Partition HELP!!!
Sam
Recently, my 45gig WD HDD lost its FAT32 partition table, and is no longer
recognised nor assigned a drive letter in DOS. I have run FDISK, and it can
no longer see the partition (which was a single 45gig partition). Through
some other software that I had, I was able to see that the files still exist
on the disk, and that it is only the partition table that is corrupt.
Does anyone know of a program that can re-create the partition tables on a
HDD, to fix this sort of problem??
Could replies be posted and emailed please...
Thanks in advance!
Sam.
Tom Pfeifer
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html
Put it on a floppy disk, and then see this page for a summary on how to
use it:
http://www.webdev.net/orca/mbrwork.htm
There's a good possibility that MBRWork will get the partition itself
back, but if there is other damage to the partition such as a bad boot
record or damaged FAT, you may still not be able to access the files.
If not, there should be no further damage done from trying, and you
could still use a program like Lost & Found from PowerQuest. That
program is not free, but if you really need the files back, it has a
good track record in situations like yours. There is a free trial
version that you can use to see if it will work, but you will have to
buy it to actually get files back.
Tom
Tom Pfeifer
You will have to reboot after attemting recovery for the changes to take
affect.
On that help page, step 6 should read like this:
6. Option 5: Install standard MBR code (you may reinstall a boot manager
after)
Tom
Tom Pfeifer wrote:
>
> You can try MBRWork found here:
>
> http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html
>
> Put it on a floppy disk, and then see this page for a summary on how to
> use it:
>
> http://www.webdev.net/orca/mbrwork.htm
>
> There's a good possibility that MBRWork will get the partition itself
> back, but if there is other damage to the partition such as a bad boot
> record or damaged FAT, you may still not be able to access the files.
>
> If not, there should be no further damage done from trying, and you
> could still use a program like Lost & Found from PowerQuest. That
> program is not free, but if you really need the files back, it has a
> good track record in situations like yours. There is a free trial
> version that you can use to see if it will work, but you will have to
> buy it to actually get files back.
>
> http://www.powerquest.com
>
> Tom
>
> Sam wrote:
> >
Sam
Sam.
Tom Pfeifer <tpl...@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:39E448FF...@optonline.net...
ragthorn
I have a similar problem to Sam, but with a slight twist. I have set
up a couple of dual boot machines without trouble but last night
however I came across a new problem - Installing Caldera Open Linux
(2.2) seems to have hosed Win98. The PC has 2 HDD's:
Disk1=32MB FAT16 (boot area), and ~3GB FAT32 (Win98)
Disk2=1.5 GB NTFS (NTW) , 3GB ext2 (Linux), and an extended partition
with 128 MB Linux swap and some free space.
I installed Linux with LILO only on a boot floppy so as not to bugger
the MBR, but it doesn't seem to have helped. After installation
Linux works OK, as does NT, but Win98 is dead. When I try to boot
Win98 from the NT boot loader I get the following response:
***************
The following file is missing or corrupted: D:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
The following file is missing or corrupted: D:\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS
The following file is missing or corrupted: D:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
The following file is missing or corrupted: WIN.COM
C:\>
Cannot find WIN.COM, unable to continue loading windows
C:\>
***************
and if I try do access the D:\ (where windows is loaded) I get told
"Invalid Drive Specification". The weird part is that both Linux's
and DOS's FDISK see the partition and correctly recognise that it is
FAT32 and the right size (where as Sams FDISK didn't see the
partition). Even weirder is that NT (using FAT32 for NT from
www.sysinternals.com) correctly picks up the partition, and makes it
available (read-only though - as its freeware), so the data is still
all there, but DOS (version 7?) can't see it.
All I can think of is that either the partition table is stuffed, or
some how my copies of bootsect.dos or io.sys have been corrupted.
Does any one here have any idea how I can get it working again?
Thanks in advance for all help.
Cheers.
Tom Pfeifer
A good start might be to download partinfo.exe from the PowerQuest ftp
site, and then run it from a DOS prompt like this:
partinfo > partinfo.txt
...and then include the contents of partinfo.txt in a post to this
thread. Partinfo.exe reads data from your partition tables and puts it
in the text file. It will also flag any partition table errors. You can
find partinfo.exe here:
ftp://ftp.powerquest.com/pub/utilities
Beyond that, I am always a bit suspicious when I see a non-DOS partition
positioned last inside an extended partition as your Linux swap
partition is. Win9X historically has problems with that, although I'm
not sure that this is related to your problem. But the fact that NT can
see the partition OK makes me wonder, as well as the fact that your
problem started after installing Linux.
One way to test it might be to disable your 2nd drive in the BIOS setup
temporarily and see if your Win98 problem goes away. If it does, that
would point to something on the 2nd drive that it doesn't like. Based on
your description, you should still be able to boot Win98 without the 2nd
drive present. If you do that, be sure to make a note of the drive
settings in the BIOS so you can re-enable it the same way again.
Tom
ragthorn
weekend and upload the output on monday for general perusal (thanks
for all the help by the way - I really don't want to have to reformat
and start again)
I'll also try dumping my 2nd drive temporarily to see if that works,
but another though just formed in my overworked head - If Win9x/DOS
has a problem with non-DOS partitions as the last logical drive, then
I'll also try just sticking a logical FAT16 partition in the extended
partition after the LInux swap space (Iwas planning to do that anyway
to share between all the OS's), maybe, just maybe with a DOS partition
as the last logical drive it might all come back to life? I'll try it
anyway.
Thinking back on it the last to dual-booters I set up did have DOS
partitions after any Linux space - and they never had any trouble...
Other than that, the powerquest ftp site has loads of interesting
looking tools in that directory, any idea what the others do?
Cheers and thanks again.
<SNIP/>
Tom Pfeifer
ragthorn wrote:
>
> I have downloaded partinfo.exe so I'll give it a crack over the
> weekend and upload the output on monday for general perusal (thanks
> for all the help by the way - I really don't want to have to reformat
> and start again)
>
> I'll also try dumping my 2nd drive temporarily to see if that works,
> but another though just formed in my overworked head - If Win9x/DOS
> has a problem with non-DOS partitions as the last logical drive, then
> I'll also try just sticking a logical FAT16 partition in the extended
> partition after the LInux swap space (Iwas planning to do that anyway
> to share between all the OS's), maybe, just maybe with a DOS partition
> as the last logical drive it might all come back to life? I'll try it
> anyway.
>
> Thinking back on it the last to dual-booters I set up did have DOS
> partitions after any Linux space - and they never had any trouble...
>
> Other than that, the powerquest ftp site has loads of interesting
> looking tools in that directory, any idea what the others do?
Yes, adding a partition after the Linux swap partition would be another
way to go about it. Probably a better way, as long as you're going to do
it anyway.
Most of those files at the ftp site are shipped with various PQ
products. Ptedit.exe is a good partition table editor that runs from
DOS. Ptedit32.exe is the Windows version. Resize2fs is an ext2fs file
system resizer that runs from Linux. I've never tried it since I have
PM4 & PM5 that can also do that.
Tom
ragthorn
different woes. I stuck a FAT 16 logical partition after the Linux
swap space, and suddenly I could see my Win98 partition again (still
can;t figure out why this works but there you go...). The only
trouble was that due to the unusual way that DOS assign's drive
letters, what was D: became E: (DOS assigns logical drives before
'extra' primaries - go figure), so I grabbed my copy of Drive Image
pro, imaged the 2 recovered partitions, delete them, created an
extended partition + 2 logical partitions, and then tried to put the
images back.
Well all seemd to worked except DI hung 38% through the second image
(luckily no the important one). After rebooting Win98 was once again
up and running on D: and even the second drive had all of it's data
intact even though DI had crashed. Just to be sure though I booted
into all of the OS's.
The only problem was that the First (Primary) partition on the second
drive, which had my working NT installation, wouldn't boot up as the
OS Loader couldn't find <winnt>\system32\ntoskernal.exe (?). So I
rebooted to my Emergancy NT and went into disk admin which saw the
partition as "Unknown" format. I thought this was odd, so I checked
it in a few other places. Linux's FDisk sees it as an HPFS OS/2
partition (which is fine as it always sees NTFS as HPFS), DOS's FDisk
also see's it correctly as NTFS as does Ranish Partition manager.
Sysinternals NTFS for DOS doesn't see it at all, but weirdest of all,
I ran the Partinfo.exe from powerquest's site, and this is what I got
for the second disk:
Disk 1: 19563.5 Megabytes
==============Partition Information ======================
Volume Partition Partition Start Total
Letter:Label Type Status Size MB Sector # Sector Sectors
------------- --------------- -------- ------- --------- - ---------
QNX, UN*X Pri,Boot 1521.8 0 0 63 3116547
NTFS Pri 3074.9 0 1 3116610 6297480
Somehow my partition table now sees it as a QNX partition!! How I
don't know, what I really need to know is how to adjust/repair the
partition type-id in a non-destructive way. I thought about using the
disk-probe tool from the NT4 reskit, but I really have no idea what to
look for or change. I downloaded VolumeID.exe from sysinternals but
there is no indication of what values and format to use in the
command-line so I figured I'd ask for advice first.
Reading Tom's reply (below) would Ptedit.exe from powerquest do the
job, or would I need something else? I hope that once I get this
fixed I won't need to bother the list again, but I will be happy to
try and help anybody with similar problems (I can at least point them
in the right direction for tools after all this).
Once again, thanks in advance for all the help. I always used to
underestimate how helpful newsgroups were. Never again after this
last weekend.
Cheers.
On Fri, 13 Oct 2000 16:13:28 -0400, Tom Pfeifer
<tpl...@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>ragthorn wrote:
>>
>> I have downloaded partinfo.exe so I'll give it a crack over the
>> weekend and upload the output on monday for general perusal (thanks
>> for all the help by the way - I really don't want to have to reformat
>> and start again)
>>
<SNIP/>
Tom Pfeifer
You sort of lost me as to what exactly you did, but the basic problem
now sounds like NT can't find it's partition on the 2nd drive, possibly
because you have changed it's location in the partition table (but not
necessarily it's physical position on the drive). NT keeps track of the
partition table location in the c:\boot.ini file.
To explain, the partition table in the MBR of each drive has up to 4
primary partition records. Some can be blank depending on how many
primary partitions you have, and one of those primaries can be an
extended partition. Partinfo would list these 4 partition records as
partition # 0, 1, 2 & 3 if you had 4 primary partitions. But a partition
in slot 0 of the partition table does not necessarily mean that it is
located physically at the beginning of the drive - it could be anywhere.
But boot.ini keeps track of partitions by partition table slot, not by
physical order on the drive.
As for editing the partition type, ptedit can do that if necessary, but
first it would really help if I could see all your partition information
for both drives (from partinfo) so I can be clear on what you have
there. That would show numerical partition types which may help.
Also, in your first post you said you had an NTFS primary (1.5 GB), and
a Linux primary (3 GB) on the 2nd drive. Now partinfo is showing the
NTFS partition to be 3 GB in the 2nd partition table slot (1), and this
other "QNX" partition as 1.5 GB in the first partition table slot (0).
Was your first post incorrect or....??
Also, if you post the contents of c:\boot.ini here it may help. Boot.ini
is just a text file, and it may be possible to fix your NT problem by
editing it.
Tom
ragthorn
the time, also I re-read my first post and I did forget the second
NTFS partition from the description - sorry.
I have attached a zipfile that contains 2 text files partinfo1.txt and
partinfo2.txt. Luciky I took the partinfo1 snapshot before I did any
buggering around and partinfo2 is as it stands now so you have a good
before and after view of things. I'm at college now so I don't have a
copy of the boot.ini for the 2 NT's but looking at the partinfo output
the NTFS drives (including the one that doesn't work) haven't changed
so that probably isn't the problem - I'll bring a copy of it in
tomorrow and I can mail it to you if needs be. As far as I can
remember it is something like (sorry about the word wrapping):
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Server Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Server Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation
Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"
I'm not sure about the last line, but the rest I'm 99% sure about.
When all is said and done - as far as I can tell - somehow the NT
server partition as seen from the Partinfo files has switched from
"NTFS" to "QNX UN*X" and so NT says "Can't read from there" and stops
trying.
Thanks again - I hope you're not wasting too much time on this.
Cheers.
<SNIPPED extensive post/>
ragthorn
Tom Pfeifer
partition type of that first primary is in fact 07 which *is* NTFS. Very
strange that partinfo sees it as "QNX". There is such a thing as a QNX
partition type, but it's nowhere near 07.
It also doesn't look like boot.ini is your problem. It just looks like
NT can't recognize that first primary for some unknown reason that
doesn't show up in partinfo. The fact that the "QNX" shows up there is
probably a side affect of whatever is wrong with that partition, but I'm
at a loss to suggest what the problem may be.
This is probably not related to your NT problem, but one thing that is
wrong is the extended partition type on the 2nd drive. For Win9X's sake,
it should be a type 0F instead of type 05.
========================== Partition Tables =========================
Partition -----Begin---- ------End----- Start Num
Sector # Boot Cyl Head Sect FS Cyl Head Sect Sect Sects
--------- - ---- ---- ---- ---- -- ---- ---- ---- --------- ---------
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 193 254 63 63 3116547
0 1 00 194 0 1 07 585 254 63 3116610 6297480
0 2 00 586 0 1 83 977 254 63 9414090 6297480
0 3 00 978 0 1 05 1023 254 63 15711570 24354540
Actual values are: ^^
0 3 00 978 0 1 05 2493 254 63 15711570 24354540
^^
Type 0F is an LBA type extended partition, intended to be used on drives
where the extended partition extends beyond 1024 cylinders. That type 05
extended partition was probably created by a Linux or NT partitioning
tool, since Win9X fdisk would have automatically created a type 0F on
that drive. That could be changed using ptedit. Only the main extended
partition itself should be changed - those other type 05 partitions
(EPBR) inside the extended partition should remain as type 05.
But that's all I see wrong right now. I assume both NT installations
worked OK before?
Tom
ragthorn
<tpfe...@optonline.net> wrote:
>I don't see anything that has changed on the 2nd drive. The actual
>partition type of that first primary is in fact 07 which *is* NTFS. Very
>strange that partinfo sees it as "QNX". There is such a thing as a QNX
>partition type, but it's nowhere near 07.
>
>It also doesn't look like boot.ini is your problem. It just looks like
>NT can't recognize that first primary for some unknown reason that
>doesn't show up in partinfo. The fact that the "QNX" shows up there is
>probably a side affect of whatever is wrong with that partition, but I'm
>at a loss to suggest what the problem may be.
I told you it was weird. As I've probably said before everything else
sees it as an NTFS partition, it is only partinfo that doesn't (I
downloaded ptedit, and it see's it as type 07 also). I don't suppose
there is anyway to 'force' it to become NTFS again and visible to the
boot loader? Or do you reckon it is a case of bite the bullet and
start from scratch?
>This is probably not related to your NT problem, but one thing that is
>wrong is the extended partition type on the 2nd drive. For Win9X's sake,
>it should be a type 0F instead of type 05.
You mention below about using PTEdit to alter the partition type. Is
it purely as simple as typing in 0F where the EPBR says 05, or are
there other considerations? Will the other OS recognise it properly
as an extended and behave as if there was no change (I rememeber
reading somewhere that 05 and 0F were virtually identicle).
I'll give that a go first and see if it miraculously returns my NT
partition. I was pretty suprised when my 9x partitionreturned from
the dead purely be adding a FAT partition on the end of a different
disk (I still can't work out why that all happend).
>========================== Partition Tables =========================
>Partition -----Begin---- ------End----- Start Num
>Sector # Boot Cyl Head Sect FS Cyl Head Sect Sect Sects
>--------- - ---- ---- ---- ---- -- ---- ---- ---- --------- ---------
> 0 0 80 0 1 1 07 193 254 63 63 3116547
> 0 1 00 194 0 1 07 585 254 63 3116610 6297480
> 0 2 00 586 0 1 83 977 254 63 9414090 6297480
> 0 3 00 978 0 1 05 1023 254 63 15711570 24354540
>Actual values are: ^^
> 0 3 00 978 0 1 05 2493 254 63 15711570 24354540
> ^^
>
>Type 0F is an LBA type extended partition, intended to be used on drives
>where the extended partition extends beyond 1024 cylinders. That type 05
>extended partition was probably created by a Linux or NT partitioning
>tool, since Win9X fdisk would have automatically created a type 0F on
>that drive. That could be changed using ptedit. Only the main extended
>partition itself should be changed - those other type 05 partitions
>(EPBR) inside the extended partition should remain as type 05.
>
>But that's all I see wrong right now. I assume both NT installations
>worked OK before?
>
>Tom
Once again, many many thanks.
Cheers.
Tom Pfeifer
Responses are in line below:
ragthorn wrote:
>
> I told you it was weird. As I've probably said before everything else
> sees it as an NTFS partition, it is only partinfo that doesn't (I
> downloaded ptedit, and it see's it as type 07 also). I don't suppose
> there is anyway to 'force' it to become NTFS again and visible to the
> boot loader? Or do you reckon it is a case of bite the bullet and
> start from scratch?
It doesn't look like NT recognizes it either if it won't boot. Does the
other NT partition on the 2nd primary boot OK? I'm not sure what to
suggest since I don't understand why it's happening.
> You mention below about using PTEdit to alter the partition type. Is
> it purely as simple as typing in 0F where the EPBR says 05, or are
> there other considerations? Will the other OS recognise it properly
> as an extended and behave as if there was no change (I rememeber
> reading somewhere that 05 and 0F were virtually identicle).
When you start up ptedit and select the 2nd hard drive, it will display
your partition table located in the MBR sector of that drive. The 4th
line will be your type 05 extended partition. All you need to do is
change that to an 0F, save the change, and reboot. There are other 05
partitions inside the extended, but you don't want to change those -
they should remain type 05.
Again, I don't know what, if any, affect this will have on your problem,
but NT and Linux will recognize the type 0F extended partition. NT and
Linux don't require a type 0F on that drive, while Win9X does if the
extended partition goes beyond the 1024th cylinder as yours does.
>
> I'll give that a go first and see if it miraculously returns my NT
> partition. I was pretty suprised when my 9x partitionreturned from
> the dead purely be adding a FAT partition on the end of a different
> disk (I still can't work out why that all happend).
It's the result of a bug (MS would probably consider it to be an
unsupported configuration) in how Win9X handles extended partitions that
contain non-DOS partitions. I've never seen anything on it from MS - not
sure they even know about it. But it's been around since original Win95,
and I understand it still exists in Millennium. I run Linux, so I've
seen it myself on my own machines. As long as you're aware of it and
know how to avoid it, it's not so bad.
Hope you get things straightened out. You're having your share of
strange problems that's for sure :-)
Tom
Svend Olaf Mikkelsen
>On Mon, 16 Oct 2000 14:45:46 -0500, Tom Pfeifer
><tpfe...@optonline.net> wrote:
>>It also doesn't look like boot.ini is your problem. It just looks like
>>NT can't recognize that first primary for some unknown reason that
>>doesn't show up in partinfo. The fact that the "QNX" shows up there is
>>probably a side affect of whatever is wrong with that partition, but I'm
>>at a loss to suggest what the problem may be.
>
>I told you it was weird. As I've probably said before everything else
>sees it as an NTFS partition, it is only partinfo that doesn't (I
>downloaded ptedit, and it see's it as type 07 also). I don't suppose
>there is anyway to 'force' it to become NTFS again and visible to the
>boot loader? Or do you reckon it is a case of bite the bullet and
>start from scratch?
>
>>This is probably not related to your NT problem, but one thing that is
>>wrong is the extended partition type on the 2nd drive. For Win9X's sake,
>>it should be a type 0F instead of type 05.
Well, if the extended partition type is wrong, Windows will write to a
wrong location, which very well can be the beginning of the disk.
Since type 07 is used for different partition types, Partinfo may look
into the boot sector to determine the partition type, and something
that looks like a QNX partition can be found.
If only the NTFS boot sector is damaged, the backup boot sector can be
restored (it is in the last sector of the partition).
>I'll give that a go first and see if it miraculously returns my NT
>partition. I was pretty suprised when my 9x partitionreturned from
>the dead purely be adding a FAT partition on the end of a different
>disk (I still can't work out why that all happend).
This was the two primary FAT partitions on one disk and last logical
in any extended partition not FAT bug. DOS Windows cannot handle that.
--
Svend Olaf
ragthorn
On Tue, 17 Oct 2000 10:14:23 -0500, Tom Pfeifer
<tpfe...@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>Responses are in line below:
>
>ragthorn wrote:
>>
>> I told you it was weird. As I've probably said before everything else
>> sees it as an NTFS partition, it is only partinfo that doesn't (I
>> downloaded ptedit, and it see's it as type 07 also). I don't suppose
>> there is anyway to 'force' it to become NTFS again and visible to the
>> boot loader? Or do you reckon it is a case of bite the bullet and
>> start from scratch?
>
>
>It doesn't look like NT recognizes it either if it won't boot. Does the
>other NT partition on the 2nd primary boot OK? I'm not sure what to
>suggest since I don't understand why it's happening.
>
The second NT partition is working perfectly and holds Workstation
(which I use primarily for programming and real work- Win98 is mostly
for games and music software). I dug out the NT4 Resource Kit Support
tools and used Disk Probe to take a look at the first 63 sectors
broken NTFS/QNX? partition and it looks totally whacked. No sign of
the usual NTFS boot sector stuff. Svend Olaf Mikkelsen (probably in
the message below this in the thread) says that there is a backup
boot-sector at the end of the partition, so I might try to get disk
probe to copy that accross to the beginning and see if that works.
Other than that I've resigned myself to re-installing - especially
after looking at the boot sector - it looked totally scrambled (I can
send you a copy if you like, purely for amusment purposes).
>
>> You mention below about using PTEdit to alter the partition type. Is
>> it purely as simple as typing in 0F where the EPBR says 05, or are
>> there other considerations? Will the other OS recognise it properly
>> as an extended and behave as if there was no change (I rememeber
>> reading somewhere that 05 and 0F were virtually identicle).
>
>
>When you start up ptedit and select the 2nd hard drive, it will display
>your partition table located in the MBR sector of that drive. The 4th
>line will be your type 05 extended partition. All you need to do is
>change that to an 0F, save the change, and reboot. There are other 05
>partitions inside the extended, but you don't want to change those -
>they should remain type 05.
>
Cool I'll do that tonight, seems simple enough for me to handle.
>
>Again, I don't know what, if any, affect this will have on your problem,
>but NT and Linux will recognize the type 0F extended partition. NT and
>Linux don't require a type 0F on that drive, while Win9X does if the
>extended partition goes beyond the 1024th cylinder as yours does.
>
>
>>
>> I'll give that a go first and see if it miraculously returns my NT
>> partition. I was pretty suprised when my 9x partitionreturned from
>> the dead purely be adding a FAT partition on the end of a different
>> disk (I still can't work out why that all happend).
>
>
>It's the result of a bug (MS would probably consider it to be an
>unsupported configuration) in how Win9X handles extended partitions that
>contain non-DOS partitions. I've never seen anything on it from MS - not
>sure they even know about it. But it's been around since original Win95,
>and I understand it still exists in Millennium. I run Linux, so I've
>seen it myself on my own machines. As long as you're aware of it and
>know how to avoid it, it's not so bad.
>
>Hope you get things straightened out. You're having your share of
>strange problems that's for sure :-)
>
>Tom
Cheers Tom, if I'm ever where you are, I owe you a couple of beers.
Tom Pfeifer
ragthorn wrote:
>
> Thanks again for the help. Other stuff tagged in below ->
> The second NT partition is working perfectly and holds Workstation
> (which I use primarily for programming and real work- Win98 is mostly
> for games and music software). I dug out the NT4 Resource Kit Support
> tools and used Disk Probe to take a look at the first 63 sectors
> broken NTFS/QNX? partition and it looks totally whacked. No sign of
> the usual NTFS boot sector stuff. Svend Olaf Mikkelsen (probably in
> the message below this in the thread) says that there is a backup
> boot-sector at the end of the partition, so I might try to get disk
> probe to copy that accross to the beginning and see if that works.
> Other than that I've resigned myself to re-installing - especially
> after looking at the boot sector - it looked totally scrambled (I can
> send you a copy if you like, purely for amusment purposes).
The backup boot record may be worth a try, although it seems like you
will be very lucky if just that one sector was overwritten.
It didn't occur to me before Svend Olaf's post, but that type 05
extended partition causing Win9X to damage that NT partition makes
sense. So I would suggest fixing that extended partition before
doing much else, or it could happen again when you run Win98.
> Cheers Tom, if I'm ever where you are, I owe you a couple of beers.
Well....OK, maybe if you twist my arm :-)
Tom
