Win 2k partition repair

I have a win2k PC with an HD that won't boot. Starts to boot the OS then comes up with a missing file error and recommends running setup-repair. The tech that handed the problem to me said the repair option didn't work.

I ran Norton Utilities 2001 on it, no luck there.

I put the HD in another win2k PC as the slave drive on the primary IDE channel. Disk Management shows a healthy active partition with 100% free space, no File System type is listed.

I believe the file system is messed up and might be fixable. Anyone have any suggestions or know of utilities I can try?

You could install windows into a different directory and pull the data over.

I haven't tried running setup myself yet. I'll give that a try. I'd prefer to try and repair the existing file system.

I don't know if running setup and choosing a different directory would effectively repair the existing file system but I suppose its worth a shot if nothing else works.

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Originally posted by cisco2
I haven't tried running setup myself yet. I'll give that a try. I'd prefer to try and repair the existing file system.

I don't know if running setup and choosing a different directory would effectively repair the existing file system but I suppose its worth a shot if nothing else works.

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Have you tested the drive with the manufactures diagnostic software? Sounds like a failing drive. If you have a chance to get crucial data off, do that now, and test the drive real hard.

Good idea, its a Seagate Barracuda ST3400 16A

I'll hit their site and see what tools I can download.

Hopefully I can get it to come up, just once so I can get to the data. After that if the drive spits smoke and chews heads, well HDs are cheap.

The only reason to install into a different directory would be to get the data off and then try the Seatools hard drive utility or data advisor to test the hdd.

Did you try booting to the repair console and running fixmbr or fixboot?

If the drive shows 100% free space in the other machine then it's not seeing the partition. How would you be able to pull data off it?

Also, in the 2000 resource kit is dskprobe. It does this:

You can use DiskProbe to replace the Master Boot Record, repair damaged partition table information, and repair or replace damaged Partition Boot Sectors or other file system data. The tool can also save Master Boot Records and Partition Boot Sectors as files. They can then be replaced if the sectors become damaged at a later time. These on-disk data structures are not accessible through the file system, and so are not saved by any backup programs currently available.

Seagate Seatools confirmed physical errors. I'm not certain of the exact error(s), I'm assuming bad sectors. I haven't been able to access the files in any way. I may look in to DiskProbe, sounds like a usefull tool. Thanks for the suggestions all.

Just run windows repair, and if that fails, which it shouldn't, just keep booting into console mode and copying over system files until it works, and stops complaining about these missing files.

1. If the computer was shipped with a diagnostics disk, run the diagnostics. If you can’t find the diagnostics, go to the manufacturer or vendor website and try to download it. If there isn’t one available, run a 3rd party diagnostics like Symantec. Most of these work best if you can boot off the diagnostics disk. Most Dell “Drivers and utilities” CDs are bootable diagnostics disks.
2. On most Dell computers, hit CTRL+ALT+DEL the second you see the Dell logo. This should take you into disk diagnostics.
3. Boot to the Windows CD and chose “R” for a Repair. This takes you to a screen that gives you two more choices, the Recovery Console or a Repair Installation of W2K. Choose “C” for Recovery Console. You should be prompted for the operating system to boot to and the local administrator password.
At the Recovery Console prompt, run:
CHKDSK /F /R
Since you’re booted off the CD, not the hard drive, it will run without a reboot.
If it refuses to run, then you probably have a hardware fatality.
If it ran, reboot to see if this fixed the problem.
4. If it still won’t boot, try a Repair Installation of W2K. If it still won’t boot, try a Repair Installation of W2K. Boot off the CD as above, but, choose "R", and then “R” again to repair. You don’t have to have the recovery disk, but it’s best to use it if you have it.
5. If W2K still won’t boot, boot to the W2K CD, get back to the Recovery console. Note that if there are hardware issues, this might make the problems worse. At the Recovery Console screen, run:
FIXBOOT
Reboot to see if this fixed the problem.
6. If W2K still won’t boot, boot to the W2K CD, get back to the Recovery console, and run:
FIXMBR
Reboot to see if this fixed the problem.
7. You might try booting to a virus CD and scanning. With proper NAV settings, this is probably not likely to be needed, but this depends on the history leading to the problem.
8. If none of these things work, you have no other choice but to do a fresh install of W2K. This will nuke the original installation. If you want to save any log files, you better boot to the Recovery Console and copy them off the hard drive before proceeding. Then reboot and reinstall. If you choose to keep the “current file system” when prompted, only your OS options, links, shortcuts, menus, and settings will be lost. The data will not be written over. The machine will still need to be rebuilt with all software and settings from scratch. (Unless there’s a registry backup.)
9. If you can’t install at all, try to reformat.
10. If this won’t work, try to delete and recreate the partition(s), either with the W2K boot CD or with FDISK (FAT32 drives only).
11. If this won’t work, try a low-level format. If the PC passes the diagnostics disk and it won’t low-level, it’s probably trash. Time to send the PC or hard drive back on warranty.

Quote:

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Originally posted by cisco2
Seagate Seatools confirmed physical errors. I'm not certain of the exact error(s), I'm assuming bad sectors. I haven't been able to access the files in any way. I may look in to DiskProbe, sounds like a usefull tool. Thanks for the suggestions all.

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Once you've got a lot of bad sectors I don't see any way of recovering data without sending it out to a specialist. ...could try freezing it first though :)

This is usually true, but not always...

I've had two occasions where customers sent me "cooked" hard drives and by rebooting about 10 times in one case and about 30 times in the other, I was able to get the drive to boot up one last time to recover data.
You have to remember that a "physical" problem could be caused by the disk surface, a head that's dragging, a chip on the drive board, etc.
If one of the two wires holding a head breaks, you usually hear a singing sound. This disk is totoally FUBAR and you'll never get data off it without dismantling the drive and using very expensive equipment to extract data from the platters.
A degrading chip can often allow you a few more bootups. The degraded chip will diagnose as a physical disk problem because the disk surface can't be read properly. It'll report that the data is trashed when the data (sectors, clusters) simply can't be read well enough.
Like a person with bad eyesight that's always squinting, each boot-up might allow you to read just barely well enough to save the data.
The effort, time, and expense depends on how much the data is worth.

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Originally posted by silencio
Once you've got a lot of bad sectors I don't see any way of recovering data without sending it out to a specialist. ...could try freezing it first though :)

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spinrite It will take forever, but it will get the data off if it is possible.

Thanks again for all the responses. I haven't tried plopping the HD in a freezer yet. I just got the replacement HD today, I'll probably try some more of your ideas when I have time to mess around with it but for now I'm just going to rebuild with a standard load on the new HD.

It has been a bit frustrating as the HD seems functional enough that I believe I should be able to retrieve the data. I haven't been able to dedicate as much time to this as I would like but I should have the HD available to me for a while so I will try out a few more of these ideas as I get a chance.