Trouble Running chkdsk /b Prior to Cloning as Directed by WinClone

Winclone
1

2019 16" MacBook Pro - Catalina 10.15.7 - 4TB NVMe SSD

Boot Camp Assistant install of Windows 10 (21H1)

WinClone 9

After the install I can run chkdsk (no parameters) repeatedly without any errors.

If I run chkdsk /b (AS directed by Two Canoes) on the BOOTCAMP volume prior to cloning, one of three things occur (not consistent)

 ONE - chkdsk /b seems to complete but when Win10 restarts I get the BSOD with the error:

            "Stop code: "BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO"

 TWO - chkdsk /b appears to mark 90% of the BOOTCAMP volume as having "bad sectors"

 THREE - chkdsk /b seems to complete but subsequent running of chkdsk reports"

                "The master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute is incorrect"
                "The Volume Bitmap is incorrect."
                "Windows has checked the filesystem and found problems."
                "Please run chkdsk /scan to find the problems and queue them for repair"

Online research seems to indicate that running chkdsk /b includes the functionality of chkdsk /r (according to Microsoft) and that running chkdsk /r on a modern SSD has been known to erroneously marks sectors as bad when they are not. In fact, most sources indicate that there is no reason to run chkdsk /r on an SSD as the SSD controller takes care of monitoring "bad Sectors’ and marks them so they are not used.

If, on the other hand, I do a fresh Boot Camp Assistant install and run chkdsk (no parameters) and get repeated results without any errors and then run chkdsk /f to check the file system i am back to:

                "The master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute is incorrect"
                "The Volume Bitmap is incorrect."
                "Windows has checked the filesystem and found problems."
                "Please run chkdsk /scan to find the problems and queue them for repair"

Running chkdsk /scan reports no errors EVERY TIME I run it. I can alternate between chkdsk and chkdsk /scan and each time chkdsk reports the MFT error and chkdsk /scan reports that there are not errors.

So…

What is the correct direction form Two Canoes on running chkdsk on an SSD prior to cloning???

Has anyone run into any of these errors when running chkdsk on a BOOTCAMP volume prior to cloning???

Does anyone still run chkdsk prior to cloning???

I’d appreciate any guidance from Two Canoes or other users.

2

I’ve been chkdsk-ing for years as part of weekly backup and maintenance of two Macs running Windows thanks to Bootcamp. Each time I image my Windows installations with Winclone after running chkdsk. My 2007 MacBook Pro is still running Windows 7, and my 2012 Mini is running Win10 version 1809 (so I cannot comment regarding version 21H1). Win7 has the disk checking available in the C:\ drive’s Properties, but I do use chkdsk on my Win10 installation.

I have never seen the issues you describe. Since my Mini holds two internal drives, each with a Bootcamp Windows 10 installation on them, when I run chkdsk, I specify that it should only run on the current C:\ partition, like this: chkdsk c: /b. Over the years, I have had need to restore my Windows from a Winclone Backup on several occasions, and it has always worked flawlessly.

3

I can run chkdsk on my 2014 MacBook Pro BOOTCAMP with Windows (1709) without issue as well…

its the 2019 MacBook Pro with Windows (21H1). Based on web research it appears there has been an issue with chkdsk since Windows 20H2 with varying reports on what, if any, fix Microsoft has done. I am not the only one running into this. I know of at least one other person who posted in this forum about a year ago. He too, was experiencing chkdsk /b marking pretty much every sector as bad on an SSD. Again, web research seems to indicate that scanning for bad sectors on an SSD is not only pointless but can cause issues/conflicts/false errors because the SSD controller handles error checking and reporting (not file system errors…)

I’m hoping i can find an alternative to chkdsk that will run from within Windows (doubtful) or from the command line that plays well with SSDs. Otherwise, my only option is to run chkdsk (without any parameters) and hope that is sufficient… At least until Microsoft drags itself into the 21st century…

By the way I can do the disk checking from the properties tab in Windows 10 that reports no errors even when checks does…