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From: jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Lost clusters, chains, and files
Message-ID: <4104@teddy.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Jun-87 14:15:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: teddy.4104
Posted: Mon Jun 15 14:15:20 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jun-87 02:08:07 EDT
References: <1855@isis.UUCP> <1849@tekigm2.TEK.COM> <241@grinch.grinch.UUCP>
Reply-To: jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson)
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
Lines: 17

>I hope that this question doesn't sounds dumb, but by doing a CHKDSK /F,
>is there any possibility of loosing/deleting/erasing a file?  From what
>I have heard, if the bad cluster is in one of the files, when you do a
>CHKDSK /F, it will erase the file.  Is this information incorrect?  If so,
>then is it possible for ANY file on the drive to be erased?

This isn't QUITE true.  CHKDSK is simply pointing out a problem that
ALREADY exists, which is that there is no file which contains the
lost clusters!  Also, CHKDSK is giving you a chance to put those lost
clusters BACK into files, so that you can examine them!

As long as "lost clusters" is the ONLY problem which CHKDSK reports, then
there is no way that CHKDSK can do further damage if used with the /F
flag.  On the other hand, if there is significant filesystem damage
(a botched directory, for instance), then CHKDSK may not be able to do
much, and can possibly make the situation worse.  In this case, always
be sure to backup your disk before attempting repair!