Event ID5: Kernel-General - Ntuser.dat corrupted / on bad sector

[Judiver]

Hi,


The context:

I have a computer that starts to show signs of old age. For some time it sometimes has a bad sector that I repair with chkdsk /r. Previously the bad sector repaired was in a sector where Malwarebytes is located, which wasn't too dangerous. This week though something weird happened with my profile (a different screen background and a day later my UAC notification was higher than I set it to resulting in having to give OK every time I wanted to do something). The Events Viewer showed error ID 5 :
Event ID 5: Kernel-General :: {Registry Hive Recovered} Registry hive (file): '\??\C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\NTUSER.DAT' was corrupted and it has been recovered. Some data might have been lost.

Now this becomes dangerous, for if my user profile would get corrupted beyond recovery I wouldn't be able to access my files any longer.

On my Windows 7 Home Premium x64 I am using a user account with administrator privileges (called Judith, password protected). I also have a standard user account (password protected), which I set up when I configured my computer. The files are created but it has never been used.

I've always had difficulties understanding user accounts in Windows 7 Home Premium and already did something stupid once. So this time I want to try not to mess things up and do things the right way...


The question:

How can I get to the situation where I have an non-corrupted user account with administrator privileges that will be located on a different part of my hard drive than the corrupted one? I have the feeling that when chkdsk repairs a bad sector, that sector is used again to write on (for previously the bad sector always was were Malwarebytes was located, no matter how many times chkdsk repaired it). I don't want my user profile on a sector with repeated problems.

What would be the easiest way to do this?

BTW can you have 2 UAC account with admin privileges?
And what would happen if I created a new UAC with admin privileges and gave that the same password as the old corrupted one? Would that same password enable me to access the files in the old one?


Thanks for any help!

Judith

 

[Megahertz07]

Bad blocks or bad clusters indicates a hardware failure. Your disk is dying, so save all your data on an external disk.
You can buy a small SSD (128G) and a HDD and replace the ODD (CD / DVD) with a HDD caddy.
You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.

Yes you can create more than one admin account. Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\User Accounts\Manage Accounts, and modify the other account to be admin.

 

[Judiver]

Thank you for your reply Megahertz07.

Yes I know my HDD is nearing the end of its life and my laptop is getting old, but it may live a while longer and as long as it isn't dead, or creating really serious problems, I'll stick to it.

I ordered a WD Elements portable hard drive of 1TB a couple a days ago (waiting on it to arrive - my laptop has 250GB on C and the same on D), to be able to make an exhaustive and more regular back-up than what I have been doing up to now (I just hope I can get it to work, it's USB 3.0 whereas my laptop only has USB 2.0 ports).

And I've been thinking about the next step. New laptop or new HDD... HDTunePro and CrystalDiskInfo both report some reallocated sectors and therefore issue a "Caution" for my laptop, but the rest of the test wasn't too bad (as far as I my knowledge of S.M.A.R.T. goes...). Why do you advise a SSD and not just replace the HDD? It seems to me that just replacing the HDD would be more simple and lower in cost? I have never replaced a HDD, my experience in replacing hardware is next to nothing.

Now as to my original question about the UAC, I created a new UAC with admin privileges (Judith1) with the same password as the old one (Judith), but as I expected I do not have access to my files. And that is the whole issue, because if today or tomorrow my Judith UAC gets even more corrupted because of a bad sector I may not be able to access that info. My interrogation is/was how to get a UAC (with admin privileges) that is identical to the corrupt one, but on a different location on my hard drive as where the old one is written. So not correcting the old UAC (Judith), as chances are that it will remain on or near that same (damaged) location of the hard drive, but creating a new one that is a identical for everything (my files and preferences etc.) except for the corrupted data. I haven't come up with a way to do this.

I still miss the good old days when there was XP and there were no such issues with accounts and admin privileges etc. It is so stupid that there's a risk that you can be locked out of your own stuff and so irritating to opt for "run as an administrator" every time you want to do something. Even if I have the UAC notification at its lowest level, thus not getting prompted to click OK every time, I always forget I'm not seeing all that is on my computer (hidden system files, a another built-in security yet....). It only creates problems. The last time I had an issue with an account I messed things up and wasn't able to create a new UAC. I ended up reinstalling Windows completely and since then I keep a standard UAC that I never use, just in case... You're being downgraded to a dumb user of your own pc having to ask permission all the time (it feels like being a child...). And when you need to do something it just all gets incredibly complicated and very easy to mess thing up dreadfully with these accounts and awful standard libraries that you cannot even rename. I didn't have a close look at how Windows10 is set up, but I doubt it will be less complicated than Windows7. Well enough complaining...

If anyone has a solution to my UAC problem, than that would be very appreciated! Thanks for the help in advance.

Judith

 

[samuria]

If the disk has had blocks you don't know what is corrupted. SSD drives are so cheap now 128 gig under £30 get one and do a clean install as any backup of Windows that has had blocks is useless

 

[Megahertz07]

Master of all rules using external disk: Once it's running don't move it, don't even touch it. Once off, treat it as a thin glass. No impacts at all.

New HDD or new Laptop? Depends on what the use and how much money. I would say that you don't need a new laptop.
The most significant improvement since multi core CPU's is the SSD. With the SSD you will boot in less than 20 seconds and open programs at a blink of an eye. And it will cost only £30.
You can buy a small SSD (128G) and a HDD and replace the ODD (CD / DVD) with a HDD caddy.
You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.

 

[Megahertz07]

Don't use your computer. The more you use it, the bigger a chance to ruin your HDD.
Download the Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums
Burn a DVD or install on a Flash disk (using Rufus) Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way
Boot from the Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk.
With Macrium Relect (on it) create an image of C:\users on an external disk. Is where all your data is stored. Also make an image of your D: partition (suppose it also has data). Don't need to backup the other windows folders. You can't trust them no more.

 

[Judiver]

Thank you Samuria and Megahertz07 for your reactions.

I think the first mention of a bad sector was about a year ago and I'v been working with my pc daily ever since. So I'm not going to invest in anything until things get really bad. Just investing in a better back-up utility because things will go bad some day... I just did another chkdsk and except for 1 location (a winlog), which got repaired, all was OK. The disk was clean at the end. Scannow never ever finds any violations. It may just be dust... but likely not, who knows.

I will use the external disk with caution when it arrives. It is just for back-ups, so it will stay on my desk or in a closet. I'm not intending to travel with it, but it is good to know that it is fragile. Thanks for the tip Megahertz07.

I think using a recovery tool that is meant for Windows 10 whereas my computer is running on Windows 7 would be a bad idea. I saw a tool Tweaking Windows Repair, but I'm a bit afraid to give online access to my computer. I have a bootable usb. There's a HDD Recovery on the D: drive and I also have a System Repair Disk on CD/DVD. I also have an iso of Windows 7 Home Premium on an USB stick (thanks to someone here on this forum).

I unfortunately didn't get any reaction as to my interrogation on user accounts, which was the real question. But perhaps there is no elegant solution? I moved some files over to the D drive so should I get locked out of my profile, I can at least still access those files. If it were up to me, there would be no such thing as user profiles. If the tiniest thing happens to your profile the worst thing happens: you lose access to all your personal stuff. And apparently, as no one has come up with any creative ideas, there is no way to fix it other than to create a new empty user account and thus having to put xxxxGB on there from a back-up, that is if you have one... I don't have a back-up of my profile, just individual files (docs, photos etc.) as I am not sure what would happen if I overwrote my whole profile i.e. user account with a back-up... Can you do that or would that mess things up?

Even though I still get the Event ID 5 error, I haven't noticed anything strange going on since the last chkdsk/startup. I guess I'll just continue to work with this profile as is.