Partition Magic magically trashed a partition of my disk.

J

Jeff W

This is so simple, it's tragic.

OS: WINXP HOME SP2
Pentium III, 733MHz, 384MB. No ATA card or other weirdness.
My hard disk (before): 160GB total. FAT32. (MAXTOR IDE)
Partitions: C: (system) 16GB D: 102GB

The D partition is used to hold backups and 'scratch' data, and
installations of kids games. Nothing I can't afford to lose, but too
much to backup elsewhere, and a bit of a time hit to rebuild it.

I directed PM 8 to extend the D partition from 102GB to 120GB (allowing
me to use 136GB of the disk, as my BIOS has a 137GB limitation).

PartitionMagic did the operation totally successfully. However, now I
cannot access any files on my D partition.

Windows XP believes the partition needs formatting. I tried a convert
to NTFS and it says it can't convert RAW partitions.

PartitionMagic can see the correct amount of usage on the partition, but
it can't convert to NTFS or browse (I think it calls windows utilities
for both function).

I successfully used PM8 to reduce the partition back to its old size,
and used system recovery to roll my registry back to before I did the
extend.

Nothing helped. I'd really like to get this back. I'm peeved that PM8
can trash a partition so shamelessly.

Any ideas?

thanks!
/j
 
J

JerryM \(ID\)

Jeff,
Did you boot with the floppies created when you installed PM8 ?
If you tried to do it with the installed program, it might have corrupted itself.

It's kind of like sitting on a tree branch while someone is cutting it off.

Jerry
 
R

robin

I'm not an expert and will happily defer to any such, but there are a
number of recovery tools about which will recover lost partitions. I
saved a disaster once with Acronis Recovery Expert, and there is also
GetDataBack. I'm sure other posters will have other programs in mind.

Robin
 
J

Jeff W

Those floppies never worked properly. THis wasn't the system partition
so I don't see why it wouldn't work in windows. (Silly program can't
even boot off its own CD).

Still it ran without error
/j
 
J

JerryM \(ID\)

Hmmmm,
I'm not sure what happened, but it sounds like PM didn't load properly.
Just a thought, but did you defrag before installing it ?
If not, some of the files might be scattered on the hard disk.

Jerry
 
J

Jeff W

thanks Robin - but you'll love this.

I tried a couple of recovery tools - they say everything's fine -
nothing to fix

I 'm thinking its an SP2 issue (sigh)
/j
 
J

Jeff W

say what? Don't take this the wrong way - but do you have experience
with this sort of problem?
/j
 
V

Vanguard

Jeff W said:
This is so simple, it's tragic.

OS: WINXP HOME SP2
Pentium III, 733MHz, 384MB. No ATA card or other weirdness.
My hard disk (before): 160GB total. FAT32. (MAXTOR IDE)
Partitions: C: (system) 16GB D: 102GB

The D partition is used to hold backups and 'scratch' data, and
installations of kids games. Nothing I can't afford to lose, but too
much to backup elsewhere, and a bit of a time hit to rebuild it.

I directed PM 8 to extend the D partition from 102GB to 120GB
(allowing
me to use 136GB of the disk, as my BIOS has a 137GB limitation).

PartitionMagic did the operation totally successfully. However, now I
cannot access any files on my D partition.

Windows XP believes the partition needs formatting. I tried a convert
to NTFS and it says it can't convert RAW partitions.

PartitionMagic can see the correct amount of usage on the partition,
but
it can't convert to NTFS or browse (I think it calls windows utilities
for both function).

I successfully used PM8 to reduce the partition back to its old size,
and used system recovery to roll my registry back to before I did the
extend.

Nothing helped. I'd really like to get this back. I'm peeved that
PM8
can trash a partition so shamelessly.

Any ideas?

thanks!
/j


No, your BIOS has a 128GB limitation in the addressing it affords to
access the hard disk.

128 GB = 2^7 * 2^30 bytes = 2^37 bytes = 137,438,953,472 bytes

When folks talk of the 137GB boundary, that is the decimal value.
Marketers use decimal because it inflates the specs for their wares.
Computers don't do decimal. So when you told PartitionMagic to increase
the partition's size to 137 GB, you actually told it to create a
partition that was 137 * 2^30 bytes in size, which is 9 GB bigger than
the 128GB limit.

If you use PartitionMagic to list the partitions, the sizes you see are
the binary sizes. It's a computer program, not a marketer promoting
more than is there. Right-click on any partition. For example, it
lists my D: partition as 74,465.3 MB in size and the right-click
Properties shows that size and its decimal equivalent which is
78,082,550,272. Both are the real size of the partition but one is
binary-based and the other is decimal-based. Remember to use
binary-based numbers when computing the actual size of your partition
and other disk operations. Be careful when selecting size to know if
you are selecting a binary-based value or a decimal-based value. 137GB
decimal = 128GB binary, but 137GB binary is definitely larger than 128GB
binary.

You made your partition too big for your BIOS to handle. If you haven't
used that partition, or whatever files on it were not touched, what
happens if you use PartitionMagic to resize the partition so it is under
128GB in size? If you haven't used the space beyond the 128GB boundary
(which is likely) then you should be able to resize it back to its
original size or even up to the 128GB boundary. If that doesn't work,
come back and maybe we can figure out how to edit the partition table
(after resizing the partition) to denote the correct partition type if
that is what got screwed up, but this is hazardous work.

Even if your current BIOS has the 128GB limitation, there might be a
update for your BIOS that adds 48-bit LBA ATAPI support so you can have
larger partitions ... and then you'll have to apply Windows XP Service
Pack 1, or later, to have the OS also support 48-bit addressing mode
(see http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303013).
 
P

Pop

What version of PM do you have?

Pop

| This is so simple, it's tragic.
|
| OS: WINXP HOME SP2
| Pentium III, 733MHz, 384MB. No ATA card or other weirdness.
| My hard disk (before): 160GB total. FAT32. (MAXTOR IDE)
| Partitions: C: (system) 16GB D: 102GB
|
| The D partition is used to hold backups and 'scratch' data, and
| installations of kids games. Nothing I can't afford to lose,
but too
| much to backup elsewhere, and a bit of a time hit to rebuild
it.
|
| I directed PM 8 to extend the D partition from 102GB to 120GB
(allowing
| me to use 136GB of the disk, as my BIOS has a 137GB
limitation).
|
| PartitionMagic did the operation totally successfully.
However, now I
| cannot access any files on my D partition.
|
| Windows XP believes the partition needs formatting. I tried a
convert
| to NTFS and it says it can't convert RAW partitions.
|
| PartitionMagic can see the correct amount of usage on the
partition, but
| it can't convert to NTFS or browse (I think it calls windows
utilities
| for both function).
|
| I successfully used PM8 to reduce the partition back to its old
size,
| and used system recovery to roll my registry back to before I
did the
| extend.
|
| Nothing helped. I'd really like to get this back. I'm peeved
that PM8
| can trash a partition so shamelessly.
|
| Any ideas?
|
| thanks!
| /j
 
P

Pop

"Vanguard" <no_email> wrote in message
| | > This is so simple, it's tragic.
| >
| > OS: WINXP HOME SP2
| > Pentium III, 733MHz, 384MB. No ATA card or other weirdness.
| > My hard disk (before): 160GB total. FAT32. (MAXTOR IDE)
| > Partitions: C: (system) 16GB D: 102GB
....
| Even if your current BIOS has the 128GB limitation, there might
be a
| update for your BIOS that adds 48-bit LBA ATAPI support so you
can have
| larger partitions ... and then you'll have to apply Windows XP
Service
| Pack 1, or later, to have the OS also support 48-bit addressing
mode
| (see http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303013).
|

Point of contention/confusion to me: I agree with the LBA ATAPI
BIOS update, but(t) ... why would the OP have to apply SP1 OR
SP2?

Reasoning:
1. SP2 includes SP1. He has SP2. Why bother with SP1? Maybe
I'm just syntaxically challenged here.

2. Why would upgrading the BIOS have any impact on XP drives?
The primary boot partition is on a different partition (drive),
assume C:, and all the problems are on D:, a second partition,
which may be trashed, I guess. I can see the second partition
being screwed, but not the bootable partition?
What am I missing?

I ask because I have upgraded BIOS on three different computers,
two of them for LBA and never saw any partition problems. I am
not saying you're wrong: I would just like to understand better.
Plus, I also have PM8 ;-).

Regards,

Pop
 
P

Pop

Guess I used my blind eye; it says PM8 very clearly. D'oh!

Pop


| What version of PM do you have?
|
| Pop
|
| || This is so simple, it's tragic.
||
|| OS: WINXP HOME SP2
|| Pentium III, 733MHz, 384MB. No ATA card or other weirdness.
|| My hard disk (before): 160GB total. FAT32. (MAXTOR IDE)
|| Partitions: C: (system) 16GB D: 102GB
||
|| The D partition is used to hold backups and 'scratch' data,
and
|| installations of kids games. Nothing I can't afford to lose,
| but too
|| much to backup elsewhere, and a bit of a time hit to rebuild
| it.
||
|| I directed PM 8 to extend the D partition from 102GB to 120GB
| (allowing
|| me to use 136GB of the disk, as my BIOS has a 137GB
| limitation).
||
|| PartitionMagic did the operation totally successfully.
| However, now I
|| cannot access any files on my D partition.
||
|| Windows XP believes the partition needs formatting. I tried a
| convert
|| to NTFS and it says it can't convert RAW partitions.
||
|| PartitionMagic can see the correct amount of usage on the
| partition, but
|| it can't convert to NTFS or browse (I think it calls windows
| utilities
|| for both function).
||
|| I successfully used PM8 to reduce the partition back to its
old
| size,
|| and used system recovery to roll my registry back to before I
| did the
|| extend.
||
|| Nothing helped. I'd really like to get this back. I'm peeved
| that PM8
|| can trash a partition so shamelessly.
||
|| Any ideas?
||
|| thanks!
|| /j
|
|
 
J

JerryM \(ID\)

Yes, I was compressing C: drive and some of the files disappeared.
I had to reinstall PM.
After that I defragged before installing any large program and have had no problems since.
If , as you say the floppies never did work right, that may have something to do with it.

Jerry
 
J

Jeff W

Thanks Vanguard - reducing the size didn't fix it. nor was it visible
on another PC (that didn't have the limitation).

I ended up re-formating it (into NTFS)- however,I DIDN'T do my math
right, and the binary sizes of the 2 partitions add up to 141GB.

Seems to work though.....so now I'm debating using PM8 to shrink it a
bit....

/j
 
J

Jeff W

Hi again Vanguard - I bit the bullet - deleted and reformatted the
extended partition to 114GB (nominally). Actual (binary) sum of both
partitions = 135,xxx,xxx,xxx (I don't remember all the LS digits).

I personally believe that even if regular XP works fine ignoring the
BIOS limitation (which many people say it does - including Microsoft
tech support), I believe SOME application SOMEwhere will trip up.

I feel safer now - thanks!
/j

thanks for the tip
/j
 
R

Richard Urban

Why not Partition Magic version 8.1?

It has been available as an update for over a year now and solves some
problems that were present in 8.0.

--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :)
 
R

Richard Urban

Upgrade to Partition Magic ver 8.1. It has been available for over a year
now. It was released, as all updates are, to solve for internal bugs. If you
are using ver 8.0, it may be the root of your problems.
--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :)
 
J

Jeff W

Well. I'd love to - but Symantec site tells me there are no upgrades
available for my program. where did you get yours?
/j
 
V

Vanguard

Pop said:
"Vanguard" <no_email> wrote in message
| | > This is so simple, it's tragic.
| >
| > OS: WINXP HOME SP2
| > Pentium III, 733MHz, 384MB. No ATA card or other weirdness.
| > My hard disk (before): 160GB total. FAT32. (MAXTOR IDE)
| > Partitions: C: (system) 16GB D: 102GB
...
| Even if your current BIOS has the 128GB limitation, there might
be a
| update for your BIOS that adds 48-bit LBA ATAPI support so you
can have
| larger partitions ... and then you'll have to apply Windows XP
Service
| Pack 1, or later, to have the OS also support 48-bit addressing
mode
| (see http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303013).
|

Point of contention/confusion to me: I agree with the LBA ATAPI
BIOS update, but(t) ... why would the OP have to apply SP1 OR
SP2?

Reasoning:
1. SP2 includes SP1. He has SP2. Why bother with SP1? Maybe
I'm just syntaxically challenged here.


I missed that he had SP-2 (service packs are cumulative so it includes
the 48-bit LBA support that got added in SP-1). So, at this point, the
OP might be able to flash their BIOS to include 48-bit LBA ATAPI
addressing. If they are using an IDE controller card then they need to
flash its BIOS (I had to do that with a Promise Ultra100 non-TX
controller).
2. Why would upgrading the BIOS have any impact on XP drives?
The primary boot partition is on a different partition (drive),
assume C:, and all the problems are on D:, a second partition,
which may be trashed, I guess. I can see the second partition
being screwed, but not the bootable partition?
What am I missing?

Maybe I missed something else. The OP said they increased D: and it was
D: that became unusable. Where did they mention that C: disappeared or
became unusable? Where did you see the OP say the D: partition was on
another drive? He lists only 1 drive which presumably has 2 partitions
on it, the primary partition (first one) for C: - and which still
works - and an extended partition with the logical D: drive in it - and
that's the one that is screwed up.

I never discussed the C: partition. I discussed what might work for the
partition that got changed and then didn't function for the OP under
their current hardware setup. The C: drive (probably the first
partition and a primary partition) sounds like it is still working for
the OP; otherwise, they wouldn't be booting into Windows to notice the
difficulties with the D: drive (on the SAME hard disk but in an extended
partition with a logical drive defined within it; I assumed the OP is
using basic volumes and not dynamic volumes).
 
J

Jeff W

vanguard - you're on point as usual.

C was fine. D got messed up.

I don't think the 137Gb limit had anything to do with it.

There are no upgrades for my BIOS.

I'm not using an ATA card.

It just seems like PM8 can't properly re-size partitions in XP (SP2)
/j
 
V

Vanguard

Jeff W said:
Thanks Vanguard - reducing the size didn't fix it. nor was it
visible
on another PC (that didn't have the limitation).

I ended up re-formating it (into NTFS)- however,I DIDN'T do my math
right, and the binary sizes of the 2 partitions add up to 141GB.

Seems to work though.....so now I'm debating using PM8 to shrink it a
bit....

/j


How big is the first partition (presumably for C:)? Does the extended
partition (containing the logical drive for D:) start immediately after
the first partition (i.e., is there any unallocated space between the
primary and extended partitions)? It is not the *sum* of the partition
sizes that imposes the 128GB addressing limit. That is a limit *per*
partition. However, you might run into a problem if a partition starts
too far back. With your current hard disk, you should be able to make
D: just shy of 128GB (137GB decimal) and C: occupy the rest up front.
As long as the bootstrap loader in the MBR can reach the partition
offset specified in the partition table (so it can load the boot sector
of that partition) then each an every partition could be 128GB in size
(if you had a really huge hard disk). With a 400GB Barracuda drive, you
could have two 137GB partitions with a remaining 126GB partition (these
are all decimal values). That's with basic volumes. Windows 2000/XP
supports dynamic volumes (but I don't recall that the OS partition can
be included) which will let you far exceed the 128GB addressing
limitation but I suspect that is not something you want to get into
right now.

PartitionMagic will warn you if you create a partition at a cylinder
count greater than 1023. I haven't had a problem with a partition at
the end of the disk and of ignoring this PM warning because my BIOS
supports LBA mode which performs geometry translation so there is always
a max of 1024 cylinders (0 to 1023, inclusive). If you ever turned off
LBA mode in the BIOS then a partition past cylinder 1023 would be
unreached by the standard bootstrap loader in the MBR (although 3rd
party boot managers might not have this limitation). However, I would
think turning off LBA mode would have other consequences since you are
changing the geometry translation used for the drive (i.e., you might
have to delete all partitions and recreate them to build a new partition
table). I've never turned off LBA mode (since I always want the full
size available for my hard disk).

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/modesLBA-c.html

Note that I have seen PartitionMagic screw up if you have it commit LOTS
of changes all at once. Sometimes it reports an error but it can be
ignored (it really was warning rather than an error). However, I have
had it pend around a dozen operations and it screwed up and rendered one
of my partitions in an somewhat unknown state (but the partition table
was okay both for offset, size, and partition type so I just had to redo
the formatting). If, say, you were going to reduce C: (primary active
partition #1) so you could enlarge D: (logical drive in an extended
partition #2), I would have PM just reduce the size of C: by itself,
reboot, and then use PM to resize the extended partition (to move the
front of it to abut against the primary partition for C:) and also
resize the logical drive D: (i.e., just those 2 operations to resize
D:), reboot, and then have it format the partitions if needed. However,
before ever using PM, I always run CHKDSK. PM does its integrity check
of the file system but I'd rather use the OS that defined the file
system so it checks itself and uses its own methods to fix any problems
before letting PM have at it.
 

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