Lost logical drive, answer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob T
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob T

Original message: Refer to "Lost a logical drive,
recovery." of Aug 5, 2003.

.... >> Any ideas on how to recover?

A Reply from another group:
It looks like the partition type-marker is wrong,
or one that W2K can't understand (W2K seems rather
stupid about partition types and file systems,
actually - it reports OS/2 HPFS partitions as NTFS,
but of course cannot read them.) Also, the directory
structure on F: seems corrupted. The fact that PM
can recognise the capacity and file system of F, but
apparently misreports its usage, indicates that the
partition table may also be corrupted. In any
case, a number of crucial bytes stored in various places
on the HD are not what they should be.
Click to expand...

----------------------------------------
Additional information: I found that DOS can see
the drive just fine, so I think the partition table
is ok?

-----------------------------------------

Today's follow up:

I think I've found the problem?

Now the question is, how do I get at it to see if this is
true?

I used the PowerQuest tool to look at the Partiotion
Tables.

It gave me complete info on all the partition tables, both
in the Hex form and in aN easy to read "English" version.

The Partition Table analysis for each drive came up with
"no errors detected."

Careful searching turned up one anomaly in what PM calls,
the "Boot Record."

There, it shows the "number" that is reserved for NT.

I'm not sure what that is, but am guessing that it is the
info of what number NT5 is using to access the particular
drive, at it's location, Serial number/registration.

The log shows the following: (for all good drives)

"Number Reserved for NT: 0x00"

(for the drive NT can no longer read)

"Number Reserved for NT: 0x03."

Could this be it?

I'd like to change that value to "0x00," so it matches all
the other drives, and see if that corrects the problem.

I'm supposing it's a registry entry somewhere?

Can someone tell me how to get at it so I can make the
change? Or once I know where the entry is, I can "zero"
it out, reboot and maybe the registry will self-correct?

Ideas?

Bob


What follows is a small portion of the "Boot Record."

I have "****" the anomoly:

Readable Drives:
======================================================
Boot Record for drive E: (Drive: 1, Starting sector:
61,448,688, Type: FAT32)
======================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
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: 61448688 (0x3A9A1F0)
14. Big Total Sectors: 24579387 (0x1770D3B)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 23958
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 68 (0x44)
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: 0xBAA3F96B
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

Unreadable Drive:
======================================================

Boot Record for drive F: (Drive: 1, Starting sector:
86,028,138, Type: FAT32)
======================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
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: 86028138 (0x520AF6A)
14. Big Total Sectors: 24579387 (0x1770D3B)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 23958
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 24546 (0x5FE2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
****** 23. Reserved for NT: 0x03 *******
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0xF8DAA4CC
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
 
Bob T said:
Original message: Refer to "Lost a logical drive,
recovery." of Aug 5, 2003.


... >> Any ideas on how to recover?

A Reply from another group:


----------------------------------------
Additional information: I found that DOS can see
the drive just fine, so I think the partition table
is ok?

-----------------------------------------

Today's follow up:

I think I've found the problem?

Now the question is, how do I get at it to see if this is
true?

I used the PowerQuest tool to look at the Partiotion
Tables.

It gave me complete info on all the partition tables, both
in the Hex form and in aN easy to read "English" version.

The Partition Table analysis for each drive came up with
"no errors detected."

Careful searching turned up one anomaly in what PM calls,
the "Boot Record."

There, it shows the "number" that is reserved for NT.

I'm not sure what that is, but am guessing that it is the
info of what number NT5 is using to access the particular
drive, at it's location, Serial number/registration.

The log shows the following: (for all good drives)

"Number Reserved for NT: 0x00"

(for the drive NT can no longer read)

"Number Reserved for NT: 0x03."

Could this be it?

I'd like to change that value to "0x00," so it matches all
the other drives, and see if that corrects the problem.

I'm supposing it's a registry entry somewhere?

Can someone tell me how to get at it so I can make the
change? Or once I know where the entry is, I can "zero"
it out, reboot and maybe the registry will self-correct?

Ideas?

Bob


What follows is a small portion of the "Boot Record."

I have "****" the anomoly:

Readable Drives:
======================================================
Boot Record for drive E: (Drive: 1, Starting sector:
61,448,688, Type: FAT32)
======================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
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: 61448688 (0x3A9A1F0)
14. Big Total Sectors: 24579387 (0x1770D3B)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 23958
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 68 (0x44)
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: 0xBAA3F96B
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

Unreadable Drive:
======================================================

Boot Record for drive F: (Drive: 1, Starting sector:
86,028,138, Type: FAT32)
======================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
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: 86028138 (0x520AF6A)
14. Big Total Sectors: 24579387 (0x1770D3B)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 23958
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 24546 (0x5FE2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
****** 23. Reserved for NT: 0x03 *******
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0xF8DAA4CC
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
Click to expand...

What is the partition type for the lost partition? ptedit.exe
will tell you - it's freely downloadable from the PowerQuest site.
 
-----Original Message-----



What is the partition type for the lost partition? ptedit.exe
will tell you - it's freely downloadable from the PowerQuest site.
Click to expand...

The partition type is "05" [EXTENDED].

--actually it's not the partition that's lost, but the
logical drive "f." on the extended partition.

Win2K, from Explorer or "My Computer," can see every
drive, Primary & Extended. But it cannont read
drive "F." It says it is unformatted.

That's why I included a portion of the table of "BOOT
RECORD," which come directly from PTedit.

I assume this is a report log of what W2K used to mount
the drive. It is interesting that for drive "f," it shows
in item #27, the correct file type. But Win2K reports it
as being unformatted.

When I try to access the drive by DOS, under the Windows
shell, it fails, with an error message that there is a
CRC.

Running Partition Magic under Win2K, correctly tells me
the drive is FAT32, extended. It also tells me that there
are no partition errors or disk errors. However, when I
try to acces the drive with PM, it can't. Running
a "find & fix errors," it too says there is a CRC error.

But I am doubting this because these programs are looking
at the drive under W2k.

When I come out from under the NT5 shell and run DOS for
real, it finds the drive fine. It can read all the
directories and files, with the execption of long file
names, which would be expcected.

The only difference that PTedit shows that looks like an
error is in its report of the Boot Record, item "23.
Reservered for NT." where it lists "0x03" being reserved
for the bad drive F, while ALL other good drives
are "0x00."

I wonder then, if Win2K has corrupted info as to how to
mount the drive? That the information that I get about a
CRC is probably incorrect, since it is being generated
under the W2K shell and true DOS, finds & reads the drive
ok.

I know these are assumptions and I may be wrong, but it is
the only difference that PTedit shows.

Is there a way to have the registry reset itself so the
S/N & drive registration is correct or I can do a manual
edit of some HKEY so that the mount to the lost drive will
be at "0x00?"

Anyway, this is a long answer to your basic question of
what kind of partition is it: Extended (with logicals).
 
(Drat. Looks like fingers didn't hit the right keys -- got sent
incomplete . . . let's try again . . . response at bottom.)

Bob T said:
I just lost my "f" logical drive.

It looks like the partition type-marker is wrong,

I used the PowerQuest tool to look at the Partiotion
Tables.

What follows is a small portion of the "Boot Record."

I have "****" the anomoly:

Readable Drives:
======================================================
Boot Record for drive E: (Drive: 1, Starting sector:
61,448,688, Type: FAT32)
======================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
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: 61448688 (0x3A9A1F0)
14. Big Total Sectors: 24579387 (0x1770D3B)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 23958
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 68 (0x44)
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: 0xBAA3F96B
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

Unreadable Drive:
======================================================

Boot Record for drive F: (Drive: 1, Starting sector:
86,028,138, Type: FAT32)
======================================================
1. Jump: EB 5A 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
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: 86028138 (0x520AF6A)
14. Big Total Sectors: 24579387 (0x1770D3B)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 23958
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 24546 (0x5FE2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
****** 23. Reserved for NT: 0x03 *******
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0xF8DAA4CC
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55


What is the partition type for the lost partition? ptedit.exe
will tell you - it's freely downloadable from the PowerQuest site.
Click to expand...

The partition type is "05" [EXTENDED].

--actually it's not the partition that's lost, but the
logical drive "f." on the extended partition.


The only difference that PTedit shows that looks like an
error is in its report of the Boot Record, item "23.
Reservered for NT." where it lists "0x03" being reserved
for the bad drive F, while ALL other good drives
are "0x00."
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Bob, what Pegasus was asking for is the partition type of the missing
logical volume. When you start ptedit, you're shown the master
partition table with it's four entries, one of which should be
"extended" (type 05 or 0F).

Click on [Goto EPBR] to jump to the first logical volume in the extended
partition (is that "drive E:"?) and you'll see another partition table
with two entries -- one should be the FAT32 E: volume (type 0B or 0C)
and the other should be another "extended" (type 05 or 0F).

Click [Goto EPBR] again and you'll jump to the next logical volume,
which should be the missing F: volume. Tell us what you're seeing in
this table. One entry should be the volume in question -- what's the
partition type? If this is the end of the extended partition, there
should be only this one entry here, but if this is not the last volume
in the extended partition, then there will be a second entry here,
another type 05 or 0F pointing to the next logical volume.
 
See below, marked with ***


Bob T said:
-----Original Message-----



What is the partition type for the lost partition? ptedit.exe
will tell you - it's freely downloadable from the PowerQuest site.
Click to expand...

The partition type is "05" [EXTENDED].
Click to expand...
*** You stopped too soon. You must now go into
*** the EBR and look at the boot record of the
*** problem partition. Depending on the number
*** of logical drives you have, you may have to
*** repeat this process several times. If your disks
*** are properly labelled then it is easy to identify
*** the problem disk.
--actually it's not the partition that's lost, but the
logical drive "f." on the extended partition.

Win2K, from Explorer or "My Computer," can see every
drive, Primary & Extended. But it cannont read
drive "F." It says it is unformatted.

That's why I included a portion of the table of "BOOT
RECORD," which come directly from PTedit.

I assume this is a report log of what W2K used to mount
the drive. It is interesting that for drive "f," it shows
in item #27, the correct file type. But Win2K reports it
as being unformatted.

When I try to access the drive by DOS, under the Windows
shell, it fails, with an error message that there is a
CRC.
Click to expand...
*** CRC stands for Cyclic Redundancy Check. You get CRC
*** errors when there is a serious hardware problem. Time to
*** get onto the homesite of your hard disk manufacturer
*** (Seagate, Quantum) and download their free disk diagnostic
*** program.
Running Partition Magic under Win2K, correctly tells me
the drive is FAT32, extended. It also tells me that there
are no partition errors or disk errors. However, when I
try to acces the drive with PM, it can't. Running
a "find & fix errors," it too says there is a CRC error.

But I am doubting this because these programs are looking
at the drive under W2k.

When I come out from under the NT5 shell and run DOS for
real, it finds the drive fine. It can read all the
directories and files, with the execption of long file
names, which would be expcected.

The only difference that PTedit shows that looks like an
error is in its report of the Boot Record, item "23.
Reservered for NT." where it lists "0x03" being reserved
for the bad drive F, while ALL other good drives
are "0x00."

I wonder then, if Win2K has corrupted info as to how to
mount the drive? That the information that I get about a
CRC is probably incorrect, since it is being generated
under the W2K shell and true DOS, finds & reads the drive
ok.
Click to expand...
*** Don't rely on DOS to report errors; use the manufacturer's
*** own diagnostic program.

I know these are assumptions and I may be wrong, but it is
the only difference that PTedit shows.

Is there a way to have the registry reset itself so the
S/N & drive registration is correct or I can do a manual
edit of some HKEY so that the mount to the lost drive will
be at "0x00?"

Anyway, this is a long answer to your basic question of
what kind of partition is it: Extended (with logicals).
Click to expand...
*** As I said above, your answer tells me nothing. Time
*** to drill down.
 
-----Original Message-----
See below, marked with ***
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to be available at PowerQuest anymore.
The partition type is "05" [EXTENDED].
Click to expand...
*** You stopped too soon. You must now go into
*** the EBR and look at the boot record of the
*** problem partition. Depending on the number
*** of logical drives you have, you may have to
*** repeat this process several times. If your disks
*** are properly labelled then it is easy to identify
*** the problem disk.
--actually it's not the partition that's lost, but the
logical drive "f." on the extended partition.

Win2K, from Explorer or "My Computer," can see every
drive, Primary & Extended. But it cannont read
drive "F." It says it is unformatted.


When I try to access the drive by DOS, under the Windows
shell, it fails, with an error message that there is a
CRC.
Click to expand...
*** CRC stands for Cyclic Redundancy Check. You get CRC
*** errors when there is a serious hardware problem. Time
*** to get onto the homesite of your hard disk
*** manufacturer (Seagate, Quantum) and download their
*** free disk diagnostic program.
Running Partition Magic under Win2K, correctly tells me
the drive is FAT32, extended. It also tells me that there
are no partition errors or disk errors. However, when I
try to acces the drive with PM, it can't. Running
a "find & fix errors," it too says there is a CRC error.

But I am doubting this because these programs are looking
at the drive under W2k.

When I come out from under the NT5 shell and run DOS for
real, it finds the drive fine. It can read all the
directories and files, with the execption of long file
names, which would be expcected.

The only difference that PTedit shows that looks like an
error is in its report of the Boot Record, item "23.
Reservered for NT." where it lists "0x03" being reserved
for the bad drive F, while ALL other good drives
are "0x00."

I wonder then, if Win2K has corrupted info as to how to
mount the drive? That the information that I get about a
CRC is probably incorrect, since it is being generated
under the W2K shell and true DOS, finds & reads the
Click to expand...
drive ok.
*** Don't rely on DOS to report errors; use the manufacturer's
*** own diagnostic program.


*** As I said above, your answer tells me nothing. Time
*** to drill down.
Click to expand...
My PTEDIT does not respond the way you are referring.
When I use the EPBR I do get a "TYPE" for my logical
drives, including "f," the bad one, as being "05 extended"
And FAT32.

It is the 3rd logical in a group of 5.

Above is the Boot Record for drive "e" (good) & drive "f"
(bad).

The only other information that PTEDIT is giving me is the
drive size in Mgbytes; total sector size; value for where
each sector begins; cyl, head, sector -- start & end.

I'm trying to find the PTedit that you are using, so I can
give you the exact information you want. Perhaps you
could zip it and send it to me?

Does the exact copies of PTEDITS report of the "Boot
Record" & knowing that all the logicals are 05, extended,
give no help?

I did try changing item 23. Resevered for NT=03 that on
the unreadable drive to "00," as it is on all the good
drives, but it didn't make a difference. I changed it
back.

I contacted maxtor & they told me the only programs they
have that will examine the disk will also do a format--
which I do not want.

Please let me know if more information will be helpful.
As I said, my version of PTEDIT is from PM8.0 & it does
not show things as yours must. But I did see the type:
05, FAT32 extended, no volume label for most drives--I had
to count the # of EPBR changes and match that to the # of
the drive. But the "Boot Record" above, does show the
drive label.

Thank you for trying to help.

I'm beginning to think it is a lost cause. Maybe there is
still someway I can get the info off via DOS. I'm
starting a new thread on that.

I know you are waiting for the information, asked. I hope
what I gave you with the "Boot Records" is what you wanted.

Please let me know.

Bob
 
Bob T said:
It doesn't seem to be available at PowerQuest anymore.
...(snipped)...
My PTEDIT does not respond the way you are referring.
When I use the EPBR I do get a "TYPE" for my logical
drives, including "f," the bad one, as being "05 extended"
And FAT32.

It is the 3rd logical in a group of 5.
...(snipped)...
I'm trying to find the PTedit that you are using, so I can
give you the exact information you want. Perhaps you
could zip it and send it to me?

Does the exact copies of PTEDITS report of the "Boot
Record" & knowing that all the logicals are 05, extended,
give no help?
...(snipped)...
Please let me know if more information will be helpful.
As I said, my version of PTEDIT is from PM8.0 & it does
not show things as yours must. But I did see the type:
05, FAT32 extended, no volume label for most drives--I had
to count the # of EPBR changes and match that to the # of
the drive. But the "Boot Record" above, does show the
drive label.
Click to expand...

Yes, you do have to keep track of the number of times you click [Goto
EPBR] to know where you are. Ptedit is still on PowerQuest's site
(ftp://ftp.powerquest.com/pub/utilities/), but the PM8 version of ptedit
is the most recent, so stick with that. FWIW, there are pictures of the
ptedit display on my website at www.goodells.net/multiboot/ptedit.htm if
you want to reassure yourself that you're looking at the same thing we
are.

Looking at the boot record is a bit premature yet. If the extended
partition table doesn't contain a proper entry pointing to the boot
record, then it doesn't matter whether the boot record is okay or not.
Think of it like a book with a table of contents. The table of contents
tells you on what page each chapter begins. If you tear out a page from
the table of contents, it will look like some chapters are missing, even
though the pages of the actual chapter are still there and complete with
the chapter title and page numbers. What Pegasus and I are trying to
determine first is if the partition table -- the "table of contents" --
is damaged.

Pegasus' latest suggestion (reading the HD from an alternate Win98)
looks like it might work, but if you want to pursue ptedit, try this.
Since the problem partition is the third logical out of 5, you should be
clicking [Goto EPBR] three times. Then you should see a partition table
with only two entries. Right above the first entry it should say
"Partition Table at sector 86028075". Below that, entry 1 should start
with type "0B" or "0C", followed by 9 more fields. Entry 2 should start
with type "05" or "0F", followed by 9 fields. Please post the numbers
in each field of both lines so we can take a look at them.

BTW, you're original post said, "I'm using a Maxtor 80gig HD in my
system, broken into a primary partition (C drive) and an exteneded
partion with logical drives, d-g, all formated in FAT32. I just lost my
"f" logical drive." D to G is a count of four, but you just said there
are five logical volumes. What am I missing?
 
Bob T said:
-----Original Message-----
See below, marked with ***
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to be available at PowerQuest anymore.
The partition type is "05" [EXTENDED].
Click to expand...
*** You stopped too soon. You must now go into
*** the EBR and look at the boot record of the
*** problem partition. Depending on the number
*** of logical drives you have, you may have to
*** repeat this process several times. If your disks
*** are properly labelled then it is easy to identify
*** the problem disk.
--actually it's not the partition that's lost, but the
logical drive "f." on the extended partition.

Win2K, from Explorer or "My Computer," can see every
drive, Primary & Extended. But it cannont read
drive "F." It says it is unformatted.


When I try to access the drive by DOS, under the Windows
shell, it fails, with an error message that there is a
CRC.
Click to expand...
*** CRC stands for Cyclic Redundancy Check. You get CRC
*** errors when there is a serious hardware problem. Time
*** to get onto the homesite of your hard disk
*** manufacturer (Seagate, Quantum) and download their
*** free disk diagnostic program.
Running Partition Magic under Win2K, correctly tells me
the drive is FAT32, extended. It also tells me that there
are no partition errors or disk errors. However, when I
try to acces the drive with PM, it can't. Running
a "find & fix errors," it too says there is a CRC error.

But I am doubting this because these programs are looking
at the drive under W2k.

When I come out from under the NT5 shell and run DOS for
real, it finds the drive fine. It can read all the
directories and files, with the execption of long file
names, which would be expcected.

The only difference that PTedit shows that looks like an
error is in its report of the Boot Record, item "23.
Reservered for NT." where it lists "0x03" being reserved
for the bad drive F, while ALL other good drives
are "0x00."

I wonder then, if Win2K has corrupted info as to how to
mount the drive? That the information that I get about a
CRC is probably incorrect, since it is being generated
under the W2K shell and true DOS, finds & reads the
Click to expand...
drive ok.
*** Don't rely on DOS to report errors; use the manufacturer's
*** own diagnostic program.


*** As I said above, your answer tells me nothing. Time
*** to drill down.
Click to expand...
My PTEDIT does not respond the way you are referring.
When I use the EPBR I do get a "TYPE" for my logical
drives, including "f," the bad one, as being "05 extended"
And FAT32.

It is the 3rd logical in a group of 5.

Above is the Boot Record for drive "e" (good) & drive "f"
(bad).

The only other information that PTEDIT is giving me is the
drive size in Mgbytes; total sector size; value for where
each sector begins; cyl, head, sector -- start & end.

I'm trying to find the PTedit that you are using, so I can
give you the exact information you want. Perhaps you
could zip it and send it to me?

Does the exact copies of PTEDITS report of the "Boot
Record" & knowing that all the logicals are 05, extended,
give no help?

I did try changing item 23. Resevered for NT=03 that on
the unreadable drive to "00," as it is on all the good
drives, but it didn't make a difference. I changed it
back.

I contacted maxtor & they told me the only programs they
have that will examine the disk will also do a format--
which I do not want.

Please let me know if more information will be helpful.
As I said, my version of PTEDIT is from PM8.0 & it does
not show things as yours must. But I did see the type:
05, FAT32 extended, no volume label for most drives--I had
to count the # of EPBR changes and match that to the # of
the drive. But the "Boot Record" above, does show the
drive label.

Thank you for trying to help.

I'm beginning to think it is a lost cause. Maybe there is
still someway I can get the info off via DOS. I'm
starting a new thread on that.

I know you are waiting for the information, asked. I hope
what I gave you with the "Boot Records" is what you wanted.

Please let me know.

Bob
Click to expand...

I forgot one important item in my previous post: In order to
gain some confidence that my Win98 trick will actually work,
you should do this:

- Get a Win98 boot disk (www.bootdisk.com)
- Boot with this disk
- Load ntfsdos.exe

If you can see your files in the "missing" partition then you
are highly likely to see them when running a full version of
Win98 - with long file names. If you cannot see them now
then do not bother with Win98.

And, of course, pay close attention to what Dan says.
 
Having a FAT32 partition actually makes things much easier
than if they had been NTFS. The critical question remains:
When you boot with a Win98 boot disk, can you see the
data in the problem partition?
Click to expand...


I realize that I didn't send all of the fields of PTDEDIT,
do you want these?

The answer to the question is YES. Booting my Win2K
machine with a W98 boot, I can see/read/write to the lost
partition.

I have 2 W2K machines, networked. Could I use them, boot
from the W98 boot, then use some DOS commands to establish
a network & share drives? Is that even feasible? Or do
we still try to get the W2K machine to see the partition
it's lost?
 
Bob T said:
I realize that I didn't send all of the fields of PTDEDIT,
do you want these?

The answer to the question is YES. Booting my Win2K
machine with a W98 boot, I can see/read/write to the lost
partition.

I have 2 W2K machines, networked. Could I use them, boot
from the W98 boot, then use some DOS commands to establish
a network & share drives? Is that even feasible? Or do
we still try to get the W2K machine to see the partition
it's lost?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can network your Win98 boot PC to your other
machines. Get a network boot disk from
http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/network/

Post again if you can't get it to work.

Note that if you do this then you will get short file names
only. If you want long file names then you must fully install
Win98 on the problem machine, preferably on a temporary
disk so that you don't cause any further damage to the
problem disk.

Seeing that you now have a way of recovering your files,
I suggest that you cease playing with partition tables
and follow the Win98 path instead, simply because you
know that there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.
 
-----Original Message-----

rainbow.

Bob, I agree with Pegasus. If you can retrieve the files after booting
from a W98 boot disk, albeit with short filenames only, I'd do that
ASAP. Continuing to tinker with the partition tables and boot records
*might* fix your problem, but would involve more time and could make
things *worse* if something goes wrong. If you can get at your data
now, take the opportunity to get it off of there before you lose it
altogether.

I'm not sure I see any advantage to trying to network, though. It won't
get you anything more than you already have with the Win98 boot disk.
Just boot from the Win98 boot disk and xcopy your data over to another
partition.
Click to expand...


I Agree.

The thing to do now, and right now is get the data off the
bad drive as soon as possible. This morning, when I
brought up the system, for about three minutes, one of the
HDs was clicking loudly and going active, every second or
so. Don't know which one, but I'd better get Ghosts made
of the each drive and burned to CD-R.

Dan, I would XCOPY, except I tried to do that nearly as
soon as I found that the DOS of W98 could read the disk.
Immediately, I ran into the longfilename/maximum character
per line problem. A very expensive program on the failed
partition was written with directories nested so many
times deep it exceeds (is it?) 128 characters for the
total path.

Not knowing how to fix that, I started the search to
restore the lost partition.

Do you know a way to get around the lfn/max character per
line problem of DOS?

Recovery Solution:

I'm thinking:

Reverse active/inactive primary partitions of the two HDs;
reverse the master/slave configuration.

Put Win989 on the new active partition of the 2nd HD.
Then hopefully, I can pull the data off.

If not, and it can only be seen under W98 DOS (7.1), I
have to do a network transfer: get a DOS NIC driver (if I
can find one)installed in the failed system with proper
protocols & boot the bad system with a W98 boot (DOS 7.1)

Easier--if can overcome lfn/line character limitation
problem, use XCOPY.

The Plans:

Plan A: Make my 2nd HD the active drive, with W98 as the
OS. Physically, reverse Master/Slave. Try to recover lost
partition through W98; thereby, preserving the lfnames of
that partition.

Plan B: if A fails, try XCOPY, if there is a workaround
for the lfn problem.

Plan C: if A, B, fail, configure the new W98 machine
with an additional, DOS, NIC driver, boot from the W98
disk, do a DOS to W2K, network transfer.

Alternative for A: I could use BootMagic to make my
system a dual boot one, with W98 on the 2nd HD. That way
I wouldn't have to make physical changes to the drives.

Question 1): Before I do anything, do I need to preserve
the MBRs of both drives, as they are now, & restore them
when I return to the present configuration with W2K as my
OS? --This is especially a concern, since W98 overwrites
the MBR of W2K & both HDs were formatted with W2K.
1a): How do I copy/restore MBRs?

Question 2): Would NTFS have helped in keeping NT5 from
loosing track of the logical drive and the data?

Question 3): I assume that I should only go to NTFS if I
plan to make a daily backup of all the NTFS partitions.
Otherwise, I would not be able to use DOS 7.1 to recover
anything, if one of the NTFS drives should fail.

We're getting close?

Bob
 
Bob T said:
...(snipped)...
The thing to do now, and right now is get the data off the
bad drive as soon as possible. This morning, when I
brought up the system, for about three minutes, one of the
HDs was clicking loudly and going active, every second or
so. Don't know which one, but I'd better get Ghosts made
of the each drive and burned to CD-R.

Dan, I would XCOPY, except I tried to do that nearly as
soon as I found that the DOS of W98 could read the disk.
Immediately, I ran into the longfilename/maximum character
per line problem. A very expensive program on the failed
partition was written with directories nested so many
times deep it exceeds (is it?) 128 characters for the
total path.

Not knowing how to fix that, I started the search to
restore the lost partition.

Do you know a way to get around the lfn/max character per
line problem of DOS?

Recovery Solution:

I'm thinking:

Reverse active/inactive primary partitions of the two HDs;
reverse the master/slave configuration.

Put Win989 on the new active partition of the 2nd HD.
Then hopefully, I can pull the data off.

If not, and it can only be seen under W98 DOS (7.1), I
have to do a network transfer: get a DOS NIC driver (if I
can find one)installed in the failed system with proper
protocols & boot the bad system with a W98 boot (DOS 7.1)

Easier--if can overcome lfn/line character limitation
problem, use XCOPY.

The Plans:

Plan A: Make my 2nd HD the active drive, with W98 as the
OS. Physically, reverse Master/Slave. Try to recover lost
partition through W98; thereby, preserving the lfnames of
that partition.

Plan B: if A fails, try XCOPY, if there is a workaround
for the lfn problem.

Plan C: if A, B, fail, configure the new W98 machine
with an additional, DOS, NIC driver, boot from the W98
disk, do a DOS to W2K, network transfer.

Alternative for A: I could use BootMagic to make my
system a dual boot one, with W98 on the 2nd HD. That way
I wouldn't have to make physical changes to the drives.

Question 1): Before I do anything, do I need to preserve
the MBRs of both drives, as they are now, & restore them
when I return to the present configuration with W2K as my
OS? --This is especially a concern, since W98 overwrites
the MBR of W2K & both HDs were formatted with W2K.
1a): How do I copy/restore MBRs?

Question 2): Would NTFS have helped in keeping NT5 from
loosing track of the logical drive and the data?

Question 3): I assume that I should only go to NTFS if I
plan to make a daily backup of all the NTFS partitions.
Otherwise, I would not be able to use DOS 7.1 to recover
anything, if one of the NTFS drives should fail.
Click to expand...

Re: Question 2 -- hard to say. Since we don't know what the problem is,
we can't really guess.

Re: Question 3 -- there are utilities that will allow DOS to read/copy
files from NTFS partitions. Obviously, it takes a bit more work, but I
wouldn't let that be the reason not to use NTFS.

Re: Plan C -- I don't see networking as any solution here. The problem
HD still needs to be shared to the network by the computer with that HD.
If the OS on that computer (regardless of whether it's DOS, 98, or 2000)
can't see the files, it can't share them, and if it can't share them,
nobody else on the network will see them either. And if the OS on that
computer *can* see the files, then you don't need a network, you just
need to copy them to another HD or partition.

Re: Plan B -- I'm not familiar with any DOS workarounds for LFNs. That
doesn't mean there aren't any -- there has been some discussion recently
(within last 2 wks) in alt.comp.freeware about utilities that can copy
LFNs while in a DOS boot, but I haven't investigated so don't know if
the reports are accurate. (LFNs can be managed from a DOS box while
booted into Windows, and it's so easy for people to confuse that with
real DOS). The real problem may be those nested directories and the DOS
limit on path length (IIRC, I believe it's worse -- 64 chars in DOS, not
128).

Plan A is looking real enticing at this point. This is what Pegasus was
steering you to earlier. It shouldn't take much more than 1/2 hour to
put a minimal Win98 installation on the other HD, which is nothing
compared to the time you've already invested in this problem. As for
Question 1, just remove the main HD and leave it out while you install
Win98 on the second HD. Once 98 is up and running, add the main HD as a
slave, boot 98 and see if it can see the files. (FTR, it's not the MBRs
that are altered, it's the partition boot sectors, but leave the main HD
out and 98-Setup won't touch it anyway. BTW, we are talking about a
single-OS, main HD that boots fine without the second HD being in there,
aren't we?)

I'm not sure if Alternate Plan A would work or not. It's been some time
since I've used BootMagic, but IIRC, it's instructions said that to boot
from a second HD all partitions on the first HD must be hidden. I'm not
sure whether that only refers to primary partitions or not, but it won't
be of any benefit to you if you have to hide the partition you're trying
to get 98 to see.
 
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