hard drive is now unformatted :(

[dweller]

was fine last nite, but i guess i lost the NTFS. Booting from secondary drive now.

i'm going shopping for a new drive today sometime. Any advice on how to copy the files on old to new? Usually maxtor drive has option to copy old drive to new, but will it see the old, now supposedly unformatted drive?

questions, questions. I won't be back online till very late today, so respond away and i'll check later.

peace.
dp

[FormerDittoHead]

1. Did you check your computer bios to see if it's correct? 200 Ways...

Sometimes the system bios screws up the specs of the drive (dead battery) and Windows thinks it a different drive.

I did have one drive fail on me in a similar way that, upon booting and running, it would make a god aweful grinding / clicking sound. Didn't take much for me to figure it out! I DID reformat the drive but the sound persisted. Soon, it stopped even showing up on my list of devices. In such a case of hardware failure (i.e. Windows doesn't even recognize it's there), imo, there is little chance of "software" data recovery (i.e. running a program to restore the data). There MAY be some programs that would work on such a low level and read NTFS partitions? Cleanroom data recovery is available but you're looking at spending at least $500 (usually more). I hope this teaches you to back up at least once in a while!

Having you read that long paragraph however, there are still avenues of recourse, and this would be a good starting point:
http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/downloads/200ways.pdf

[dweller]

3. the drive is fine

no noises, ran a utilities program on it last nite and it checked out fine. But i also ran a registry checkup on it, and must have deleted a file in the reg. altho all files that i deleted were ones that were supposedly according to the program ones i could safely delete.

thanks
dp

[samdogmom]

2. You may be able to get your files back with a file recovery program.

I never had this happen with an internal drive, but last summer an external Maxtor drive suddenly became unformatted. I had over 250 gbs of mp3 files on the drive and I really didn't want to spend weeks re ripping all of this music. I was able to recover all of the files using a program called "Recover My Files". Here's a link to their web site: http://www.recovermyfiles.com/
The program costs about $70, but you don't have to pay for it until you determine if your files can be recovered. Good luck, I hope you get your files back!

[dweller]

4. the program i ran last nite

had an emergency boot disk option, so i made it, but it doesn't run now since the ntfs system seems to be lost. I know my files are there, just can see the ntfs files to recognize the disk.

thanks, i'll check into it.

dp

[WhollyHeretic]

5. Maybe the Master File Table got screwed up. Do you have your

Windows disk? If you do you could boot to recovery counsel and run CHKDSK. It might be able to repair the MFT.

[dweller]

6. okay, talk to me

i have my windows 2k installation disk. I made a 4 disk bootable floppies from it in the past, tried to run it this morning when this first occured and on the 4th disk a message popped up that a file (on the floppy) was corrupt. So that failed.

are you saying i should use the cd to boot? As far as i know it's an installation disk, but i could look at it now on this drive and see what else is available on it. For example if i find recovery counsel on it, what do i want to do with it? Point at the 60g and attempt to counsel it? :)

sorry, it's late, and i'm just checking in again. I'll check the cd for whatever it has to work with and check back again here later or early tomorrow.

thanks for your advice.

as far as i can tell, the NTFS file system has been lost, so now the 60g (my main drive) is seen as non-formatted. I know my personal files are there, since i've done nothing to delete them, i think i've just lost something in the registry/NTFS system to recognize the drive as a formatted disk. :shrug:

dp

[WhollyHeretic]

7. Recovery counsel is on the instillation CD when you boot up with the

CD it is one of the choices when you go through the different screens. If the NTFS is screwed up then it could be the Master File Table which points to where everything is. If it is something with the registry then you could use the instillation to do a repair instillation. You can do the repair instillation if the CD is at least able to recognize that there is a screwed up Windows instillation there. When you do a repair install it will replace just the operating system files but leave your personal files.

Recovery Counsel is a command line tool and you would use the command CHKDSK X:
(the x represents the drive letter) to repair problems with a hard drive. If the Master File Table is totally screwed then you'll have to use a third party software to recover your data.

Edited to add: What was the error you recieved in the first place?

You only need the 4 floppies if your Windows CD isn't bootable. If it isn't bootable I believe you just need to use a computer running 2000 go to START -> RUN -> then type MAKEBOOT or (MKBT) it's been a while since I've used that.

[dweller]

8. quick question

appears i don't have that file on my win2k cd :shrug: or am not finding it anyway.

i brought a cmd window up and typed the chkdsk f: and got the following:

the type of file system is NTFS

WARNING! F parameter not specified. Running chkdsk in read-only mode.

it's now reporting many files (many, many files) as unreadable. :(
as such:
File record segment 65433 is unreadable.
File record segment 65434 is unreadable.
File record segment 65435 is unreadable.

and it's still going. about 15% at stage 1 of 3.

so, is it really able to see my hard drive, or just unable to see the files so reporting them unreadable.

sorry if this is a dumb question, i guess it doesn't look good.

edit: and can i just kill the cmd window while it's running? i have to get to work soon, and don't think this will end soon...

dp

[dweller]

9. okay, it stopped after step 1

couldn't continue in read only. 'found errors' ... no kidding. there were too many files as unreadable to point out, or even copy etc. Basically it would find 5-6 in sequence, then jump up to another sequence of several as unreadable, i lost count.

sigh.
dp

[WhollyHeretic]

10. Does windows recognize the drive at all?

Is it listed in My Computer? Are you only using 2000 or were you dual-booting with another version of Windows?

[dweller]

11. only using 2000 on both drives

I had a 30g Maxtor as my primary drive, upgraded to a 60g about a year ago. I used the Maxtor software to format (NTFS) and move all the files from the 30g to the 60g. Set up the 60g as the primary drive, the 30g as a slave. It still has win2k on it, so in situations like this, i just switch the places on the cable, and move the jumpers and the 30g is my primary, the 60g as slave.
With the 30g set now as primary it sees the 60g as drive F: , but intially i was getting a 'drive not formatted' error when trying to access it, since i ran chkdsk on it, now says 'parameter not correct' as stated above, or when i try to open it.

I've realized since i set them up a year ago, i could have just wiped the 30g and had it as an extra storage, but left it with the os on it just in case which has worked out for me since i can boot up with it, but it only has a few programs on it to access the internet, etc. I plan to use it to make a makeboot set of disks since the ones i made before don't seem to work with the 60g on bootup, altho i made them originally with the 60g os. It fails on a file on disk 4... i can't remember which file it was now, but said it was corrupt.

The first error message that i saw when trying to boot the other day was 'disk error, hit any key to restart', over and over, and that was after it checked the cd, the a: drive and the primary for boot files, and says it found them on c: , (IDE 0 OK, as normal on bootup) then the error message. Tried to use the win2k 4 disks boot disks,and the emergency disk that VCOM Fix-It Utilities suggested i make (the program i used the nite before that i must have deleted some registry file to create this problem in the first place) to boot, and the windows installation disk to boot it, and as far as i can tell, correct me if i'm wrong, the 60g has lost whatever it needs to be seen as a formatted disk, or the NTFS system. I don't know how it could have deleted all my personal files, so suspect/hope they are there still.

I'd like to sit down and take several hours to attack this problem and do whatever is necessary to correct it, but my time is tight right now with work, don't have a day off until tues/wed to concentrate on it fully. I am tossing around a few ideas with myself to approach it with:

1: buy a new 60g and try transferring all files over to it just like i did in the past. The only problem i had with that procedure in the past is some of the software didn't work without reloading them, but my personal files were fine.

2: ..... i haven't progessed past #1 yet ...and am open to suggestions. :)

btw, the 'emergency repair disk that i made the nite before this catastrophe contains 3 files:
autoexec.nt
config.nt
setup (looks like a textfile, and i can read the data in the file. It appears to contain my registry?
looks like:
Paths]
TargetDirectory = "\WINNT"
TargetDevice = "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition1"
SystemPartitionDirectory = "\"
SystemPartition = "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition1"

Version = "WinNt5.0"

NTDETECT.COM = "NTDETECT.COM","f41f"
and goes on and on...

my 60g would not boot with this, but not sure why since it made it as an 'emergency disk'. :shrug:


thanks for your input, i'll keep checking back.
dp

[WhollyHeretic]

12. I don't think that it was anything you did to the registry that did this

Even if you had deleted the entire registry you would still be able to access the files when booted up to your other drive. With what you've tried and the errors you've gotten I think it has to be either be the Master File Table is corrupted or the drive is dead. The program that samdogmom sounds like the best bet to recover the files since you don't have to pay for the program until you determine whether it can recover your files.

Here another recovery program that's a bit cheaper $31.50 Iolo search and recover 3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832293113

I haven't used it, I've heard good things about it. Maybe someone else here has some experience with it.

[dweller]

13. well, i don't know what to say

but thanks to all the replies here, your input has been most helpful, altho i guess i still don't know what to make of this situation. I'll update now what i'm seeing.

I finally have some time to look into this problem i'm experiencing (somewhat outlined above) and tonite while reading thru the manuals that were in the program i ran that *I think* created my travail, found some info about trying to restore, etc. a drive that was having troubles. I'm still not sure what i'm going to do to remedy this, but... i decided to just look at the drive again clicking the 'my computer' icon and checking my F: (my once primary drive that was not being recognized anymore even in 'my comp' and lo and behold, it opened up !!??. But many, many files are not there. Program files for one, and the whole WINNT folder is not there, along with many more too numerous to list. But still many of my personal files ARE there, I'm amazed it's now even seeing it since i was getting 'parameter not correct' the last time i even tried to see it. :shrug:

So, somehow this drive has decided to raise itself, altho barely, from the dead. I went to system tools in windows accessories, and tried to do a simple disk scan but it wasn't an option (?) but in the properties/tools section of the drive itself was 'error checking' and i selected it and it could not check it for some reason, but scheduled a check after next boot. I rebooted and it ran 'chkdsk' and returned the same countless 'unreadable file at xxx,xxx as i outlined above in previous message.

Just now i went to the same properties/tools and tried 'error checking' again and it's attempting to run the check, actually it's going well. I am hoping it returns some info that may be of some help as far as sectors that may be damaged? corrupt? fixable? unfixable? who knows??
I've set it to scan and fix, and recover bad sectors. I'm going to send this along now while i wait to see what results, if i have piqued anyone's interest please stay tuned. I may have some questions,and more results to post shortly.

what a Lazarus disk this damned Maxtor is.

dp

[dweller]

14. they're baaaaaaaackk ..... :)

my files are back!! !!!

program files..winnt...all the others that were toooo numerous to list are now back again on the F: drive :shrug: even tho 'error checking' ran phases 1 and 2 but stopped at the last sliver of phase 2 and reported it could not complete the task, it restored my files :) :)!

now, i'm off to update my virus checker, adaware, spybot and any other thing i can think of, and then run 'error check' one more time, run all those programs and then switch the drives back on the ribbon cable to see if it's really restored.

my most heartfelt thanks to you all that replied, especially GreenJ for your patience with my fuddled questions and reports...man. . . i can't believe i'm seeing what i'm seeing on that drive.

i'll add more later (probably much later) after i've worked out a few more kinks. Like buying a new drive and transferring everything over to it before this one really snuffs out on me.


:woohoo:

dp

[samdogmom]

15. I'm very happy for you!

It sounds like you got your lucky break for this century. Since I experienced a hard drive failure, I back up constantly now. Photos and other irreplaceable items are on at least three different hard disks. I firmly believe you can never have too many backups!

[FormerDittoHead]

16. DON'T DEPEND UPON THAT DRIVE!!!!

The very least you should do is to BACKUP EVERYTHING OFF THAT DRIVE **NOW** (I'm using caps because it's like shouting)

Furthermore, and I'm quite serious, I'd backup everything, and reformat that drive and start over reinstalling everything. That's right.

NEXT, after you install Windows and your programs, I'd use Norton Ghost (going for $20 see link below) to backup the (basic) hard drive, partition and all. This way, if (when) it were to fail again, you could restore Windows and your programs in one step without having to reinstall them (or install them on another hard drive).

http://tinyurl.com/d59am

[dweller]

17. i'm updating again

i've stabilised the drive so far, it's now booting up again as my primary, but with another problem. The 2 cd players (one rom, one burner) are not showing up on this drive. Appears i've lost the drivers (?), or the NTFS no longer recognises them for whatever reason.

this explains why i can't boot from cd (win2k install, etc). I'm sure there are more missing files that i haven't encountered, but this is the first i want to try to try to get up again.

as a catch up. I've spent most of yesterday and today trying to stabilise the drive. Every boot up has attempted to chkdsk the drive, sometimes i've cancelled to get beyond the wait time, but others i've allowed to run. At one point it deleted some corrupt files and at that time the drive became unreadable again, so i ran error check on it in windows and it restored some, at the latests chkdsk on bootup it restored 'orphans' and then the last time it ran chkdsk it ran seamlessly, with the last process restoring/fixing some errors, and so now it has booted up with the old 60g as primary. I'm here now running my old desktop, programs, connections too. So, other than no cd drives, which i would like to repair so i could try to boot and run recovery console to try to repair the os, i guess i'm better off now than i was again yesterday and way better than when i started the thread.
When i was booting from the other drive, i noticed an error message about the cd drive (no DDE, or something to the effect, but the drive worked anyway). I couldn't boot from the cd on that drive either.

any advice appreciated. please no shouting.

dp

[dweller]

18. can't edit, just adding

error code 31 is what i'm seeing on both drives, have uninstalled and reinstalled both to no avail.

it's a registry problem. sigh.

dp

[WhollyHeretic]

19. Do you know how to get into your CMOS?

Even if you don't have the CD drives installed in windows you should still be able to boot from a bootable CD. If it's not booting from the CD then you can check the CMOS and make sure it's set to boot from CD before the hard drive in the boot order.

Maybe the problem is your IDE controllers on your mother board since you're having problems with the hard drives and the CD drives and they both connect to via IDE.

[dweller]

20. okay, i was just rebooting and checking back

it was a problem with a registry key, upper and lower filters. Found it on google search, and it worked, now both cd's are back.

whew... i told myself i wasn't going to futz tooooo late with this computer tonite, and i have already. I have to work early tomorrow, but when i get home i'm going to try the win2k recovery console (which i've been unable to get to w/out cd drive) and see if i can restore a complete registry if i have to, or whatever i need to do to find this drive back to as close to optimum as possible.

i seriously believe i deleted some registry key/files in the first place and that caused the initial fubar.

Cmos: yes, it has been set to boot from the cd, then floppy, then hard drive all along. But cd wasn't ever getting recognized, so kept getting 'files not found' on boot so thought they just weren't there or found, or something. :shrug:

thanks for checking in again, i'll update later tomorrow. At some point i may have to ask you about transferring these drives over to another computer (P3, dell) and setting up a new system, using this old P2, emachine as a Linux system. . . but that's in the future.

for now, just getting back here has been a uphill slog. But the drive is again bootable, my cd drives are back, and most (not all) of my personal files are still there. I'm not getting so many chkdsk errors anymore. I also have 2 new folders (found.000 and 001) on my drive that appear to contain files 'found' after some of the chkdsk repairs. What to do with them?

peace.
dp

[WhollyHeretic]

21. I think what your computer needs is an exorcism. That really is a bizarre

group of problems you've had. Were you able to repair the registry?

[dweller]

22. yes, repaired

at this point i've only lost a program or two, just reloaded them and seems to be fine.

i'm just watching it now for a few more days and then will try to look a bit more indepth at repair console with win2k disc.
also, have a copy of ghost to check out.

eventually, hope to migrate the discs over to another machine, and then set this one up for Linux, but i may be weeks away from all of that.

thanks again for your advice/help.
dp