Re: Corrupt master boot record? Help!
- From: "Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 21:51:33 -0400
"Anna" wrote:"fuzzmaster" <fuzzmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:91D6A85B-073C-446E-9B2D-6B39E1983FA2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OK my machine has 2 hard drives, 1 IDE and 1 SATA. I moved the XP
home
install to the new SATA about 4 months ago and have had no problems.
The
old
drive (now my secondary) was reformatted. Recently it was getting
sluggish,
however and I wanted to clean out a lot of old junk, so I decided to
reinstall XP (on the new SATA). When I boot to the install CD,
before
the
install starts, I get a message that there is not enough free space
on
the
drive to install. No problem, I figure. So I exit out of the
install,
but
when I try to reboot, the BIOS recognizes the drive but XP won't
boot.
So
I
run the install on the secondary drive no problem, but when I pull
up
the
SATA drive in explorer it says it is not formatted(!?!) Now when I
try
to
run
the XP install on the SATA drive it says half the drive is
partitioned
and
half is unpartitioned. Previously there was only 1 partition
containing
the
whole drive. So I figure the master boot record has been corrupted,
so
I
enter the repair console and try "fixmbr" which gives me a message
resembling:
"an invalid or nonstandard partition table signature is detected,
you
will
be prompted whether you want to continue. If you are not having
problems
accessing your drives, you should not continue. I assume no data is
shown on that SATA
My question is will this "damage my partition tables and cause my
partitions
to become inaccessible"??? Is there a better way to fix this? Would
"fixboot"
work? I REALLY need to get the data off the drive and don't want to
re-format
or re-partition!!! Help!
fuzzmaster:
Your post/query is unclear - at least it's unclear to me.
Let's forget about your secondary PATA HDD for a while, OK?
If I correctly understand you, all you want to do is make a fresh
install
of
the XP OS onto your SATA HDD, yes? You indicated that "it (the SATA
HDD,
yes?) was getting sluggish, however and I wanted to clean out a lot of
old
junk, so I decided to reinstall XP (on the new SATA). "
Well if you make a fresh install of the OS obviously all the
partitions/data
on the drive will be lost. I'm reasonably certain you understand that,
right? So why are you concerned with "damage (to) my partition
tables", a
possibly corrupted MBR, etc., etc.?
But are you *really* wanting to make a fresh install of the OS onto
that
SATA HDD or are you "really* interested in a Repair install of the OS
already on that drive?
If you're *really* interested in a fresh install of the XP OS onto
that
SATA
HDD, why don't you just disconnect your PATA HDD from the system while
you
use your XP installation CD to make that fresh install? See what
happens
under those circumstances.
But if that's what you *really* don't want to do, perhaps you can
clarify
your ultimate objective(s). Or maybe someone else can respond to your
query
who has a better understanding than I of your current situation &
future
intentions.
Anna
"fuzzmaster" <fuzzmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:993D1169-14DC-4FA1-84F3-49F2D17155E9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I wasn't looking to do a complete wipe and "clean" install. I guess you
would
call it a "re-install", where the windows settings are all reset, but
the
non-windows files (and partitions) are unchanged. Does that answer your
question?
fuzzmaster:
OK, that's clear to me now. What you wanted to do was to run a Repair
install of the XP OS, which of course would be undertaken with the XP
installation CD. But you say "When I boot to the install CD, before the
install starts, I get a message that there is not enough free space on
the
drive to install." And you can no longer boot to that SATA HDD which I
take
it was your primary day-to-day boot drive.
However, you apparently have the XP OS also installed on your secondary
PATA
HDD and you can boot to that drive. But when you do, the SATA HDD is
shown
(partially or fully - it's not clear) as unformatted. I guess that's what
you mean when you say "but when I pull up the SATA drive in explorer it
says
it is not formatted". Although you go on to say "half the drive is
partitioned and
half is unpartitioned. Previously there was only 1 partition containing
the
whole drive." Although you don't say, I assume no data is shown on that
SATA
HDD or if there is, you're not able to access it.
In any event, it seems clear that the SATA HDD is badly corrupted or
possibly even defective. Since you can't access that drive through the XP
installation CD and at least try some of the usual fixes through the
Recovery console, e.g., fixmbr, fixboot, etc., I really don't know how
you
can return that drive to a bootable functional state.
It might be a good idea to use the HDD diagnostic from the manufacturer
of
the SATA HDD and test it out. Although I would guess it's non-defective
and
the problem is simply a badly corrupted HDD. So my only suggestion would
be
to boot to your other HDD and using Disk Management, delete any & all
partition(s) on the SATA HDD (after trying to access/copy any data that
you
can from that SATA HDD) and just start over with a fresh install of the
XP
OS onto that SATA HDD. If, on the other hand, there is data on that SATA
HDD
that you *must* have, well, that's another story...
Anna
"fuzzmaster" <fuzzmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D680E9ED-6F30-4A4D-876C-E62908AE4331@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OK. First of all thank you for the response. To address your questions:
Yes, I now have a working OS on the PATA HDD and the BIOS and windows
recognizes that the SATA drive is present, but if I try to access it in
Windows Explorer I am told it is not formatted. On the other hand, if I
try
to install the OS onto the SATA, I am told that half the drive is
partitioned
and half the drive is unpartitioned. Previously there was only a single
partition covering the whole drive.
You say "I assume no data is shown on that SATA HDD" Not sure what you
mean
here. It won't let me access the files in explorer. Not sure where else
data
would be "shown"?
I will try the Seagate diagnostic tools, but I agree that most likely the
drive is not damaged, but merely corrupted. Of course the obvious question
is
WHY!?!?!? Why would a repair install (that hadn't even started yet)
corrupt
my partition??? Very frustrating.
I CAN access the recovery console, but when I tried "fixmbr" I got the
warning message saying that I had "an invalid or nonstandard partition
table
signature" and continuing could "damage my partition tables and cause my
partitions to become inaccessible", so I did not continue.
I believe erasing or reformatting the disk would return it to a perfectly
usable state, but I REALLY want my data back!!!!! :(
Any ideas?
Thanks!
I really don't know what else to suggest other than your trying one of those
"data recovery programs" that are widely available to recover whatever data
you can. If you're not familiar with them do a search on Google. Many, if
not most of these programs, have demo versions available which can tell you
whether specific data can be resurrected.
Anna
.
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