Re: XP rebooting at startup, missing NTFS partition and other stra

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Petie wrote:
"q_q_anonymous@xxxxxxxxxxx" wrote:


Petie wrote:
Hi Folks,

I have a system that is getting long in the tooth. It is a Dell Dimension
[snip]

I greatly appreciate your time and help.

Petie

2 HDDs didn't work with diff OSs? that does indicate bad MBRD.
specifically, perhaps a bad IDE connector. You could try putting the
HDD on the other IDE connector. Or try the HDDs in another computer /
on another motherboard.
Maybe all the data is actually fine, but I think you sohuld avoid that
MBRD incase you corrupt the HDDs. I once saw a MBRD with a bad IDE
port, I moved the HDD onto the other IDE port, and oddly, a year later,
that IDE port went. That can make it appear like the HDD has no C. Or
it doesn't boot up, or it freezes.

The other issue is data recovery. If you have trouble recovering data,
then also try a newsgroup that specialises in data recovery. Some have
some luck with HDD in freezer for a while. and/or getting an identical
HDD and changing the circuit board. There may also be special software.
The HDD manufacturer may have something on their site. Other HDD
manufacuters may have 'generic' i.e. works on any model/make of HDD. I
once had luck with putting a HDD on a USB-IDE adaptor, but another time
a bad HDD never worked again after I didn't 'disable the usb' , I just
unplugged it. So, there are even things you can do regarding data
recovery. But if a HDD is really screwed, then you have to be lucky.
Unless you're a data recovery professional.


Thanks for replying. Your idea of putting the HDD in the freezer is really
interesting because I noticed that my drives were wicked hot. This could
also be a matter of the drives overheating.

possibly. but that's not related to the fix of putting a drive (wrapped
up) in a freezer.


The fans seem to be working
correctly, and the side panel was off, so there should have been plenty of
air -- it just might not have been the proper flow.

could be HDD overheating. Though it shouldn't really overheat . You can
get freeware to display HDD temperature. I can't remember waht is an ok
temp.

Me looking at one usenet post, (not good research!) Perhaps less than
50 degrees, and not more than 15 degrees above room temp.

I don't follow your meaning on "special software" or "generic" -- do you
mean something that is very low level and can read the MBR to determine if it
is damaged?

well, Hitachi make a "Drive fitness test" i'm not sure if that runs on
Any hard drive.
These things would be low level. But may do a variety of things. e.g. I
saw one prog that writes zeros on the HDD. Not exactly checking to see
if the MBR is corrupt!

BTW, I need to make a small correction. My second OS is Win2K, not NT 4.0.
This is important because there was a change in NTFS between 4.0 and 2000,
but not between 2000 and XP, if I remember correctly. If not, then I look
forward to everyones assistance in understanding the possible causes.

I don't have much NT experience.

If it is a bad MBRD then the probs could be very random. The first
thing I would do is try the drives in another computer. Then you know
if the HDDs are bad - hence you have to do data recovery. Or if the
MBRD is bad.
Otherwise you could spend days trying to guess at the problem. At the
end of the day, I think the best thing to do is get the data off the
drives, wipe partitions off, recreate them and reinstall your programs.
Maybe use dfiferent HDDs. Monitor HDD temp too. If you keep running
into diff HDD problems or even the same HDD problems, you could just be
making matters worse.

.

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