Running chkdsk on very large volumes

  • Section(s): Miscellaneous
  • Published on Jun 13, 2006.
  • Last Modified on Jun 13, 2006.
  • Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
  • Rated 4.5 out of 5 based on 4 votes.
Using DFS to get around long wait times checking very large volumes.

If you have a storage volume of several hundred gigabytes or more (say a RAID 5 volume or a NAS/SAN attached volume) and discover what may be file corrpution on the volume, you can try running chkdsk to get more info and possibly try and fix. But be warned that running chkdsk on large volumes like this can take many hours to complete, possibly even a day or more for volumes of a terabyte or more.

One way to work around this problem is to use DFS. Create multiple smaller volumes on your storage device and then create a DFS namespace that logically unites these volumes together into what appears to users to be a single large volume. Then if you have file system problems you can run chkdks on these smaller volumes and will likely take an hour or so to verify their condition.

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch
MVP Windows Server
http://www.mtit.com

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy and use Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written or contributed to almost two dozen books and is lead author for the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. For more information, see www.mtit.com .


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