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Hello all,

Herein lies a mystery surrounded by mismatched partition sizes, reoccurring chkdsk errors, and a host if suspects (hey, I am trying to add some intrigue so someone will read this!).

Anyway, here it is:
2 Physical Hard Drives:
Drive 0: Western Digital wd1200jb-75cra0: NTFS, XP SP3
Drive 1: IBM-DTLA-305020: Linux

Now, The Western Digital has a capacity of 120 GB (know this for a fact), but it is being reported either correctly by the "Properties/General" tab (see "general.jpg" image), or incorrectly by the "Properties/Volume" tab (see "volumes.jpg") and from "computer management/disk management" (see "disk-management.jpg").
The utility "Partition Wizard 4.1 Boot CD" also incorrectly notes the NTFS volume is around 11.4 GB (with no available free space before or after).
The size of the IBM drive is reported correctly.

Further, from a boot-time chkdsk /r as noted in:
Application/Event Viewer/Winlogon:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Main.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 12 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 12 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 12 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

117186108 KB total disk space.
11376596 KB in 44768 files.
14900 KB in 4850 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
172900 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
105621712 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
29296527 total allocation units on disk.
26405428 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
40 05 01 00 dd c1 00 00 da 14 01 00 00 00 00 00 @...............
ef 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 d4 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
72 9c c2 01 00 00 00 00 1a 22 21 1b 00 00 00 00 r........"!.....
8a d6 82 03 00 00 00 00 ac e5 14 44 01 00 00 00 ...........D....
34 87 2a 64 06 00 00 00 ec 83 a7 d1 07 00 00 00 4.*d............
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 88 38 07 00 e0 ae 00 00 ..6......8......
00 00 00 00 00 50 5f b6 02 00 00 00 f2 12 00 00 .....P_.........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.
=========================================
I have also ran it in chkdsk /f mode.
Sometimes the errors are corrected, but inevitably re-occur.
From run/cmd/chkdsk the Firefox is frequently pointed at as having problems (see chkdsk.jpg).

Now, my XP is a recent install - around 2 weeks ago.
I wiped clean my WD drive, then installed XP and all the latest service packs.
I have ran WD's disk diagnostic utility, as well as "HD Tune", both of which show the drive to be healthy, without errors, and S.M.A.R.T. checking out as ok.
Various scans by different AV products show no malware concerns.

I have a fair knowledge of computers, but sometimes, I have a time figuring out if problems I encounter are separate issues, or connected in some manner - in this case, chkdsk errors and partition size disparities.

Hope this abundance of info I provided didn't make this even MORE confusing :(

If anyone has the time and would like to help me out with this, I would appreciate it :)

Thx,
Rick

chkdsk.jpg 39.8 KB disk-management.jpg 43.44 KB general.jpg 30.95 KB volumes.jpg 29.97 KB
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Dani AI

Generated

For — brief expert summary and a focused plan.

The 120 vs 111 figures are the decimal vs binary size labels and are harmless; they do not explain the Partition Wizard 11.4 GB reading or the repeated CHKDSK runs. When one tool reads the NTFS metadata and another reads raw partition/MBR/GPT data, a disagreement usually means a partition-table/boot-sector interpretation problem, a tool glitch, or a filesystem metadata inconsistency. The fact that CHKDSK keeps naming sessionstore.js suggests an application-level file corruption or a file being written/locked during shutdown that leaves inconsistent NTFS metadata behind.

Recommended non-destructive sequence (in order):

  • Immediate backup of user data or a full disk image to external media.
  • Prevent the browser from writing the suspect file: ensure Firefox is not running or boot Windows into Safe Mode. The Firefox profile folder is typically at %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\; rename sessionstore.js to sessionstore.js.bak so a fresh session file is created.
  • With the browser stopped, run chkdsk C: /f /r from an elevated prompt and allow it to finish. Run sfc /scannow afterwards to check system integrity.
  • If CHKDSK no longer reports the same file, the problem was likely the profile file. If it persists, proceed to deeper checks.

Deeper diagnostic checks (if problems remain):

  • Boot a Linux live environment and inspect the disk with fdisk -l / parted -l and smartctl -a to confirm physical capacity and SMART. Check for HPA/DCO capacity hiding with hdparm -N and try the drive on a different SATA cable/controller or PC to rule out controller/cable faults.
  • If partition metadata and NTFS disagree, image the disk first and then use TestDisk advanced options to rebuild the partition from NTFS boot/MFT records rather than guessing. Rebuilding the partition table without an image risks data loss.

Caution: repeated boot-time CHKDSK plus file-specific errors commonly come from either a misbehaving application/driver or intermittent I/O problems. Backup first, isolate the offending writer (browser/AV/filter driver), verify the drive on another controller, and only then perform partition-table writes or full repairs.

Member Avatar for Spycat

OK, so I downloaded and ran the TestDisk program ("recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again").
Everything checked out ok, but I am a bit perplexed by the display of my NTFS formatted disk. It shows: 120 GB / 111 GiB (see "test-disk.jpg").

Soooo...I looked up the difference between GB & GiB.
Seems 1 GB = 1000^3 bytes (a "thousand thousands") &
1 GiB = 1024^3 bytes (a "thousand 1024s")

OK, so Windows can have whatever naming convention they want, but I wish they would just be consistent!
As can be seen in my previously posted images (in my initial post), it seems to go back and forth in saying my HD capacity is 120 GB and 111.
If this is indeed the case, the partition size may not be an issue...just the chkdsk errors (is that better??).

Member Avatar for Spycat

I realize its the holiday season and all, but is anyone still answering these things?

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