Hard Drive Error: Volume is dirty 0x80071AC3

lewisf182 · 06 Oct 2012

Hi,
Sorry for this being my first post, but I am just lost as to what to do and even a trusty google search will not show me how to fix this!

So I was copying over some movies from my laptop onto my new 1TB external hard drive, was working fine and managed to copy over a fair amount, then all of a sudden the ones that were currently copying failed, so I took out the hard drive and plugged it back in. Now it says I dont have access to it? Iv tried the Chkdsk B thing but to no avail.

Any help much appreciated, I dont mind losing the movies that are already copied onto the External HDD I just want it back in working order (or will it just keep happening i.e. faulty HDD?)

Thankyou in advance guys!

TVeblen · 06 Oct 2012

Could be the Dirty Bit.

Sometimes when a drive is disconnected without safely removing a file becomes corrupted and Windows flags the drive as "unreliable" (so to speak) by setting a single hex value for the drive as "dirty". Thus "the dirty bit".

To check if this is so, open an elevated Command Prompt and then type " fsutil dirty query m: " (with m being the drive letter for the external drive. This will tell you if the drive is marked dirty.

If it is, then do this: open the Command Prompt and type: " CHKNTFS /X m: " . This will tell Windows NOT to check the drive on the next restart. Then manually restart the computer (keep the external connected).

You should get into Windows without an messages about the drive.

Once in Windows, now run chkdsk on the drive. At the Command Prompt type: " Chkdsk /f /r m: " . Chkdsk should go through all 5 stages of it's test.

When it's done then check the disk by running " fsutil dirty query m: " again. If all went well the Windows will confirm that the dirty bit is not set on that drive.

Sometimes chkdsk can not reset the bit. In than case you can go nuclear and copy all the files off the drive and then format it (that will definitely reset the bit).
Or you can do something like this with a Hex Editor: Manually Reset or Clear Dirty Bit in Windows without CHKDSK

I hope that helps. All this was based on your post title!

lewisf182 · 06 Oct 2012

Hi thanks for your advice. Firstly, when In elevated command prompt and i type the fsutil dirty query f: it says error: access is denied?

jumanji · 06 Oct 2012

Hi lewisf182,

Try this on the 1TB external hard drive.

Download, install the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, right click and run as an administrator. It will format your drive and you should be able to regain the full functionality of your hard drive.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - CNET Download.com

Report if successful.

lewisf182 · 06 Oct 2012

Hi, Update: restarted my laptop, the hard drive is fine and I can now access it. However I cannot delete files or change anything, it seems iv lost control over it? iv looked at permission but cant see how to regain control to be able to do stuff with it?

Thanks for the help guys.

Jumanji I will give that a try and report back

lewisf182 · 06 Oct 2012

I think I dont have administrator Rights, how can I gain these back?

Seem to be able to copy to and from hard drive now, but not allowed to delete anything.

Jumanji: Tried the HP USB programme, would'nt let me open it as it said I didnt have the rights as per above.... What does this mean?

jumanji · 06 Oct 2012

Did you right click on it and Run as Administrator?

Hard Drive Error: Volume is dirty 0x80071AC3-runas-administrator.jpg

lewisf182 · 07 Oct 2012

Got it to open now Jumanji.
Once I use it to format the drive should I be able to delete stuff etc again? Iv managed to transfer my files back off it so it doesnt matter if I lose my stuff

jumanji · 07 Oct 2012

Yes, you should be able to.

If not, report and we will get on to reinitialising the hard drive to the factory condition. I do not think it should be necessary and you should be able to write and delete as you would like after formatting it with the HP Tool.

lewisf182 · 09 Oct 2012

Once formatted is it possible this problem can happen again? I would rather just send the hard drive back than risk it happening again and losing all my data on there?

Will attempt a format tomorrow