scandisk error

When running scandisk in (win 98) I keep getting an error it says
There is not enough memory to run scandisk. I deleted all temp files, my recycle bin was emptied, tried from safe mode and even ran scandisk from DOS. Any Ideas.

 

The error is caused by the cluster size being invalid in relation to the size of the partition. It generally happens if you use a ghostlike app to clone a smaller disk onto a larger one, and the cluster size of the smaller one is carried over.

Options are to recreate and reload the partition, or use a program like Partition Magic to resize the clusters.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q229154

http://support.wdc.com/tips/index.asp?tip=41

 

Oops...I see Whitphil has beat me to the punch.
I was going to ask if your hard drive was smaller than 8 gbs.

 

My HD is 40gb This problem just started occuring this week.
the system has been running good for months.

 

The system has been running well, AND you have previously run a scandisk and defrag????

Out of curiousity, open a DOS window and enter

CHKDSK

What is the number of bytes in each allocation unit?

 

16,384kb

 

I'm just poking in here to point out to all that might try to help, that joeygug had another memory error problem recently, which was never resolved. Or was it? Related?

 

For a 40GB drive, the cluster size (allocation unit) should be 32KB.

So, I am guessing that you scandisk and defrag have never run on this drive.

The memory problem is as I indicated above and you really only have the 2 options to correct it.

 

I did get that last problem resolved, and I did scandisk and defrag this disk plenty of times before. This problem just occured yesterday. It seem like some kind of virus activity but I updated nortons defs and did a full scan and norton says no viruses detected.

 

Curious!

The issue all points to the cluster size.

Have you done a check for Spyware?

Althought, this shouldn't affect your running in safe mode!

The other thing to try is a Shutdown, restart to dos and do

Scanreg /Restore

Choosing the date where everything last worked OK.

BTW What did you do to fix your "last" memory problem?

 

I went into config utility & in sys ini. tab, found vcache and typed
Max File Cache=262114 under it. Never had another problem
until now. I did try and restore from another previous date
but that did not work either. I still cannot scandisk.

 

You said that you have run a scandisk from DOS.
Was it the standard one or through?

If not a thorough (surface), I would run a surface test.
(and on a 40G, it will take a while)

Idle question:
When you run scandisk, do you run with autofix ON or OFF.
If ON, turn it off and run and see if it "asks" before fixing something.
You really do NOT want to allow scandisk to attempt fixes on it's own.

 

joeygug,

"It seem like some kind of virus activity but I updated nortons defs and did a full scan and norton says no viruses detected. "

Proves nothing. Let me tell you of an experience I had a couple years ago. My HDD gradually became worse and worse. I thought the BIOS was nuts, but the clock was on time. Things got so bad that Norton's and everything else was impossible to run.

However my linux (on the same drive in another partition) worked flawlessly! So I knew it wasn't a hardware problem. But a DOS format didn't cure the problem. Only after I installed a linux file system on the partition and then ran DOS fdisk and format did the problem go away. I was ready to throw the disk away if not for linux, but it's still working today.

I don't use linux any more but keep it around like a canary in a coal mine, just in case.

 

Hiya joeygug
You had a heap of people trying to help you solve this one. Can you come back and let us know how you made out?