I've started, yesterday, to see the following event in my event log. Event 55, source Ntfs - "The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume Boot." The PC basically seems to be running OK, and I don't notice any specific errors at the times when the events come out. The PC is in use when they occur so its hardly 'unusable'. I've run chkdsk (well the GUI version in right-click - C: (boot) - properties - tools - check now) in three combinations. Both boxes un-ticked, then 'auto fix file errors' ticked, neither reported any errors. I then ran it with both ticked (bad sectors as well), but this took many hours and unfortunately I missed the result screen and the PC had restarted. Do I have to re-run this, or are the results for this scan logged somewhere? Surely they are not only available for a few seconds after 2-3 hours of checking? This is the result from an elevated command chkdsk after the above three chkdsk had completed. It shows no bad sectors and no errors (I think). C:\Windows\system32>chkdskThe type of the file system is NTFS.Volume label is Boot. WARNING! F parameter not specified.Running CHKDSK in read-only mode. CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)... 186880 file records processed.File verification completed. 146 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 0 EA records processed. 136 reparse records processed.CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)... 253170 index entries processed.Index verification completed. 0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered.CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)... 186880 file SDs/SIDs processed.Security descriptor verification completed. 33146 data files processed.CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal... 34535072 USN bytes processed.Usn Journal verification completed.Windows has checked the file system and found no problems. 954636287 KB total disk space. 75538248 KB in 153235 files. 87348 KB in 33147 indexes. 0 KB in bad sectors. 316563 KB in use by the system. 65536 KB occupied by the log file. 878694128 KB available on disk. 4096 bytes in each allocation unit. 238659071 total allocation units on disk. 219673532 allocation units available on disk. So a couple of questions: 1. Is my hard-drive really in trouble? 2. Can I find the results of the full bad sector chkdsk, or do I have to re-run it and stay glued to the PC for 2-3 hours? 3. Whats the next check/stop? Thank you Windows 7 PC running 64 bit OS.

A bit of extra info (sorry for coming back so quickly). It appears this information event occurs at about the same time (sometimes). Event 26, souce 'Application Popup', "Application popup: Windows - Corrupt File : Exception Processing Message 0xc0000102 Parameters 0x000007FEFD2D715C 0x000007FEFD2D715C 0x000007FEFD2D715C 0x000007FEFD2D715C" I've not seen any pop up messages? Not sure if they are directly related but I'm guessing they are at the moment. Any ideas? Thanks

Just a bit extra info. Had a few more of these yesterday. I've not noticed anything going wrong, PC starts-works-reboots-logoff's fine. Just these errors now and again. One batch when the PC was just idle. I've run chkdsk in various combinations (including a full bad sector check) and all pass. I've run chkntfs and it reports 'not dirty'. The disc is a WD-Green 1TB HD. It came with a WDTools.exe (WinDLG) program, and the two tests in that, a quick and an extended test both pass, and the SMART results claim a pass as well. Any ideas?

Some programs, such as Firefox or Thunderbird can cause this issue. firefox and thunderbird are causing a NTFS error 55 This issue can also be caused by the Windows 7 build-in NTFS driver that may be not compatible with your hard drive. You may boot in Clean Boot Mode, do not launch any third party program and monitor the situation for a while. If the error does not appear in Event Log, the issue should be caused by third party programs or services. Otherwise, it is caused by driver compatibility.Arthur Xie - MSFT

OK, Many thanks for your reply and ideas. I don't use FF or TB on this machine. I'm using Windows Live Mail and Opera at the mo. A mate has the self-same PC make and model, and he's not getting this error at all. The HD in both is a 'WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1 ATA' (Western Digital 1TB Caviar green). A few hours after my last post above, I removed the case and investigated. The red SATA cable to the HD was tightly bent, almost folded back on itself. It ran up, creased back and ran down for a distance of about 2 inches right next to itself. Could this have damaged the cable or have induced noise back into itself as they were so close? Anyway, since straighting the cable out (there was plenty of room, so no idea why it was run as it was), and checking all the connections were firmly in place (they appeared to be), the error report has not yet re-occurred. Its early days, so still monitoring. If it comes back, I'll look at your 'clean boot' idea above. Many thanks for your help.

This is a completely unacceptable answer. I do not use either product either, and it's been happening to me as well. Same symptoms: no disk errors (zero bad sectors) and the event occurs seemingly at random. (Not frequently, but definitely periodically (e.g. every other day or three)) No special dasd drivers are installed, just stock drivers from stock Windows 7 install. I suspect this is an issue with the new version of NTFS that comes with Windows 7 itself: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981166 I am going to try the HotFix and I will let you know how it goes. "Fish" (David B. Trout)

Shortly after posting the above I stumbled across the following thread: Getting ERROR_FILE_CORRUPT when moving a file... Result Chkdsk at reboot (Reproducable and confirmed) In the above mentioned thread, Bert Huijben (The Competence Group, a Microsoft Partner in Netherlands) posted a simple program to reliably reproduce the "problem" (I say 'problem' within quotes since, apparently, the file system is not actually corrupted, Windows just thinks it is). I built the program and tested this program and sure enough was able to very quickly (within seconds) recreate the problem. The above thread also mentions a Hot Fix that is now available for downloading that is supposed to correct the problem too: You receive an error message that states the file system is broken in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 (the Hot Fix that I mentioned in my previous post is not the correct one. It was simply an article I found when I was searching for a fix, and was simply something that I originally thought (hoped) might correct the problem, but which as it turns out, does not [correct the problem]). I then installed each Hot Fix one after the other (the one I mentioned in my original reply (which is the wrong one) and the one mentioned in the mentioned thread (which is the correct one)) and used the mentioned test program to test each one to see whether it fixed the problem or not. The results are as follows: Hot Fix KB 981166 did not fix the problem. Hot Fix KB 982927 did fix the problem. So the correct answer to this issue is to simply install Hot Fix 982927. PLEASE MARK THIS POST AS THE ACTUAL ANSWER. "Fish" (David B. Trout)

David B. Trout, Thanks for the extra info. I'll remember this post and 2nd hot fix if the problem ever comes back, but to be honest, after I straightened my cable out its not occurred again - and I don't want to provoke it further. Thanks for the info though, I'll keep it in mind in case it returns. ( set an event trap to highlight the problem so I should know).

Hi George, Did this ever start occuring again? We are working with Microsoft on researching this. There seems to be a lot of random occurences of this error (meaning now the traditional reasons listed above) and MS is saying they still don't have it solved in all cases. We have seen it on several "clean" machines now.

I just looked for KB 982927 Hot Fix and it appears that it has been replaced by KB 2498472 .