Data error (CRC) occurs not only with built-in hard drive, but also with other drives: USB flash, external HDD. This usually happens in following cases: when downloading files via torrent, installing games and programs, copying and writing files.
A CRC error means that checksum file does not match what it should be. In other words, this file has been damaged or changed, so the program cannot process it.
Depending on the conditions under which this error occurred, a solution to the problem is formed.
Method 1: Using a working installation file/image
Problem: When installing a game or program on your computer, or when trying to burn an image, a CRC error occurs.
Solution: This usually happens because the file was downloaded with corruption. This could happen, for example, if the Internet is unstable. In this case, you need to download the installer again. If necessary, you can use a download manager or torrent program to avoid connection interruptions during downloading.
In addition, the downloaded file itself may be damaged, so if a problem occurs after downloading again, you need to find an alternative download source (“mirror” or torrent).
Method 2: Check the disk for errors
Problem: There is no access to the entire disk or installers saved on the hard drive that worked without problems before do not work. 
Solution: This problem may occur if the file system hard drive is broken or has bad sectors (physical or logical). If bad physical sectors cannot be corrected, then other situations can be resolved using programs to correct errors on the hard drive.
In one of our articles, we already talked about how to fix problems with the file system and sectors on the HDD.
Method 3: Finding the correct distribution on torrent
Problem: Downloaded via torrent installation file doesn't work. 
Solution: Most likely, you downloaded the so-called “broken distribution”. In this case, you need to find the same file on one of the torrent sites and download it again. A damaged file can be deleted from your hard drive.
Method 4: Check CD/DVD
Problem: When trying to copy files from a CD/DVD disk, a CRC error appears. 
Solution: Most likely, the surface of the disk is damaged. Check it for dust, dirt, scratches. If there is a clearly expressed physical defect, most likely nothing will be done. If you really need the information, you can try using utilities to recover data from damaged disks.
In almost all cases, one of the listed methods is enough to eliminate the error that appears.
When installing programs or games, it gives the error “ Error in CRC data the file cannot be copied". The same thing happens when copying some files from a disk or flash drive to a computer.
Most often, this error occurs for one of three reasons:
- The file you are trying to open or copy is damaged.
- Damaged media, flash drive, portable external hard disk, etc.
- The computer's RAM is damaged.
File damaged
If you downloaded from a torrent, then delete the files related to this distribution and the torrent file. Then download again and try to launch again. If the error repeats, then there may be a problem with the distribution and you need to find another distributor and download a new torrent file.
If you download from a flash drive or external hard disk and you receive this error, most likely the file needs to be copied to the media again, since it will no longer be possible to restore it.
Damaged media, flash drive or external hard drive
Click on it right click mouse -> Properties -> Tools -> Check for errors. If you're lucky, you'll be able to fix the errors in automatic mode, after which everything will work fine. If the check does not help, then the file cannot be restored, and the media will have to be changed.
Checking RAM
To check your RAM, download the MemTest program or an equivalent. It will help confirm the memory problem and then you will need to replace this module with RAM. You can find the MemTest program or an analogue in Google or Yandex in a couple of minutes by searching for “RAM diagnostics”.
If this article helped you, please write about it in the comments. If something doesn’t work out, write me, I’ll try to help.
External hard drive Seagate Backup Plus 1TB USB Portable was purchased almost two years ago.
All this time it worked flawlessly, did not fall, and there was no damage.
Perhaps it was incorrectly disconnected from the computer several times by unsafe removal, or by simply pulling out the cord from the USB connector...
The hard drive was used primarily for storage necessary information(software, source codes for completed work, etc.), often not used, periodically filled with information and sent to a distant shelf (where it is dark and dry). It was a little more than half full.
Once again, when the need arose to use it, the inscription appeared - " You must format the disk in the drive before you can use it. Format?"After this message appeared, there was a growing feeling of panic and the first thought - how to save data from external HDD?
I must say that the disk was detected as normal removable disk and when I tried to open it, I received a message about the need to format.
Always connected via USB 2.0 to the laptop.
After refusing to format the hard drive, I saw the message " CRC data error 23"
In "Disk Management" (For XP: Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management) it was also detected, but its file system was RAW!
After a long read of various resources, advice was found on how to save information using the program R-Studio .
In the disk panel, select the device and click “Scan”, default settings, that is, we will scan the entire disk for files of any type.
After scanning (it took me more than 4 hours), click “Show disk contents”, mark the files for recovery and click “Recover marked”.
After that, in the next window, select the path where to restore the files. Here we indicate another HDD installed in the system and click “Yes”:
Everything worked out, R-Studio helped solve the main problem - to save (remove) data from the HDD, while it was connected via USB. The panic began to subside, but there was still a misunderstanding of what happened to the device.
Next, I read that there are often reading failures due to a malfunction of the SATA-USB adapter inside the HDD box. To eliminate this, I disconnected the adapter and connected the Seagate to the SATA connector in the system unit.
When turned on, the system launched Scandisk to check the newly connected HDD:
During the check, several messages of the following type were received:
Deleting index entry...
And Inserting an index entry into...
After passing the check, the system booted and Seagate became available for opening.
Miracle! The information on it before the glitch was available for viewing.
There was also a folder on it found.000
Such folders contain files or their recovered fragments.
The next step was to run the Seagate virus scan.
No viruses were detected.
Next, you need to find out the technical condition of the hard drive using S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T.- This is a self-testing and reporting technology, present in all modern hard drives. Data on S.M.A.R.T. can be obtained using specialized software.
How to work with Victoria for Windows
To get started, in the “Standard” tab, click on the right side of the required device:
On the left appears information about the hard drive, the so-called device passport.
Afterwards, next to the “GET SMART” button, the general result of the HDD self-test will be displayed, in my case it says “GOOD”. This is already good.
On the right, the self-diagnosis test is described by indicators with their values for the current HDD.
The “Health” column (literally, health level) clearly displays the value of a particular parameter in the form of colored circles.
Green indicates an acceptable value, yellow indicates a value that requires attention and, if possible, action to improve.
Red circles indicate that the indicator value does not correspond to the normal range.
The parameter " deserves special attention" Reallocated sector count" - The number of transferred sectors, that is, those that S.M.A.R.T. considered faulty and from which information was transferred to the backup area. Accordingly, if the parameter value is more than 0, then there are “bad blocks” on the disk and the process of its “aging” has already started.
Overall, if S.M.A.R.T. turned out to be GOOD, then move on to the next tab “Test”, where Victoria allows you to conduct a thorough analysis of the disk surface for the presence of (bad) clusters. This process took me 2 and a half hours.
Here we select the “Ignor” mode (ignore the found bad blocks, that is, do not take any action with them for now, but only show information about their presence or absence.)
We indicate information about which blocks we want to receive:
All blocks are color coded depending on the amount of reading time:
After this, press the “Start” button.
While the scan is in progress, you can go about your business, the main thing is not to work with the hard drive on which the scan is running, otherwise this will significantly increase the analysis time.
On the left side of the window, the process of scanning the disk surface block by block clearly occurs and the number of certain sectors is displayed opposite the colored blocks.
If, upon completion of the check, there are red and blue sectors, this indicates that bad blocks have appeared on the hard drive and it is necessary to perform remapping, that is, replace the bad sector with a sector from the reserve area.
This can be done by turning on the "Remap" scanning mode and starting the process again.
In this mode, scanning will take even longer, because in addition to scanning, bad sectors will be overwritten.
In my case, upon completion of the disk check, I found 1 blue sector.
It is not clear where it came from, either due to a logical failure or physical damage.
In any case, almost every case of hard drive failure has individual characteristics. A lot of different factors can affect it, from power outages to system glitches.
As it became clear to me from reading a hundred or two articles on data recovery and detecting bad blocks, some hard drives continue to fail with increasing frequency, and some work flawlessly over the next years.
But in any case, you should not rely 100% on the device and especially important information If possible, it should be duplicated on another medium.
And if you have already discovered bad sectors, then periodically check the S.M.A.R.T. and test the surface of the hard drive once every six months to avoid unpleasant surprises.
I hope this note will be useful to someone and many thanks to the developers R-Studio, God bless you!
Manually editing the Windows registry to remove invalid ERROR_CRC keys is not recommended unless you are a PC service professional. Mistakes made when editing the registry can lead to inoperability of your PC and cause irreparable damage to your operating system. In fact, even one comma placed in the wrong place can prevent your computer from booting!
Due to this risk, we highly recommend using a trusted registry cleaner such as Reimage (developed by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner) to scan and fix any issues related to Error 23. Using a registry cleaner, you will be able to automate the process of finding damaged registry entries. links to missing files (for example, causing an ERROR_CRC error) and broken links within the registry. Before each scan, a backup, which allows you to undo any changes with one click and protects you from possible damage to your computer. The best part is that eliminating registry errors can dramatically improve system speed and performance.
Warning: Unless you are an experienced PC user, we DO NOT recommend manually editing the Windows Registry. Incorrect use Registry Editor can cause serious problems and require Windows reinstallation. We do not guarantee that problems resulting from incorrect use of Registry Editor can be corrected. You use Registry Editor at your own risk.
Before manually restoring Windows registry, you need to create a backup by exporting the portion of the registry associated with ERROR_CRC (for example, Windows Operating System):
- Click on the button Begin.
- Enter " command" V search bar... DON'T CLICK YET ENTER!
- While holding down the keys CTRL-Shift on your keyboard, press ENTER.
- A dialog box for access will be displayed.
- Click Yes.
- The black box opens with a blinking cursor.
- Enter " regedit" and press ENTER.
- In the Registry Editor, select the Error 23-related key (for example, Windows Operating System) that you want to back up.
- On the menu File select Export.
- On the list Save to Select the folder where you want to save the Windows Operating System key backup.
- In the field File name Enter a name for the backup file, for example "Windows Operating System backup".
- Make sure the field Export range value selected Selected branch.
- Click Save.
- The file will be saved with extension .reg.
- You now have a backup of your ERROR_CRC-related registry entry.
Next steps when manual editing registry errors will not be described in this article, as they are highly likely to damage your system. If you would like more information about manually editing the registry, please check out the links below.
In the days when CDs were the main temporary storage for files, this error occurred when reading mostly scratched and pirated discs. Today, the reasons for its appearance have become much more numerous (as there are also more ways to transfer files to the “screw”), although the error itself has become less common. We list the factors leading to failure:
- Damaged surface of the optical disc;
- Unstable network operation when transferring files over the Internet;
- An attempt to download or use a file that is known to be “broken”;
- Damaged hard drive surface;
- Violations in the file system structure (for example, in file system USB storage device).
In all these situations, you will either not be able to use the file at all, or this can only be done after recovery work. The OS recognizes the problem by the mismatch of the file's so-called checksum (or CRC), which is calculated when it is written to the media or attempted to be read from the media. The user is presented with a window with a diagnostic message: “Data error (CRC).”
How to treat CRC data error?
If the checksum of a file did not match before it was transferred to disk, then only searching for its analogue will help correct the situation. For example, having downloaded a broken torrent, it is useless to tinker with it. It is much easier to look for the same distribution in another place.
Or if this is a file downloaded from the Internet or it was copied to a flash drive, the easiest way is to download the file again.
If the problem arises systematically, then you should look for it under your nose. Firstly, it should.
Options hard checks disk on BAD sector in Victoria
As for the flash drive, you can try running a check for the presence and correction of errors on it. To do this:
- Select the flash drive icon in the “My Computer” window.
- Right-click on the icon.
- In the opened context menu select the “Properties” item.
- In the window that appears, go to the “Service” tab.
- Click on the “Run check” button from the “Disk check” group.
Checking for errors using built-in Windows tools
If this does not help, and the disk check did not show any serious problems with the media, then you should turn to the network quality testing tools. A file downloaded in pieces may become “broken” due to a network interruption during the download process. There are many tools available for this type of testing. Even built into Windows utility ping.
As you can see there is a data error crc hdd is related to the integrity of the file during reading of which it occurs. This may be due to problems with the file itself, or with the surface of the media on which it is located.