Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- From: Ted Zieglar <teddy.z@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:41:58 -0500
I've said this many times before, but it bears repeating: Many people think 'my computer seems pretty messed up...guess I'll just reinstall Windows.' That way of thinking is wrong.
To begin with, reinstalling Windows won't make a bit of difference if you have a hardware problem, a problem with software other than Windows, malware or a problem with the logical structure of your hard disk. Reinstalling Windows is only useful in situations where critical Windows files are missing or damaged. If this is not, in fact, the problem reinstalling Windows is of no value. And, depending on what the real problem is, reinstalling Windows can make things much worse.
You haven't told us anything that might help to identify the underlying problem(s) you were facing, other than "some things weren't going right on my system".
Also: Reinstalling and installing from scratch are two different things. Installing from scratch means erasing your hard disk and starting over. You have not done this.
You have told us that you are receiving a message to the effect that your Master Boot Record is corrupted. There is usually no recovery from this, although someone with the right tools and the training to use them might...might...be able to repair the damage. In most cases you have to erase your hard disk.
It's rare for a master boot record to become corrupted. When that does happen it's usually due to malware or an inexperienced user who is trying to use partitioning tools.
The fact that you have reinstalled Windows "plenty of times before" should, quite frankly, be a red flag to you. Windows XP is inherently stable and in the hands of a knowledgeable user it should not need reinstalling at all. This is a sign that you might want to take a hard look at how you are using your computer.
So in your case I would say 1) Ask a professional technician with experience in fixing boot records to help you out, and 2) Be prepared to erase your hard disk and reinstall everything.
---
Ted Zieglar
"Backup is a computer user's best friend."
BobV wrote:
I think I probably know the outcome of the bottom line of what I'm asking, but what the heck...I'll try anyway. Had something "really" strange happen, at least to my personal understanding. It all started about a week ago....some things weren't going right on my system, so I figured "well, I have quite a lot of junk on the system at this point--I'll just reinstall the system from scratch". Done it plenty of times before--shouldn't be a problem. First, I had three 400gb hard drives on my system, all SATA--the boot drive had the OS, my data files, program installation files, etc., etc., each on a separate partition. Second and third just had a lot of video files on it. Ok, so.....I stick my WinXP disk in the DVD drive and reboot; it boots to the CD and starts inspecting the system and loading install files....gets to the screen where I'm supposed to select a partition to install it on. Ok, they don't look right; but it does show C, D, and E.....so I pick C and move forward. It seems to do okay, and after everything installs it reboots and "normally" loads WinXP and you begin setting it up. Instead, it starts the process all over again. This time, when I select C, it goes to a next screen and tells me there is no compatible WinXP partition and gives me the option of deleting the partition and re-creating it, so I did that. From there it pretty much just did that time after time. Rebooted again, and tried a different partition, which I realize now must actually have been another physical drive....because what I basically have now is two HDs that are totally useless. Fortunately, I had backups of my critical data; but lost a "bunch" of video that I would rather not have....most not anything I can't get again (recorded movies off the TV, etc.), except for a few are really quite unfortunate. The thing I guess I can't understand is exactly what happened from what should have been a simple system reinstallation. Anyone heard of something like this before? I mean these two drives are absolutely worthless at this point.....I cannot even reformat them, wipe out the data, and start over with empty drives. Even in Partition Magic, when I attempt to format them, I get the error message "BAD MBR". Is there any way to get around this boot record error and at least "use" the drives again? Any info would help. Some big lessons learned this time--for starters, unplug everything else before starting next time. I've bought another main drive in the meantime and have started reinstalling my system, and things are going fine, and as I would have expected them to go the first time; but I sure would like to know what happened before..
Thanks,
Bob
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- From: BobV
- Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- References:
- WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- From: BobV
- WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- Prev by Date: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- Next by Date: Re: Keyboard Problem
- Previous by thread: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- Next by thread: Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
