How to restore the format type w/o deleteing data?

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We have a slave 30GB IDE HD that "failed" all of a suddent. It was
NTFS, but now, while the BIOS sees it fine, no OS can. And Partition
Magic can only detect it as a "Type 44" format.

I'm using a trial version of StompSoft's data recovery, which allows me
to view data on the drive but not recover it. IT recognized its former
NTFS formatting and the files on the drive.

Now, is there some way I can recover it myself without paying out to
buy software or taking it somewhere? Would doing a "fdisk /MBR" do it,
without hurting the data?
Is there some downloadable bootdisk utility, like something in Techw0rm
that will help me?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Liam
 
We have a slave 30GB IDE HD that "failed" all of a suddent. It was
NTFS, but now, while the BIOS sees it fine, no OS can. And Partition
Magic can only detect it as a "Type 44" format.
Click to expand...

That's the partition type used by GoBack.
I'm using a trial version of StompSoft's data recovery, which allows me
to view data on the drive but not recover it. IT recognized its former
NTFS formatting and the files on the drive.

Now, is there some way I can recover it myself without paying out to
buy software or taking it somewhere? Would doing a "fdisk /MBR" do it,
without hurting the data?
Click to expand...

FDISK /MBR won't help.
Is there some downloadable bootdisk utility, like something in Techw0rm
that will help me?
Click to expand...

Symantec provides a utility to revert to the pre-GoBack partition
table. Should be on the install CD. I can't think of the name of it at
the moment.

Alternative: if there is just one partition on the drive you can use a
disk editor to change the type to 7. But if there are multiple
partitions you will have to use the Symantec utility or a partition
recovery tool.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Liam
Click to expand...

Bob
 
Robert said:
That's the partition type used by GoBack.
-- SNIP --

Alternative: if there is just one partition on the drive you can use a
disk editor to change the type to 7. But if there are multiple
partitions you will have to use the Symantec utility or a partition
recovery tool.
Click to expand...

Yep, come to find out the owner did have GoBack. He'd uninstalled it
some time ago, though. And then the rest of Norton something last week.
It only failed yesterday. Odd.

Anyway, it's just the one partition, so...disk editor. Any suggestions
on what one to use and where to get it?
I'll start Googling. =)
Thanks!
 
Anyway, it's just the one partition, so...disk editor. Any suggestions
on what one to use and where to get it?
I'll start Googling. =)
Click to expand...

I am not sure I understand your problem, but if you want to access an
NTFS partition from DOS, you can use this free utility:

http://www.datapol.de/dpe/freeware/


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism."
--John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"
 
Bob said:
I am not sure I understand your problem, but if you want to access an
NTFS partition from DOS, you can use this free utility:

http://www.datapol.de/dpe/freeware/
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply.
In short: Drive USED to be NTFS. Suddenly it's invisible to the OS, and
Partition Magic says it's now format "type 44" (which is evidently
GoBack.) Need to RETURN it to NTFS...but JUST the format type, as the
data is still on there and just fine according to a demo of a data
recovery software.
Evidently need a disk editor to change the format type from 44 to 7.
Thanks!
Liam
 
Alternative: if there is just one partition on the drive you can use a
disk editor to change the type to 7. But if there are multiple
partitions you will have to use the Symantec utility or a partition
recovery tool.
Click to expand...

OK, so I have WinHex. Fascinating tool!!
And VERY dangerous looking.
I'm looking at the hex values of the drive in question, and right after
the "boot sector" it says "NTFS" and the drive description says NTFS.
Huh.
In the...what, ASCII(?) columns I can read a message about 30 lines
down: "A disk read error ocurred. NTLDR is missing...."
Could that be related?

I'm not seeing anything to indicate to me a format type of 7 nor 44.

Anyway, I'd like to see if I can get this solved before he has to take
the PC home and try to use the GoBack restore program on his home. Esp
if it doesn't work and ends up not having a working PC for the weekend.

Thanks for the feedback!
Liam
 
Open the physical disk,
go to the access tab and open a/the partition, the partitiontable template
lookup the "Partition type indicator (hex)" with 44, change to 7.
 
MBRWizard doesn't have the capability to modify the partition
types...yet, but that's a good idea. I'm currently working on a new
2.0 version that I plan to release soon, give me a couple hours and I
should have that feature available in the pre-release version.

I'll keep you updated.
Roger

http://mbr.bigr.net
 
I just posted an update to the Windows version of MBRWizard 2.0 which
includes the code to modify the partition type. I will work on getting
the DOS version ported and the reference page updated sometime
tomorrow. In the meantime, the following is a quick example of setting
the first partition on the first disk to type 7 (NTFS)

MBRWiz /Type=7h /Disk=0 /Partition=0

Note, the Type entry must be directly followed by either a d (decimal)
or h (hex) in order to properly identify the partition type, otherwise
and error will be raised.

Once again, you can download it here: http://mbr.bigr.net

I hope this helps.
Roger
 
Quick update, I have posted an update to the DOS version of MBRWizard
with the new partition type functionality to the website, and have
modified the Reference page with the new functionality as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck,
Roger
 
Quick update, I have posted an update to the DOS version of MBRWizard
with the new partition type functionality to the website, and have
modified the Reference page with the new functionality as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Click to expand...

Does your software work with Win2K or WinNT?
They are not listed.
 
Ooops, looks I overlooked those versions when I recreated the website.
Yes, the Windows version works with all NT based operating systems from
NT4 through Server 2003.
 
I just posted an update to the Windows version of MBRWizard 2.0 which
includes the code to modify the partition type. I will work on getting
the DOS version ported and the reference page updated sometime
tomorrow. In the meantime, the following is a quick example of setting
the first partition on the first disk to type 7 (NTFS)

MBRWiz /Type=7h /Disk=0 /Partition=0
Click to expand...
Note, the Type entry must be directly followed by either a d (decimal)
or h (hex) in order to properly identify the partition type, otherwise
and error will be raised.
Click to expand...
Once again, you can download it here: http://mbr.bigr.net
Click to expand...
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I will be getting the DOS version as soon as it is available. Please
post when it is available. Thanks.

In the meantime perhaps you should contact the people who produce
Western Digital's Data Lifeguard partitioner and get them to
incorporate your protocols into it. Maybe you could make a few bucks.


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism."
--John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"
 
I have posted the DOS version. Enjoy!
Click to expand...

The website says that the released version is 1.52 whereas the beta
version is 2.0.

I am a bit confused because I was expecting the latest version of
which you speak to be a "released" version and not a beta version.

Please clarify.

--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism."
--John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"
 
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