Disk-Read Error on Dell Laptop

I once had this exact problem on an old 486 PC with windows 98.

So I unplugged the Hard-Disk from the IDE cable, and connected it to another system as a "secondary-master" (IDE config) on this other system.

It turned, that the disk was completely full, not a bit left for further writing, just completely full. What I did was, to wipe some documents (photo albums), - Be careful not to wipe installed apps! - these are clients on the registry system !

Then, I scan-disk and de-fragmented it, re-plugged it back on the 486, and took it from there.

Take note > Scan-disk and defrag the Hard-Disk on the exact version of windows as the stuck system, otherwise you'll have to re-define it anew, and then format accordingly, thus loosing all data inside.

Yup, yuval's right. I've seen this happen also.

The thing is, a lot of people are using laptops for daily, normal use instead of a desktop. I don't think laptops were intended for this (at least for now). Your laptop is intended for taking along on trips or to the site. You load only the necessary software for you to do the job. When you get back to your office or home, transfer your files (not the programs) to your desktop. This way, your laptop's free disk space remains fairly constant.

Of course, you could bring along an external hard drive but that's an additional weight to lug around. Besides, if you drop it or it gets a hard knock, you could damage it irreversibly. If you're intending to use your laptop as your office or home PC, it might be okay since your external drive stays in one place.

But if you need to bring your laptop to places, better invest in a desktop where you can keep your files and just use the laptop for remote use like conducting seminars, fixing programming issues on field equipment or other similar activities.

Sounds like you need a bigger hard drive - or need to do some tidying up, & getting rid of some old stuff.

I got a second-hand Acer laptop a while ago, and cleared of all the previous user's junk. I still only had about 500M left of a 4G drive. I wrote & ran a utility to add up the sizes of all the 'visible' files, and there was nearly 2G that couldn't be accounted for. I eventually found that the system (Windows ME) was saving a restore-type file every time it was shut down - this was in a hidden folder, and accounted for the missing space.

By disabling and the re-enabling the restore file creation, the 2G re-appeared. I now do this every so often to keep things tidy.

When windows runs out of real memory it transfers memory contents that haven't been used recently (recently could be measured in seconds or less) to paging file. I can't remember the exact name Microsoft uses but you can change in the performance area of system tools I believe. It defaults to the size of the real memory that is installed, it should probably be larger. If you run out of virtual memory the file is too small.

I won't fo into the details of what a virtual memory operating system is but Windows is one and it uses smoke and mirrors to make you think that you have more RAM than you really have by temporarily swapping data back and forth between RAM and the disk file.

Hi HMC,

I am not 100% certain but I believe the paging or swap file on versions of windows later that 95 are dedicated and can't be used by the normal file system. That means if the normal file system fills up it will not fill up the swap or paging file. Windows dose however need a certain amount of free disk space to start up as it creates a whole host of files and logs at startup and if it can't create these files it tends to get upset. You should however be able to start you system up in safe mode even with a full disk.

As The_curious_one said virtual memory operating system use a portion of the hard disk the make it look like you have more RAM than you actually do. You can easily increase the size of the swap or paging file by going into

Control Panel / Performance and Maintenance / System / Advanced Tab

Then click the Settings button under performance and select the Advanced tab again.

At the bottom of the page you will see a section that has the details of your virtual memory and a command button labeled Change. If you click this button a window will open up that allows you to change the size of the paging file.

You will need to restart your system after changing the size of the paging file.

Having said that I have seen paging file full or paging file errors that are really caused by disk read errors. Unfortunately Windows is not the greatest product in the world at correctly reporting errors. It's not uncommon to be lead up the garden path by an error message that dose not relate directly to the real cause of the problem.

I have a feeling that the problem you are experiencing is due to a problem with the hard disk drive. Hard disk drives do not like being moved around and since laptops are designed to be moved around, hard disk drive failures are not uncommon. Try booting you laptop from the CD/DVD and see if you can access the hard disk that way. If you can't then I am afraid that the hard disk drive is a goner and will need to be replaced.

You do regular backups don't you?

If you don't you could be in serious trouble.

Either the disc is full or you need to back up and then replace the drive mine failed very suddenly after reporting an error. Do not delay the back up.

Backups are a critical part of using a computer and unfortunately something that often gets overlooked. I can guarantee that sooner or later there will be a hard disk drive failure that will cause the loss of data. Laptop and notebook computers, because of the nature of their use, are more prone than machines that are static and never moved. There is also another problem with notebook and laptop computers that you need to keep in the back of your mind and that is theft.

Ask yourself this question;

What would happen if somebody stole you computer?

Most people have their notebook or laptop insured against threat but not against a hard disk failure.

You must have a contingency plan to cover both because I can just about guarantee that sooner or later one of the two will happen.

Personally I use a notebook almost exclusively, this post is being prepared on one, and it runs pretty much 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The only time it's not running is when it is in transit. What I do is a full backup of the hard disk at least every 3 weeks. To do this I use the backup system that comes with windows and a second hard disk that I connect via a USB port.

In the last three years it has saved my bacon once.

If you think that the expense of having a second hard disk just to use for backups is too much then just compare it to the cost of loosing everything that is on your computer and having to start from scratch.

...expense of having a second hard disk...

one to two dollars per gigabyte, that is

Assuming you get access after doing what was suggested, look for a lot of .tmp files. Some viruses create these. Look directly in C: and in the temp folder, etc. (do a search to find them all). Also delete the temporary internet files and cookies if you need more space.

Hi,

one thing to note that is the disk read err is not at all related to the virtual 's memory ,virtual memory is something used to creat process internally and it's on depended on your ram capacity .

dsk rd err is due to your hard drive it might have got few bad sectors in it due to which it gives you an error or try chking the bios setup and chk weather the mb detects your hd ,

thanks

khaleel

• one thing to note that is the disk read err is not at all related to the virtual 's memory ,virtual memory is something used to creat process internally and it's on depended on your ram capacity .

I am not 100% clear on what you are trying to say but I get the impression you have a grave misunderstanding of what "virtual memory" is and how it works.

Virtual memory is a technique that is utilized to extend the RAM capacity of a computer system. Basically is works by dividing up the RAM into block of memory called "pages". The operating system then keeps a record of each page including who owns it, how often it has been accessed and when it was last accessed plus a few other things. When your system detects that it is starting to run out of RAM it searches through the table to find a page of memory that hasn't been used for a while and copies the contents out to the paging or swap file on the hard disk drive. The result is a freed up page of RAM that can be utilized by applications that are more active.

So, virtual memory is actually an extension of the RAM that utilizes disk space as a temporary storage area to store RAM data that is not currently being utilized.

Since the system is utilizing the hard disk drive to temporarily store data and information that would normally reside in RAM hard disk problems can have some really weird and wacky results including RAM errors.

Great explanation Masu!

I always thought that virtual memory (VM) was hard disk space being used as RAM, sort of like an extension of the on-board RAM. The reason why I thought this to be the case was because the message "Virtual Memory running low" seems to mean that the additional memory capacity that VM provides is becoming inadequate.