Lost boot sector, partiton tables and data

from WinCustomize Forums
I lost my boot sector and partition tables for my "C" drive, and couldn't boot into Windows. I ran recovery console and ran chkdsk, fixmbr, fixboot, none of which worked. I was unable to do a repair reinstall as it cannot see the "C" partition as a Windows partition, even though all the data is still on there.
I ended up installing XP to the "D" partition, and was able to back up most of my data to a USB drive, but the contents of my account folder in "Documents and Settings" (ie: My Documents, Application Data, etc...) will not copy. I've set them to share, and when I mouse over the icons it says they are empty, though they are not.
I have booted up with a Knoppix live CD and can see and open all the files, but have not been able to transfer them to my USB drive, and when I burned the data to a CD it was unreadable in XP.
The files are too big to email. Any help is appreciated, either to recover the data, or to restore the partition tables to be able to boot into the "C" paartition.
2,763 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
HD manufacturer is...?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WD 80GB 7200rpm 8MB cache.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
...why did I know that...

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=999

Download their DOS tool (floppy or CD) and it will repair your MBR and if it fixes it, you should be able to use it to transfer the files or just fix the partition. Keep in mind....even though this is a relatively new drive, this could be a sign your HD is headed south.

Here's another link that gives you a plethora of tools to play with (including the WD Tool)... http://lists.gpick.com/pages/Hard_Disk_Tools.htm

enjoy and ...good luck.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks, I'll try those and let you know how it goes.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
it fix the problem?

-=TYCUS=-
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Once upon a time drives were far less reliable than they are now.....I still have my 'first' drive....whopping 40meg of it....big enough to have it's own zip code....gravitationally attracts small furry animals....
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You have that monster running in your Atari 800XL w/64k memory...right???
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nope...was in an XT 'clone'....Hercules B&W .... 5.25 floppy and all.....Dos 3.3....
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow! 3.3? XT? I was like 10 years old then lmao
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you have lost the mbr and partition table entry this tools does I good job of finding lost partitions and recreating your mbr and partition table

http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks for the links yrag, but I still haven't gotten anywhere. I've thought about taking out the HDD and slaving it in another XP machine and see if I can pull the data off that way, but I'm a little skeptical that it could work any better than trying to pull it from the XP install on the other partition.
BTW, I think (hope?) the HDD is OK. Truth is my pain as at least partially self-inflicted. I used Partition Magic to format the "D" partition on preparation for installing a SuSe partition. I don't know why or how, but apparently it wiped out the boot sector and partion tables to the "C" partition along with "D". I've booted back up with the Partition Magic recovery floppies, but nothing I've done has been able to restore the missing sectors & tables.
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

You can recover all your files with 3rd party data recovery software.Then perform a system restore to fix your Windows.I have succeed with Tenorshare Data Recovery WinPE.It allows users to burn ISO file to CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive and boot up Operating System from bootable CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive directly.You can use it to retrieve data under any boot up problem.Get it from http://www.any-data-recovery.com/product/datarecoverywinpe.htm  Hope this helps!B)

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

RyanBanks - I've noticed that you've been commenting (good comments) on threads from 2005.

It's unlikely these folks still have these problems and apart from yrag, Jafo and Tychus I haven't seen tjesterb nor the other posters in Forums recently.

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

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