Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!

Ted,

Points noted, however, I did not mean to imply that I'm constantly
reinstalling Windows every time I encounter the slightest problem. Just
that over the years, with the number of computers I have in the house, that
I have installed one version or another numerous times. Do I reinstall it
more than is necessary--well, probably, so again points noted and taken for
future reference. On this particular box that I built about a year ago now,
I have never actually reinstalled the system. I only meant to imply that
with the number of times "over the years" that I "have" installed Windows I
have never really encountered before what I experienced this time. Never
really completely ruined physical drives before. I do also note that you
say corrupting the master boot record is rare, and that it's usually not
recoverable. Guess that's all I need to know--I've done the near
impossible, and I'm screwed.

Ok, so not that it matters anymore, but I attempted to reinstall, not wipe
the entire HD and install everything again. I did not attempt to partition
the drive--it was already partitioned. It was just a matter of rebooting
with the WinXP disk and going through the steps to reformat the C: drive and
then install XP on it. Since something went very wrong somewhere I was just
attempting to ascertain what or how it might have happened. Basically, you
have as much information as I have to share--one minute the hard drives were
fine, and after going through the Windows install procedure, they weren't.

Thanks anyway.....at least, as your signature says, I did have a backup of
my most critical data. While I'm obviously certainly not at your level of
expertise, I'm also not exactly the completely unknowledgable buffoon you
make me out to be.

Thanks again,
Bob



"Ted Zieglar" <teddy.z@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23PJx3eNGHHA.1064@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
    ... and then try to restore the boot partition from there. ... helpfile and give it a shot--at least maybe I can reuse the drives that way. ... Thank-you again.....I'll try to be more patient about reinstalling to fix ... drive and then install XP on it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
    ... I restored both my Data and Programs partitions with it onto my new HD after I installed XP on it, but after finally accepting my fate on the other drives didn't think anything would work. ... I haven't used Acronis for very long, but I guess I would just create a boot disk and then try to restore the boot partition from there. ... One way that you can avoid reinstalling Windows is to backup your system partition. ... It was just a matter of rebooting with the WinXP disk and going through the steps to reformat the C: drive and then install XP on it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: boot up
    ... Without reinstalling XP ... start system with floppy in place...do not install the program run it off ... > different drives when it was installed. ... I recently had to re install win xp due to a very unstable system ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Erasing/cleaning my hard drive
    ... reinstalling my OS figuring to start over with my PC. ... I thought that by reinstalling Windows XP, I'd be erasing (or ... Follow directions until it asks you where you want to install it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: WinXP install ruins two HDs - Help!
    ... One way that you can avoid reinstalling Windows is to backup your system partition. ... Points noted, however, I did not mean to imply that I'm constantly reinstalling Windows every time I encounter the slightest problem. ... It was just a matter of rebooting with the WinXP disk and going through the steps to reformat the C: drive and then install XP on it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)