Help! XP trashed my drive!

[Joe Samangitak]

From: Bob Davis ([email protected])
Subject: Re: Help! XP trashed my drive!


|I have an old 120MB drive that I was trying to copy
| on to my XP Pro drive. Every 10MB or so, XP would
| stop the copy citing an error with one of the files.
| To speed things up, I decided to have XP check the drive
| and repair it, using the "TOOLS" tab under drive properties.
| Well after this, I found NO more files listed on my old drive,
| the only thing showing was the "Recycled" icon! However,
| Properties showed the size of the drive was pretty close to
| what it was before, meaning the data was still on the drive.
| (All files are set to "visible" on my system, so thats not the
| reason I couldn't see the files). Furthermore, stupid XP renamed
| the drive volume to the exact same name as my primary drive.
|
| DOS doesn't show any files on the drive either, and using Norton
| Disk Doctor for DOS to repair the drive didn't work.
| Running CHKDSK under WinXP shows that most of the drive has data,
| but it wants to convert the lost chains to files. I do not want
| to allow this, because I don't think CHKDSK has a "unrepair" option.
| Norton found over 5,000 lost chains when I ran it, and then said it
| couldn't find the drive any longer, after I allowed it to convert
| to files (so I undid the repair). Thus I don't want to risk letting
| XP trash my data even further!
|
| I don't get what happened exactly, or how I can repair it. All
| I know is I've some important docs on this drive I'd like to get
| back. Any clue as to how I can fix the XP damage?

I wouldn't blame XP for your drive's demise, as it may just be on its death
bed, or have already effectively died. Try the drive on another computer,
although I doubt if the results will be different.

BZZZZT! You're BOTH wrong, and you couldn't be MORE wrong. There's
nothing wrong
with the drive, it works as fine as a new one. The first clue would be
in the fact that I stated XP changed the volume label of the drive.
The second would be after I said I let XP fix the drive, the FILE
damage occurred.

I mean any simpleton with even the most basic computer skills would
have long ago realized from reading my message that this is clearly
FILE SYSTEM DAMAGE, not a physical problem with the drive. Your
biases against older hardware notwithstanding. Kindergarten class is
over. Please go back to school and pay attention this time.

Seriously, can anyone with a clue about XP's handling of older FAT
systems please tell me what XP did to my drive after the "repair"
attempt, and how to reverse the process, to retrieve the data that is
-still on the drive-?

 

[skip]

From: Bob Davis ([email protected])
Subject: Re: Help! XP trashed my drive!


|I have an old 120MB drive that I was trying to copy
| on to my XP Pro drive. Every 10MB or so, XP would
| stop the copy citing an error with one of the files.
| To speed things up, I decided to have XP check the drive
| and repair it, using the "TOOLS" tab under drive properties.
| Well after this, I found NO more files listed on my old drive,
| the only thing showing was the "Recycled" icon! However,
| Properties showed the size of the drive was pretty close to
| what it was before, meaning the data was still on the drive.
| (All files are set to "visible" on my system, so thats not the
| reason I couldn't see the files). Furthermore, stupid XP renamed
| the drive volume to the exact same name as my primary drive.
|
| DOS doesn't show any files on the drive either, and using Norton
| Disk Doctor for DOS to repair the drive didn't work.
| Running CHKDSK under WinXP shows that most of the drive has data,
| but it wants to convert the lost chains to files. I do not want
| to allow this, because I don't think CHKDSK has a "unrepair" option.
| Norton found over 5,000 lost chains when I ran it, and then said it
| couldn't find the drive any longer, after I allowed it to convert
| to files (so I undid the repair). Thus I don't want to risk letting
| XP trash my data even further!
|
| I don't get what happened exactly, or how I can repair it. All
| I know is I've some important docs on this drive I'd like to get
| back. Any clue as to how I can fix the XP damage?


BZZZZT! You're BOTH wrong, and you couldn't be MORE wrong. There's
nothing wrong
with the drive, it works as fine as a new one. The first clue would be
in the fact that I stated XP changed the volume label of the drive.
The second would be after I said I let XP fix the drive, the FILE
damage occurred.

I mean any simpleton with even the most basic computer skills would
have long ago realized from reading my message that this is clearly
FILE SYSTEM DAMAGE, not a physical problem with the drive. Your
biases against older hardware notwithstanding. Kindergarten class is
over. Please go back to school and pay attention this time.

Seriously, can anyone with a clue about XP's handling of older FAT
systems please tell me what XP did to my drive after the "repair"
attempt, and how to reverse the process, to retrieve the data that is
-still on the drive-?

Not being an expert, and you said that XP changed the drive name to
the same as the XP drive, my first thought would be to change the
drive name on the old drive. Use to be that the two drives could not
have the same name and you would have a conflict going.
Just a simple thought.


Dan (Still going in circles)

Dan (Still going in circles)

 

[Mike Hall]

Joe

With all respect, when XP threw up error messages relating to some files
being corrupt during copying, that in itself would give clues to all not
being well with the drive.. XP is not as tolerant to partially defective
hardware as Win 98 and earlier were, and will show up errors that older
operating systems would have 'missed'..

File system damage is generally the result of a drive slowly 'crapping out',
and quite why you think that an old 120mb drive works as well as a new one
is beyond me.. I have no bias against old hardware other than the fact that
older stuff may prove less reliable, as proved in your case..

Quoting from your original post.. ".. I don't get what happened exactly, or
how I can repair it. All I know is I've some important docs on this drive
I'd like to get back. Any clue as to how I can fix the XP damage?..

Any simpleton would know that you have to get a file recovery program, be it
free or one that has to be purchased, or seek the services of a company that
specializes in file recovery..

Unfortunately, free file recovery programs do not always work that well, and
some of the programs that have to be purchased don't either if the
corruption is too bad.. that leaves you with the option of hiring specialist
services.. do you feel lucky?

Also, perhaps you might like to go back to kindergarten and listen this time
as they instruct you on common decency..


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/user

 

[Guest]

When crying out for help, it is not appropriate to issue abuse to those
potentially eager to help.

As for kindergarten: yes there is a place for you to start.

One usually fnds that solutions are found when proper explanation of
problems is provided.

You do not suggest what application or tool was used for this 'copy' and
indeed why it was important to copy every BIT from the old to the new. Does
the old drive have an operating system and applications installed - if yes,
then why copy all this unusable baggage across. Other problems with this are
painfully obvious to all but a novice PC user.

Did you attempt to do this on a file by file, folder by folder or drive to
drive [as in copying the whole of n-Drive to a folder in C-Drive or all of
n-Drive to C-Drive?

One would expect that if you attempted to perform the copy in the manner of
the last process, then you'd have dozens of error messages [or messages where
the system could not complete the specific task for an individual file ofr
folder due to conflicts].

As for renaming the drive etc...that's most peculiar. One would want to
know exactly what messages or promts appeared during this sequence. Again it
would normally appear only due to confilcts with device types etc.

As for the drive conbtents not being visible, perhaps along the way you've
managed to 'delete' them. If so then they are recoverable from the recyle
bin: thus the space allocated to the files has not altered as they are now a
subset of the recyle bin.

A successful result could be better achieved if one were to use Partition
Magic or Ghost. Now go and read more about these at Symantec's web site.

 

[joesamang]

Mike Hall wrote:

T> With all respect, when XP threw up error messages relating to some
files
T> being corrupt during copying, that in itself would give clues to all
not
T> being well with the drive.. XP is not as tolerant to partially
defective
T> hardware as Win 98 and earlier were, and will show up errors that
older
T> operating systems would have 'missed'..

NO, I believe that's a wrongful assumption that a lot of
self-professed experts who don't know any better make. It's not that
XP is such a superior OS, it is intolerant of "partially defective
hardware" where Win98 was. You're just pulling that one straight out
of your ass. It's more like XP is intolerant of older hardware and
operating systems, and that's a known fact.

If you really did have the computer knowledge you pretend to have and
this happened to you, you'd realize that XP was probably lying to you
when it said there were errors in these files during transfer. Rather,
this would mean it was XP's inability to make full sense of the older
FAT16 file system, particularly working under NTFS. This would explain
exactly why XP trashed my drive when I tried to repair it. Starting to
see the light, blind man?

This drive harkens back to an operating system called "DOS" (a few
decades before your time). An "operating system" by the way, is the
system of instructions used to organize files and functions on a hard
drive. Anyway, if you had one of these "DOS" programs (this is not the
same type of "program" you watch on TV, don't get confused now!) like
NDD, you could easily do a scan of the old drive. If it shows up a
million bad blocks, then you know XP is giving you the straight goods.
If it doesn't show up even one.... guess who's to blame?

T> File system damage is generally the result of a drive slowly
'crapping out',
T> and quite why you think that an old 120mb drive works as well as a
new one
T> is beyond me.. I have no bias against old hardware other than the
fact that
T> older stuff may prove less reliable, as proved in your case..

No, that was NOT proven in my case, that's your ignorance and
prejudice speaking again. There's nothing wrong with my drive, only
the files on it, genius. Why I think an old drive can work as well as
a new one, is because like everything else, new stuff is being built
to crap standards. Older drives were generally better built, and my
Samsung is the most reliable I've had. What SHOULD have given you and
your equally clueless bud some semblance of insight into the problem,
was the fact that I said the files were trashed immediately after
repairing it with XP. So don't regurgitate some nonsense you read
about "file system damage" in an old PCWorld magazine, and pretend to
have a clue as to what happened here. If you can't figure out that my
drive did not "slowly crap out" by what I wrote in my post, then
you're are beyond hopeless when it comes to problem solving computer
mishaps. Let's hope you have other talents.


T> Quoting from your original post.. ".. I don't get what happened
exactly, or
T> how I can repair it. All I know is I've some important docs on this
drive
T> I'd like to get back. Any clue as to how I can fix the XP damage?..

T> Any simpleton would know that you have to get a file recovery
program, be it
T> free or one that has to be purchased, or seek the services of a
company that
T> specializes in file recovery..

The operative word here is "simpleton", something you know a lot
about, since you live your life as a simpleton. I don't know what a
"simpleton" does in response to problems, so I would never have come
up with that idiotic answer, naturally. I have many forensic programs,
but that doesn't mean I want to spend the next five years scrubbing
the drive for every meaningful bit and byte that I can find and
reassemble it all into coherent pieces. Nor does it mean I want to
give OnTrack 300 hundred dollars to analyze my old 120mb drive in a
clean room. And if I DID want to apply those inane suggestions,
believe me I wouldn't need you to think of that shit for me. Because
that's -exactly- what a "simpleton" would do in such a case.

When Norton found over 5,000 lost clusters (damage that XP did) and
trashed the Samsung so badly, that it said in the middle of reparation
that it "lost" the drive, well I didn't have to get a "file recovery
program". I simply told Norton to undo the repair. You're such a
clueless dork, I'll bet you can't even tell me whether XP's repair
utility has a similar undo function. I don't need you to, I checked
Usenet and it doesn't. Now the big question is, WHY in the heck not?
Why can't it do what a ten year old DOS program can do on the same
drive? The answer is a fact you and your clueless buds are most
frightened of: XP is retarded. Has a lot of design flaws and is more
limited than some pieces of 10 year old software.

Unfortunately, i don't need stupid answers to a thorny issue, but if I
ever do, I know who to contact now. Rather, I was hopelessly scouring
Usenet for a more intelligent answer to the problem, but I can see
this is a dead end. Most self-professed computer experts on usenet I
find, sound like they were born yesterday. When you don't even know
the first thing about how your drive repair function in XP works, let
alone what a FAT system is, its time to stop calling yourself an
expert, Mike.

T> Unfortunately, free file recovery programs do not always work that
well, and
T> some of the programs that have to be purchased don't either if the
T> corruption is too bad..

I used the same ones that law enforcement use and when it comes to
data retrieval, they don't work any better than the freeware programs
I tried, no matter the level of corruption. Again, try looking into
something called "experience" before you talk on an issue, is all I'm
saying...

T> that leaves you with the option of hiring specialist
T> services.. do you feel lucky?

Right. That's about as helpful as saying "Why don't you find Superman
and get him to reverse time? Gee, then it'll be like XP never trashed
your drive in the first place!!". Has anyone ever told you, you're
about as helpful as a heart attack? Frankly, I'd rather spend the
money it would cost on taking me and my family to Disneyland. In
France. On a private chartered flight.

T> Also, perhaps you might like to go back to kindergarten and listen
this time
T> as they instruct you on common decency..

What do you mean "go back"? I'm already IN kindergarten, when I read
what you and your buds pass off as "expert advice". You seem to enjoy
your stay in romper room, so I think I'll go where the non-clueless
experts are and leave you where you are.