If you have ever run a Check Disk (Chkdsk.exe) you will see results like 4 EA RECORDS PROCESSED and 76 REPARSE RECORDS PROCESSED. At first review, these are likely something that concerns you but they should not:
EA Records are Extended Attribute records. They’re a feature of NTFS that allows for a file to have custom extra metadata stored along with it (metadata that is not interpretable to the file system). EA records are a somewhat obscure feature of NTFS that are used very infrequently, but having a few of them doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with your filesystem.
As an interesting side note, EA records are actually intended to support the emulation of OS/2, an early Microsoft operating system that is still used in some legacy systems (support officially ended 2006). Wikipedia notes that some Windows POSIX layers use EA records to store unix permissions fields.
Reparse Records establish Reparse Points within your file system. Reparse Points are a very interesting feature of NTFS that allow a file to be tagged with some data that will essentially result in a program (an FS Filter, sort of like a driver) being run every time you access the file. They’re not used a lot, most notably they are used to create symlinks in Windows (via the
mklinkcommand) and for volume mount points (this is an obscure feature of Windows that allows you to mount a device as a folder in another device, somewhat like the Unix file system). A normal Windows install will have a number of them that are set up by the installer.tl;dr: these entries both refer to infrequently used features of NTFS, which is why there’s a small number of occurrences of each. They don’t indicate any kind of problem with your file system or operating system.
From J Crawfordor at http://superuser.com/questions/292338/chkdsk-questions
9 Comments
Rich Travis · March 10, 2023 at 5:56 pm
Just a fyi.. OS/2 IS A IBM operating system. Dev started when the huge, most powerful computer company in the world, IBM brought in a tiny little software upstart called “Microsoft”, which had managed to buy something called DOS and then improve it somewhat, licensing it to IBM as PC-DOS for the earliest PC’s. they wanted a slightly more user friendly os. The partnership brought about “OS/2 WARP” and windows new technology. Then, when Microsoft had profited enough, they decided to severe it’s relationship with “still” huge IBM, and come out with Windows 95… They released warp and 95 near simultaneously, and by any conceivable measurement, OS/2 WARP was better that windows 95. Lots. Loads. No contest. But…. Bill Gates had offered win95 for oh, about $5 a copy to the major PC makers, LESS than even MS-DOS. so every new computer (aside from those from IBM) HAD WINDOWS 95. and THAT is why bill gates is bill gates, IBM is no longer THE computer company, and (oh yeah) why we are suffering through windows 8.1, 10, 11, etc. Monopoly.
Ian Matthews · March 13, 2023 at 10:28 pm
Hi Rich;
You raise some good points. I worked at IBM doing at doing AptivaPC and OS/2 support in the 1990 and I remember very clearly when OS/2 warp came out. We were given advanced copies of it because we needed to support it.
As far as Microsoft’s marketing (promotion and pricing) goes it was untouchable back then and windows 95 I think was one was one heck of a lot prettier than OS/2 and I think Win95 was also easier to use.
That being said I was quite sad when OS/2 went away. While I look for alternatives to Windows I purchased a retail box copy of BeOS which I still have today. BeOS was written by one of the major Mac developer, Jean Louise Gassee and it looked to me to have a lot of promise but as a lot of the critics said at the time it just didn’t have enough funding behind it to make it go and now my BeOS box is a collectors item 🙂
Then Linux came along in a big way and and while it certainly has its upsides I just couldn’t stand dealing with the Linux people. I found them very snooty and intentionally difficult. Windows people shared their knowledge while Linux people tried to keep their fiefdom and I lost interest.
Today I’m certified in a whole pile of Microsoft things including Azure, Office and several Windows operating systems, and work full time as level 3 Windows Server tech.
I still have copyrights on my wall for games that I wrote on the Commodore PET in machine language and BASIC. The story of how they negotiated the deal was told to me by Chuck Peddle (arguably the true father of the PC) himself. Chuck died last year so I suppose now I could write the write the story he told me (and a couple of other people have confirmed) but it boils down to Microsoft didn’t think Commodore was going to go anywhere in 1976/7 and so they gave them a flat rate just to get them to stop phoning. That deal meant that it cost Commodore less than a penny per machine by the time Commodore was done. To get basic version four Microsoft insisted on renegotiating the deal but by that point Commodore had sold millions.
I could keep ranting about CP/M and other operating systems that I liked but in the end Microsoft one and I think the industry flourished as a result of the standardization so as much as some may not like it I really do think that it jumped the industry ahead by years to have a single platform.
If you’re interested call I also founded and operate http://www.Commodore.ca and there’s a pile of cool stuff there including a real Commodore 64 arcade where the games literally load in your browser. It is not fake; you can even press ESC while games are loading and run real Commodore BASIC commands.
Thanks for checking in with us 🙂
Stop stealing other peoples work · August 3, 2021 at 5:41 am
You stole this from stackoverflow, you plagiarist.
Ian Matthews · August 4, 2021 at 4:27 pm
I realize that you did not have the courage to use a real email address when you made an egregious accusation, so you will not receive an email message. However on the off chance you check back to see if we published your comment, we did and you are wrong. THE ARTICLE CLEARLY STATES: From J Crawfordor at http://superuser.com/questions/292338/chkdsk-questions
Hiding behind the internet vail does not give you the right to make wild accusations. The least you can do is stand up and ASK a question about the source rather than screaming like a child.
Your apology is accepted!
Whatever · October 23, 2017 at 1:42 pm
What does it mean when chkdsk says you have >54000 (54 thousands) of EA records, yet this is a new hard disk and Windows 8.1 just has been installed on it?
Ian Matthews · December 28, 2017 at 11:18 am
That is a good question and I don’t have an answer to it, but I will ask Microsoft and post their response if it is useful.
Jim · November 22, 2019 at 6:02 am
was there ever an answer to 54000 EA records?
Ian Matthews · November 27, 2019 at 4:28 pm
If the disk has many other problems noted in a Chkdsk I would be worried but as stated in the article, I don’t think it is much to be concerned about.
DannyhelMont · February 7, 2017 at 8:59 am
~ Nice! Thx for the Info’. ;D