Lost partitions HELP !???
Johnny B
hard drive, W98 & W2k Dual Boot, originally 4 partitions....
Partition 1 : C:\ = Win 98se OS and program files
Partition 2 : D:\ = Win2000 OS and program files
Partition 3 : E:\ = Storage space for files, etc
Partition 4 : F:\ = Storage space for downloads, etc
Computer crashed, power failure..... will not reboot into W2k..... but
will into 98se
Apon boot into 98se, partition 2 (W2000) is inaccessible, lists no size,
no label, nothing only says D: [local disk] in 'My Computer'
Partitions 3 & 4 are just gone.... don't show anything at all....
Have partition magic 8, won't start... errors...
Error 117 Partition's drive letter cannot be identified
Error 109 Partition ends after end of disk
In over my head now, and about to panic...... lots of files on the
'missing' partitions that I NEED to get back.....
Can someone who knows more about this than I do please help ? I'm about at
my wits end now.....
Thank you for ANYTHING in advance.....
John
P.S. .................
Using the partition info tool gives this..............
PowerQuest PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows 95/98/Me Version
Date Generated: 11/06/03 20:01:19
Copyright (c)1994-2002, PowerQuest Corporation
Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.
PowerQuest, makers of PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and DriveCopy(tm),
can be reached at:
Voice: 801-437-8900
Fax: 801-226-8941
Web site: http://www.powerquest.com/support/
E-mail: ma...@powerquest.com
General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 804,712,448
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 606,736,384
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,342,767,104
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 172,662,784
============================================================================
===============================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 14593 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63
Sectors/Track
Warning: Logical drive chain points to sector without partition table.
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect
StartSect NumSects
============================================================================
===============================
NO NAME 0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 501 254 63
63 40,965,687
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 0C 2549 254 63 63 40965687
0 1 00 585 0 1 0F 1023 172 39
117,226,3051,228,678,140
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 00 7297 0 1 0F 83778 172 39 1172263051228678140
Error #109: Partition ends after end of disk.
ucEndCylinder (83778) must be less than 14593.
Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndHead expected to be 254, not 172.
Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 39.
============================================================================
===============================
Partition Information for Disk 1: 114,471.0 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
============================================================================
===============================
C:NO NAME FAT32X Pri,Boot 20,002.8 0 0 63
40,965,687
Unallocated Pri 37,236.6 None -- 40,965,750
76,260,555
ExtendedX Pri 599,940.5 0 1
117,226,3051,228,678,140
EPBR Log 0.0 None -- 117,226,305
63
Unallocated Log 57,231.5 None -- 117,226,368
117,210,177
Unallocated Log 542,703.6 None --
234,436,5451,111,457,025
============================================================================
===============================
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
============================================================================
===============================
1. Jump: EB 58 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 32
5. Reserved Sectors: 32
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 40965687 (0x2711637)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 9999
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 2 (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x0B1E0A0B
26. Volume Name: NO NAME
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
Pegasus (MVP)
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/~tkuurstra/downloads.htm
http://www.restorer2000.com/r2k.htm
http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,001CVX,.html
http://www.hddrecovery.com.au
After you have recovered from this mishap, you may want to
review your backup philosophy. If your files are important then
you must back them up every week. If you don't back them up
then they are not important, because you're quite prepared to
lose them. The decision is yours.
"Johnny B" <m...@here.com> wrote in message
news:bjCqb.30064$o96.4...@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net...
Robert Green
> hard drive, W98 & W2k Dual Boot, originally 4 partitions....
>
> Partition 1 : C:\ = Win 98se OS and program files
>
> Partition 2 : D:\ = Win2000 OS and program files
>
> Partition 3 : E:\ = Storage space for files, etc
>
> Partition 4 : F:\ = Storage space for downloads, etc
>
> Computer crashed, power failure..... will not reboot into W2k..... but
> will into 98se
>
> Apon boot into 98se, partition 2 (W2000) is inaccessible, lists no size,
> no label, nothing only says D: [local disk] in 'My Computer'
> Partitions 3 & 4 are just gone.... don't show anything at all....
You have a corrupt partition table. The record for drive C: looks OK but
there is bad data in the record for the extended partition.
You can get a free utility that will likely be able to fix this at the site
in my sig.
Robert Green
FileRecovery.Biz
BootMaster Partition Recovery
http://bootmaster.filerecovery.biz
bob[dot]green[at]filerecovery[dot]biz
Johnny B
Your little program did the trick on the FIRST try ! I am absolutely
astonished... Bravo to you sir ! And the instructions on the website
couldn't have been any easier to follow... I really dreaded dealing with
this problem, since It's an area that my computer experience was SORELY
lacking in and some of the other programs I'd looked at were a LOT more
complicated to understand (not to mention the fact that HEX codes HATE me,
haha ) But I was shocked at how easily it all worked out.......
Damn good show ! The only thing I had to do, once your program was done,
was to reset the C:\ partition to active using Fdisk... Don't know if
that's a common thing, but if it is, it could certainly be helpful to others
to know that as well. Might want to note that on the website... If I didn't
know what to look for, I would have been stumped.... fortunately, I've
spent plenty of time dealing with Fdisk in my travels...
Now, off to go read up on MBR's and such :O) haha
Thank you again ! I am eternally grateful,
J. Bittner
Robert Green
> Bob, you my friend, are a gift from the gods !!!
>
> Your little program did the trick on the FIRST try ! I am absolutely
> astonished... Bravo to you sir ! And the instructions on the website
> couldn't have been any easier to follow... I really dreaded dealing with
> this problem, since It's an area that my computer experience was SORELY
> lacking in and some of the other programs I'd looked at were a LOT more
> complicated to understand (not to mention the fact that HEX codes HATE me,
> haha ) But I was shocked at how easily it all worked out.......
I'm glad it worked out for you, and thanks for the kind words.
> Damn good show ! The only thing I had to do, once your program was done,
> was to reset the C:\ partition to active using Fdisk... Don't know if
> that's a common thing, but if it is, it could certainly be helpful to others
> to know that as well. Might want to note that on the website... If I didn't
> know what to look for, I would have been stumped.... fortunately, I've
> spent plenty of time dealing with Fdisk in my travels...
Actually, you could have reset the partition to active from within
BootMaster (with the F6 key, Toggle Active). That is mentioned in the
on-disk help file, but I forgot about it when writing the on-line
help. I'll fix that - thanks for pointing it out.
> Now, off to go read up on MBR's and such :O) haha
>
> Thank you again ! I am eternally grateful,
You are welcome.
Dom
Bob, I can only reiterate what a great little utility this is. My 3
disk, multi partition XP/Linux dual boot system went down the pan when
I was playing about with different boot managers which are bundled
with different Linux distributions (BE WARNED), it seems that
different partition tools/manager are not always compatible- but they
don't tell you and you realise the hard way.
Boot master was able to easily rebuild a virtual MBR then successfully
write it to the disk, though only after I had removed the write
protect tab from the floppy! Before that I just got a funny error
message which didn't indicate I should remove the write protect.
I can't thank you enough, a real life saver. Can you recommend a GOOD
boot manager to use so I can avoid disasters like this again?
Cheers and thanks everso much.
Dom
Robert Green
> las...@bellsouth.net (Robert Green) wrote in message news:<1475bf2.03110...@posting.google.com>...
> > "Johnny B" <m...@here.com> wrote in message news:<g1Wqb.22481$Ex1.6...@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>...
Hi, Dom
Right. The error handler was originally written with only MS-DOS in
mind. The next release of BootMaster will accomodate FreeDOS a bit
more gracefully, and write-protect errors will be reported correctly.
I should also point out for others who dual boot Win/Linux that
BootMaster was not designed to accomodate Linux, although it will
handle it under limited circumstances. But when creating a virtual MBR
any primary Ext2/Ext3 partitions will not be recognized. To those who
discover this for themselves I would point that BootMaster has an
excellent undo procedure ;-). At present I recommend BootMaster for
use only on drives with exclusively FAT and/or NTFS partitions.
> I can't thank you enough, a real life saver. Can you recommend a GOOD
> boot manager to use so I can avoid disasters like this again?
I don't use one myself. A couple of knowledgeable friends use
Powerquest Boot Magic and swear by it. It is a commercial program.
> Cheers and thanks everso much.
You are welcome. I am glad it worked out for you.
> Dom
Bob
Pegasus (MVP)
"Dom" <dom_as...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:308a7461.03111...@posting.google.com...
XOSL is an excellent boot manager, and it's free. It supports
all versions of DOS & Windows, and Linux. You can have as
many OSs on your machine as there are letters in the alphabet,
each of them completely contained in its own partition.
Dom
Thanks for that Bob. I was only really concerned with my NTFS
partitions. Do you have plans to extend coverage to Linux filesystems?
Thanks again
Dom
owlbird
Robert Green
> Thanks for that Bob. I was only really concerned with my NTFS
> partitions.
Right. I just wanted to be sure there were no misunderstandings by
others reading the thread.
> Do you have plans to extend coverage to Linux filesystems?
Yes, but I don't know when I'll get around to it.
Bob