Resized NTFS filesystem, now can't boot.

[Erix]

Hi, I have a dual boot system (an iMac) with the internal disc
partitioned as such: 1 HFS+ partition (Mac OS 10.4) and 1 NTFS
partition (Windows XP Professional) (and one small FAT32 partition for
the bootloader)
Today I had the terrible idea of resizing both partitions, taking 10
gigs from the first and adding them to the NTFS partition, using
Parted Magic, a Linux LiveCD. I didn't use Windows or Mac since the
first simply won't see the HFS+ filesystem while Mac OS has problem
operating on the boot disc partition table without destroying
everything, apparently.

However I used parted to shrink the HFS+ partition and GParted to
enlarge the other one.

At the reboot, Windows wouldn't boot. I tried to repair the
installation first and then reinstall the bootloader, but the Windows
CD doesn't see the three partition anymore: it lists only one
partition "Unknown" taking the whole drive and with label C:. So
there's no point in reinstalling the bootloader.
I rebooted under Mac OS and it wouldn't mount the NTFS partition
either. Disk Utility sees the filesystem as "Microsoft Basic Data" and
after i tried to repair it with GParted "Microsoft Reserved" (but i
think this last is easily reversible removing a flag that GParted
added during the repair).

Now, I was accepting the fact that I had lost all the data, but I
found that I can easily access the partition mounting it manually,
under Mac OS or Linux, using both mount -t ntfs ... and mount ntfs-3g,
so both read/write and readonly.


My question then is: since the data is there and is accessible, and
the only problem seems that the FS isn't recognized automatically, do
you know any way to rescue said partition, so avoiding to repartition
and reinstall Windows XP?

 

[philo]

Hi, I have a dual boot system (an iMac) with the internal disc
partitioned as such: 1 HFS+ partition (Mac OS 10.4) and 1 NTFS
partition (Windows XP Professional) (and one small FAT32 partition for
the bootloader)
Today I had the terrible idea of resizing both partitions, taking 10
gigs from the first and adding them to the NTFS partition, using
Parted Magic, a Linux LiveCD. I didn't use Windows or Mac since the
first simply won't see the HFS+ filesystem while Mac OS has problem
operating on the boot disc partition table without destroying
everything, apparently.

However I used parted to shrink the HFS+ partition and GParted to
enlarge the other one.

At the reboot, Windows wouldn't boot. I tried to repair the
installation first and then reinstall the bootloader, but the Windows
CD doesn't see the three partition anymore: it lists only one
partition "Unknown" taking the whole drive and with label C:. So
there's no point in reinstalling the bootloader.
I rebooted under Mac OS and it wouldn't mount the NTFS partition
either. Disk Utility sees the filesystem as "Microsoft Basic Data" and
after i tried to repair it with GParted "Microsoft Reserved" (but i
think this last is easily reversible removing a flag that GParted
added during the repair).

Now, I was accepting the fact that I had lost all the data, but I
found that I can easily access the partition mounting it manually,
under Mac OS or Linux, using both mount -t ntfs ... and mount ntfs-3g,
so both read/write and readonly.


My question then is: since the data is there and is accessible, and
the only problem seems that the FS isn't recognized automatically, do
you know any way to rescue said partition, so avoiding to repartition
and reinstall Windows XP?

Since you can see your data there once the partition is mounted...
I'd of course back up ALL data first.

The I'd *exactly* reverse *all* that you've done .


If you still have no luck...maybe ask on a MAC group...
or else just bite the bullet and start over fresh...and partition the drive
how you'd like...right from the start

 

[Erix]

My question then is: since the data is there and is accessible, and
the only problem seems that the FS isn't recognized automatically, do
you know any way to rescue said partition, so avoiding to repartition
and reinstall Windows XP?

If anyone is interested, here is what i did eventually:
I used ntfsclone to make an image of the partition, repartitioned the
drive, mounted the image and manually copied all the files on the new
partition (with cp -rf * /path/to/new/partition ) at this point
Windows Xp booted without problems, with all the old partition data,
like on the Desktop and in the Start Menu, but i would have had to
reinstall most of the programs since they wouldn't start. So i
backupped documents and settings and reinstalled windows reformatting
the partition.

Perhaps if instead of copying manually the files i had rescued the
partition with ntfsclone (thus copying it sector by sector) it would
have worked better, i don't know.
I didn't try that because I didn't know how the old ntfs metadata
would behave on a new and different partition.

Thanks for the help however philo.

Bye

 

[philo]

If anyone is interested, here is what i did eventually:
I used ntfsclone to make an image of the partition, repartitioned the
drive, mounted the image and manually copied all the files on the new
partition (with cp -rf * /path/to/new/partition ) at this point
Windows Xp booted without problems, with all the old partition data,
like on the Desktop and in the Start Menu, but i would have had to
reinstall most of the programs since they wouldn't start. So i
backupped documents and settings and reinstalled windows reformatting
the partition.

Perhaps if instead of copying manually the files i had rescued the
partition with ntfsclone (thus copying it sector by sector) it would
have worked better, i don't know.
I didn't try that because I didn't know how the old ntfs metadata
would behave on a new and different partition.

Thanks for the help however philo.

Bye

I don't think anything I offered did any good...but I'm glad you figured it
out on your own!