WD data lifeguard tools on a HDD with data on it

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg
  • Start date Start date
Well, I have managed to secure a hard drive of the same model
(WD2000JB).

So, lets have some fun.

Here is my idea.

1. use Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools to set up the new drive
exactly the same as the old drive was set up - i.e. with 1 partition
only taking up the whole drive.

2. copy the mbr and partition table off the new drive.

3. write zeros to the first 63 sectors to get rid of any nasty ddo
software that might have installed.

4. clone the old hard drive onto the new hard drive (just in case the
data CAN be recovered after all)

5. copy the backed up mbr and partition table onto the old drive to see
what will happen.

at the worst, it will f*ck up the drive even more than it already is,
but I would like to see what it does.

In any case, I will have a backed up version of the drive, so if all
goes pear shaped I can simply clone the drive again and try something
new.

Do you have any software you would recommend for achieving any of the
above steps?

Do you have an even wackier idea of something to do? After the drive is
cloned I will do anything to it, as if it makes the problem worse, I
will simply re-clone from my backup.
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
And now we know why.
Click to expand...

We do?
How nice to know that you know your own software well.


11kB of data bullshit but it can't recognize a simple 137GB (or other)
capacity addressing limit foldback?
Click to expand...

No, because DiskPatch runs in DOS, it can not detect a Windows problem, you
arse.
 
Joep said:
Hi,

I asked for the logfile to be posted in our forum.
Click to expand...

And now we know why.
Anyway, at first glance
Click to expand...

How nice to know that you know your own software well.
the partition table and boot sector look fine.
Make sure this is not a Windows problem that may result in behavior as
you describe it:
Windows may have trouble accessing the entire disk and can not reach the
backup boot sector.
Click to expand...

11kB of data bullshit but it can't recognize a simple 137GB (or other)
capacity addressing limit foldback?
 
Joep said:
We do?


No, because DiskPatch runs in DOS, it can not detect a Windows problem, you
arse.
Click to expand...

be nice!

UPDATE
======
So, I got my shiny new hard drive, which is exactly the same as the old
one and played around with it, setting it up in different ways with
Data Lifeguard Tools, to see what would happen.

I tried first with biglba enabled in windows and looking at the mbr in
a sector editor it seemed to just set it up as a standard windows
drive.

After writing zeros to the first 63 sectors, I then set it up without
biglba enabled to see what would happen. DLG set up the drive as 137gb
which is not unsurprising, but kind of interesting that it did not go
down the ddo route (there was no option for installing it).

After that I re-enabled biglba and then re-booted. Without writing
zeros to the first 63 sectors, I used DLG to set the drive up again,
deleting the existing partition and putting on one new partition which
took up the whole drive.

DLG reported that the partition/format had completed successfully, but
windows reported the drive as unformatted! Now, that IS interesting. I
would warn people off from using DLG to set up a drive.

Anyway, after that I tried to clone my original disk which would not
work under windows using Disk Image and would not work under DOS using
Maxblast.

So I downloaded an iso of g4u - Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs
http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ which is a fantastic little proggy for
creating sector to sector copies of hard drives. It is slow, but
creates and exact copy, which is what I wanted.

After removing my original drive (just in case) I booted windows which
gave the usual error... your disk needs to be checked for consistency

then... deleting orphan file record segment nnnnn
then... deleting index entry

after booting, all of the files are gone, except for the last folder I
pasted on the drive before it went wrong. I am now using file recovery
software to see what can be salvaged, but if it does not work, I will
re-clone from my backup.

Clearly the mbr and partition table do not match the data that is on
the drive, and I am wondering if there is anything I can do to rectify.
It is worth trying, to see what happens.

Also, I was wondering if the problem that I am now having has to do
with the allocation unit size in ntfs? if the drive was originally set
up using 512 bytes for the allocation unit size but now the mbr or
partition table have the allocation unit size set differently if that
would cause the problem I am having.

I will update the results of the data recovery, but would still like to
try to find out why my drive went wrong.
 
Update

The first thing I did to the drive after windows 2000 reported it as
unformatted was to run TestDisk (from cgsecurity)

TestDisk gave the following error: "Invalid NTFS boot"

so I let TestDisk "fix" the error.

I am assuming now that this was the wrong thing to do. Can it be undone?
 
Further update.

I did not know that TestDisk had a log file. It's fairly interesting...

sdb is the drive I am having trouble with. Here is what TestDisk first
reported.

Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 6149 MB - CHS 784 255 63, sector size=512
Disk /dev/sdb - 190779 MB - CHS 24321 255 63, sector size=512


Analyse Disk /dev/sdb - 190779 MB - CHS 24321 255 63
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
check_part_i386 failed for partition type 07
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2
Current partitions:
Invalid NTFS boot
1 P HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 24320 254 63 390716802
1 P HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 24320 254 63 390716802
No partition is bootable

search_part()
Disk /dev/sdb - 190779 MB - CHS 24321 255 63

Results

interface_write()

No partition found or selected for recovery
simulate write!

You will note that it says "Invalid NTFS boot".
Also, it is listing the one partition twice, which is odd.

I thought it would be a good idea to let TestDisk "Fix" the problem as
set out below:
Interface Advanced
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
check_part_i386 failed for partition type 07
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=1
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=2
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 24320 254 63 390716802

ntfs_boot_sector
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 24320 254 63 390716802
NTFS at 0/1/1
sectors_per_cluster 248 8
mft_lcn 1591558043 4
mftmirr_lcn 2983098022 24419800
clusters_per_mft_record -21 -10
clusters_per_index_record -51 1
Boot sector
Bad
Backup boot sector
OK
Sectors are not identical.
copy backup boot sector over boot sector

ntfs_boot_sector
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 1 1 24320 254 63 390716802
NTFS at 0/1/1
NTFS at 0/1/1
sectors_per_cluster 8
mft_lcn 4
mftmirr_lcn 24419800
clusters_per_mft_record -10
clusters_per_index_record 1
Boot sector
OK
Backup boot sector
OK
Sectors are identical.

Rebooting windows at this point caused windows 2000 to perform a disk
consistency check and delete orphaned file fragment segments - the data
I was trying to save.

When boot was finished all the files on the hard drive were gone,
except for the last folder that I pasted on the drive before windows
reported it as "drive not formatted"

Note: I have a backup of the entire drive which I cloned onto an
identical drive - so the data loss in the above scenario is
inconsequential

I have no idea why this did not work. I would like to undo it an try
some other things on the drive but I don't know how.
 
getting back to what caused the problem in the first place, I have set
up the second drive with Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for
windows

exactly the way I set up the orignial drive in the first place.

I then used PowerQuest PartitionInfo to compare the old drive "as it is
now" and the new drive.

The only difference was one line:

Info: Disk Manager is installed on this drive.

I am thinking that if I can put Disk Manager back on the old drive,
then it will work as it is supposed to.
 
Greg said:
The only difference was one line:

Info: Disk Manager is installed on this drive.
Click to expand...

If PowerQuest's Partinfo gives you that line, it does not mean Disk Manager
is 'doing' anything (providing large disk support). If the WD tools you used
to 'install' the hard disk do so much as look at the disk, and then come to
the conclusion no Disk Manager support is required (because the BIOS
supports large disks), it will still leave traces causing the 'Disk Manager
installed' message in Partinfo.
 
Joep said:
We do?


No, because DiskPatch runs in DOS, it can not detect a Windows problem, you
arse.
Click to expand...

Then why did you recommend that shit of yours in the first place,
you numbnut.
Even someone as clueless as you must have noticed that nobody is
using Dos anymore these days and that there have been 32-bit
DOS type applications that can run under Windows for years.
 
Then why did you recommend that shit of yours in the first place,
you numbnut.
Click to expand...

You're clueless aren't you, pathetic little man.
Even someone as clueless as you must have noticed that nobody is
using Dos anymore
Click to expand...

Wrong. Just plain wrong.
these days and that there have been 32-bit
DOS type applications that can run under Windows for years.
Click to expand...

Irrelevant.

What else ****wit?
 
Dear Greg,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support.

Because your system does not natively support the 200 WD drive on its
own, this is why our Data Lifeguard Tools software would of been
installed to allow you to see the full capacity of your hard drive. If
you reformated your boot drive, our pointer file if you will is no
longer on the boot drive to let your system know that a WD drive is
installed using DLG Tools. In order to update DDO or install on both
drives you would go to Maintenance Options by booting to the Data
Lifeguard Tools version 11 CD. You should be able to select Update
Master Boot Record (MBR) boot code. Select next, and on this screen,
you should see your installed hard drives. Select your master hard
drives and click next. The maintenance options should of completed.

You can purchase drive accessories by contacting us at 1-800-275-4932.
The following accessories are available for purchase:

cables
jumper shunts
power adapters
packaging materials
manuals and software


Sincerely,
Don S.
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com
 
Joep Oct 11, 8:13 pm wrote
Greg,
Click to expand...
You are asking stupid questions and for info available on the WD website you
must be blind to miss. You're dealing wih a dataloss issue with the wrong
tools, you should avoid messing around with drive overlay software
installation stuff until you have recovered the data. If you can not use
data recovery tools because you have nowehere to copy to, then get another
disk.

You're asking questions and at the same time trying to outsmart those who
answer those questions.
Click to expand...

That is coz you were on the wrong track all along, with the previous
post from WD confirming what I thought.
 
have given up and have moved on the data recovery tools
Click to expand...

problem with all these partition readout tools is you've got to be
an expert in drive geometry and a bit of a mathematician to figure
out how to edit the drive tables. I don't see anyone on this group
that is either, so far. And besides everything here seems to
degenerate into a flame war.
 
Greg said:
That is coz you were on the wrong track all along, with the previous
post from WD confirming what I thought.
--
Click to expand...

Nope, your disk can do without a drive overlay, the WD guy is wrong. The WD
guy probably cut/paste a solution right from a pre-cooked text. You quoting
that is pretty much meaningless anyway if you do not include the question
you sent them.
 
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