Windows 10: Win Pre-Environment (boot) CHKDSK -- can it be aborted safely?

Back story is that I'd run into a problem when trying to clone my aging HDD to my new SSD. Apparently there were some bad sectors in an initially non-critical area so Windows didn't trip over it (I could run Windows 10 with no problems). But for some reason, the cloning programs weren't intelligent enough to skip the bad sectors and provide a report--they just fail. I first tried Samsung's Data Migration tool, which kept failing at various progress points (usually early on) by suddenly restarting the computer (no warning). I then tried 3 other 3rd party tools, all failed to some degree but at least the system wasn't abruptly restarted.

Trying to fix this sent me down a rabbit hole... as things got progressively worse, to the point where I couldn't boot into the desk top any longer. FINALLY, after discovering the SeaTools FIX utility for repairing bad sectors (took a few cycles due to LBA limitations), I was able to fix the drive enough so that it would boot.

All generalized tests showed healthy partitions. The bad sector issue looked to be isolated to some data segments. I ran "chkdsk /f" and that went to completion. But when I did a scan of the drive using the internal checker from the Explorer tools menu, the Event Viewer suggested running CHKDSK again.

I ran "chkdsk /f /r /x". I realized later that "/f" is redundant, as the "/r" switch covers that.

Now 3 hours later, CHKDSK is still running at 12%. Not budging. I've read some people suggesting to let it complete, that the progress reporting routine is not showing what's really going on, while others saying CHKDSK is probably stuck. I need to travel now and want to take the computer with me. Can I abort the CHKDSK somehow? Keyboard entry of CTRL+C doesn't do anything.

:)

 

Win Pre-Environment (boot) CHKDSK -- can it be aborted safely?

Thanks for the explanation about the decreasing rate with the spinner -- makes perfect sense now.
By the way that Health tab was blank. I presumed it was because it's the shareware version (not Pro). I could run the benchmark test, error scan (fast and long), but INFO and HEALTH were both blank. Also, I could not get it to display temperature.

I am wondering if this is because it was not mounted directly to the motherboard, but instead in a USB 3.0 slot.

 

Win Pre-Environment (boot) CHKDSK -- can it be aborted safely?


I don't think you can safely abort Chkdsk and I wouldn't that notebook on any trip without resolving the hard drive issue and having your SSD up and running. Chkdsk on a failing hard drive is good enough to salvage your data and usually long enough to create a Disk Image with Macruim Reflect Free you can then restore the image to your SSD.

Once Spinners start failing they continue failing faster and faster

 

Win Pre-Environment (boot) CHKDSK -- can it be aborted safely?

What did this tab look like on this hard drive

Not sure any Spinner can reach 300mbs good ones are more like 150mbs maybe starting out at 190mbs and tapering down as the head works its way to the outside of the platers. Older SSD will get into the 300mbs newer one SATA will get up to 500mbs and M.2 SSD 3000mbs the latest Samsung 970 Pro are advertising 5000mbs. Spinners will always slow down as the head works it way out to the outer part of the platers that is normal.