Windows Delayed Write Failed

[savage443]

Hi All,

Help needed.

I recently had a problem with my 2nd sata internal hard disk drive in my old machine.

I was getting a message saying;

"WINDOWS DELAYED WRITE FAILED." Windows was unable to save all the file data for the file E:/$mft. The data has been lost, it then goes on to say that this may be caused by a hardware or network failure etc etc.

Then I lost access to the drive for long periods, only regaining access when the pc was booted cold. After some time I then lost all the data.

I thought the disk itself had failed or possibly a mobo failure(I had already tried a new cable) so I built a new machine (which I‘d never done so was an excuse to do so).

The problem is I am now getting the same message as before and am losing access to my “E” 2nd internal drive.

I am running Diskeeper pro 9.0. I have set the MFT to the recommended size. (assuming E:/$mft refers to the MFT).

Any suggestions from you guys will be gratefully received.

Thanks for looking.

sav.............

[MikeTV]

It sounds like a disk (hardware) failure to me. But I would be inclined to backup any important files, and then start again from scratch - recreating the partition using fdisk, full format, and then a reinstall. If you still have problems after that, replace the disk drive. I wouldn't bother using Diskkeeper pro - it shouldn't be necessary, and who knows, maybe that is causing the problem (eg. corrupting the MFT)? But it's more likely to be hardware, I'd have thought. Disk drives usually work flawlessly for years, until they finally give the up the ghost. You should never normally see "delayed write failed" messages. And windows manages the MFT without the need to manually set it's size.

[savage443]

Thanks MikeTV,

Sorry I didn't reply before but I removed the drive and popped it into an external caddy, problem seems to have gone away.

I spent so much time on the problem that now I've removed it I can't be bothered to put it back in to try to sort it.

Thank again.

sav.......

[DeadKenny]

Less likely to be a drive failure, more one of connection. Normally Windows will buffer writes to internal drives and flush to disc when convenient. If it's lost the connection to the drive you get a Delayed Write Failed error.

An external drive usually has Delayed Writes turned off and all disc writes occur instantly. This is so you can pull the drive out quickly. If you turn on Delayed Write and pull an external drive, then you get this exact error.

Normally this kind of error would get me looking at the connectors, and also looking for motherboard drivers for the drive interface (SATA in this case). Possibly there's a problem with the connector on the board too.

Could stick in a separate SATA card and see if that works.

[savage443]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

Less likely to be a drive failure, more one of connection. Normally Windows will buffer writes to internal drives and flush to disc when convenient. If it's lost the connection to the drive you get a Delayed Write Failed error.

An external drive usually has Delayed Writes turned off and all disc writes occur instantly. This is so you can pull the drive out quickly. If you turn on Delayed Write and pull an external drive, then you get this exact error.

Normally this kind of error would get me looking at the connectors, and also looking for motherboard drivers for the drive interface (SATA in this case). Possibly there's a problem with the connector on the board too.

Could stick in a separate SATA card and see if that works.

Hi DeadKenny,

Thanks for your reply but I've now taken the drive out because I just did not have enough time to devote. If you see my 1st post I built a new machine to try to solve this problem and in the process threw away a good mobo.

The new pc is fine without the 2nd drive so that's the way it's gonna stay.

Thanks anyway

Cheers

sav......

[Omega]

I'm getting this error from internal SATA HDD's periodically too. I get a BSOD too but I've not lost any significant data (yet). I'm not sure if it's the cables or something else. :/

[medicalgiant]

There seem to be lots of solutions to this problem, some have worked for some but not others. One that worked for me was of all things discovering that the NVIDIA drivers I was using incorporated some 'disk optimisation' and it was this that was causing me my problems.

If you've got an nvidia card in your system and you install the drivers, click on the 'Advanced' tab of the drivers and be sure to untick the options to install nvidia networking and drive optimisation so you install just the drivers for the card and nothing else.

HTH

[savage443]

Originally Posted by medicalgiant

There seem to be lots of solutions to this problem, some have worked for some but not others. One that worked for me was of all things discovering that the NVIDIA drivers I was using incorporated some 'disk optimisation' and it was this that was causing me my problems.

If you've got an nvidia card in your system and you install the drivers, click on the 'Advanced' tab of the drivers and be sure to untick the options to install nvidia networking and drive optimisation so you install just the drivers for the card and nothing else.

HTH

I've got a Nvidia 6200 but can't find access to the drivers.

Thanks for your post but I'm not putting the drive back in the pc.

Thanks

sav........