Partition Magic Error 108

[guaj1818]

Today, I tried to resize my three partitions using Partition Magic 8.0.
When about 90 % of the process was completed my computer restarted and
is just showing a blank screen. When I reboot using the Partition Magic
Rescue Disks, I just get a text saying "Disk 1 appears to have
partitions created using different drive geometry...255h63..."
BAD1. #108.
Furthermore, it says that I should backup my data and reinstall
everything...

I am really a novice at this, I was wondering if it is possible for me
to recover all data from my three partitions. If I can recover all
data, I want to format my disk and install everything again.

Thanks.

 

[Jim C]

Chalk this up to a lesson learned. If your performing any major changes to
your system backup your critical data. You might try recreating your boot
sector, via xp recovery console. However, I think you might be screwed and
will need to start from scratch.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Adding to this: No only do I back things up before any
major changes, I also back up my important files once
a week to an external hard disk in a USB case. They
cost surprisingly little.

You could connect your hard disk as a slave disk to
some other WinXP/2000 PC and see what's left
although I suspect that your file system is well and
truly thrashed.

 

[guaj1818]

Ok. thanks. i tried with the xp recovery console, but after i select
the windows installation it asks for a Administrator account password
which I don't know. I tried by pressing Enter but after three tries the
computer restarts and i am back at the same place again.

luckily, i had made a backup recently as i was having problems but
there are still some files that i would like to have before
reinstalling.

any other suggestions, any recovery tools that you know of that i might
be able to try before i format my computer?

 

[Plato]

Today, I tried to resize my three partitions using Partition Magic 8.0.

Contact the vendor who sold you the program. This is NOT an XP problem.

 

[Richard Urban]

Partition Magic 8.01 was the first version deemed to be compatible with
Windows XP, by PowerQuest - the company that developed the program. If you
used version 8.0 - you used an incompatible version which was known to cause
problems.

Lessen to be learned here? Back up before messing around with partitions.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[MedRxman]

why only once a week? Anytime I add data I back up all my data prior to
turning off the machine. I also back up to a second hard drive. A great
freeware utility for these quick backups is "Replicator" located at
www.karenware.com .

 

[MedRxman]

POI!
Norton "Partition Magic 8.0" is Win XP compatible. It does not have an
update patch as yet.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The frequency of backups is a business decision. The OP needs
to compare the cost of losing data with the cost of backing up
frequently. Banks back up every transaction, for obvious reasons.
Small businesses tend to back things up each day. Novice users
do not back up at all until they learn their lesson the hard way
round. It can be a very painful lesson.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

why only once a week? Anytime I add data I back up all my data prior
to turning off the machine.

There is no particular interval for doing backups that is right for
everyone. Once a week may be just fine.

It takes time and effort to backup, but it also takes time and effort to
recreate lost data. If you back up daily, you should never have to recreate
more than one day's worth of last data. If weekly, there's potentially a lot
more to recreate. You should assess how much pain and trouble you would have
if you lost x days of data, and then choose a backup frequency that doesn't
involve more pain and trouble than that you would have if you had to
recreate what was lost.

At one extreme is the professional user who would likely go out of business
if his data was lost. He probably needs to back up at least daily. At the
other extreme is the kid who doesn't use his game except to play games. He
probably needs no backup at all, since worst case he can easily reinstall
his games.

 

[MedRxman]

I agree with you.
For my personal needs and using the "Replicator" I mentioned it takes less
than 2 minutes to create a back up to a USB stick on a daily basis prior to
turning off my pc if I created any new data.

This has been my policy for a long time ( guess I'm a backup freak) but when
I lost a HDD last year it was quite a frelief to have all my critical data
up to date without having to recreate anything.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Your current backup method may not be in line with
your concerns. Here is why: If one of your files gets
corrupted, either by an application failure or by inadvertent
user interaction, then your backup process will overwrite
the only intact copy you had of this file.

To protect yourself against this sort of thing, you need
to alternate between at least two backup media. Alternatively
you could write a batch file that backs up your files to seven
individual folders on the flash disk named Mon, Tue etc,
to give you recovery depth of seven days.

 

[Richard Urban]

The update to version 8.01 came out way before Symantec purchased
PowerQuest - about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago. I have been using version 8.01 for
about 2 years now. No problems with it at all, but I still backup my
information "before" I work with partition resizing or moving.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[MedRxman]

I actually do. I back up daily(if used) to alternate USB drives. Also once a
week to a second hard drive. My PRIMARY concert in a Lotus 123 file and
Quicken File. The amounts ($) are always verified prior to adding data.

The Mon-Tues Wed, etc folders looks good..will have to look into it.

Thanks

 

[MedRxman]

You are correct..
On the symantec site under downloads, if you choose Norton Partion Magic
then select the version, there are 2 choices:

PartitonMagic 8.0(update to 8.1 available)
8.x
The 8.x (what every that means) does not have an update available.

 

[G W]

I like licking sweat off of little boys after they played with them

selves.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Your current backup method may not be in line with
your concerns. Here is why: If one of your files gets
corrupted, either by an application failure or by inadvertent
user interaction, then your backup process will overwrite
the only intact copy you had of this file.

To protect yourself against this sort of thing, you need
to alternate between at least two backup media.

I'm in complete agreement. I never trust a single backup device.

Alternatively
you could write a batch file that backs up your files to seven
individual folders on the flash disk named Mon, Tue etc,
to give you recovery depth of seven days.

That's better of course than overwriting a single backup, but still leaves
one vulnerable to device failure. I still prefer at least two separate
media.

 

[Paul Knudsen]

Today, I tried to resize my three partitions using Partition Magic 8.0.
When about 90 % of the process was completed my computer restarted and
is just showing a blank screen. When I reboot using the Partition Magic
Rescue Disks, I just get a text saying "Disk 1 appears to have
partitions created using different drive geometry...255h63..."
BAD1. #108.
Furthermore, it says that I should backup my data and reinstall
everything...

I am really a novice at this, I was wondering if it is possible for me
to recover all data from my three partitions. If I can recover all
data, I want to format my disk and install everything again.

Thanks.

Bummer. I've found PM (at least up to v. 7) to be very reliable. But
you know, it DID say to back up before doing any partition changes,
right? (No, I didn't do that either.)

Sounds like your first partition is toast. The other two might be ok.

 

[Guest]

Hello,
I suppose using Data Recovery tool - Partition Table Doctor or EASEUS
DataRecoveryWizard.
It is imho the best one among it's family. Easy to use and powerful.
It actually never failed me before. Recommended!

http://www.ptdd.com
http://www.easeus.com/