility found in XP under Properties of the drive in question.

[cool_walking_]

Scandisk does the exact same thing as chkdsk.  I think that when you went to run scandisk, whatever process was using the files had finished. You can use unlocker to see what files are in use.

[Chuck]

Thanks for the link.

However, I have to seriously doubt that there is no difference between the two programs, because I had been trying chkdsk for weeks, and had tried it just minutes before using the Windows scan disk option.  Seems highly unlikely to me that the file system would have been released at the very moment I tried the Windows alternative, when I had been working unsuccessfully with chkdsk for over a month.  It would be a major fluke if that happened.

[PaulJam]

What was the exact command you used when manually running chkdsk?
Maybe you didn't use the /X parameter.

[Chuck]

I used both /F and /X commands.  Actually /F asked if I wanted other applications dismounted thereby losing all handles--which I have to assume is the same as initiating the /X switch,--but responding affirmatively made no difference.  The next dialog was always that the requested task could not be performed.

Chkdsk could not do the job; the Windows XP scan function did.