C partition erased, Recover?

[donaldmix]

Hi,
I'm using an HP vectra 420, P4 1.8 GHz, running Win2KPro.
After forcing a shutdown I got a NTLDR not found error. When I tried
to repair w/ the HP OS backup CD, it said the I386 file didn't exist.
I can boot w/ teh Windows Ultimate Boot CD4 into a basic version of XP.
When I looked at regedit it said there was no Windows OS on my hard
drive. HP diagnostics say nothing is wrong w/ the HD. I can't find an
emergency repair disc other than the HP set.

I used PC Inspector to scan part of the C partition and found files
on C. I think the D partition is OK (not sure). I have an external
USB 2.0 HD attached that seems fine.

Should I use PC Inspector to copy files to an external HD? Can it
recover the files in place on C (since they must be still there)?

Whats my best course of action now?

Thank you very much in advance for any help you can offer.
Don

 

[Dave Patrick]

Try creating a boot disk. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows 2000
the disk must contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows
2000 machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the
floppy), and copy Windows 2000 versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini
to it. Edit the boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the machine you
wish to boot. Below is an example of boot.ini. The default is to start the
operating system located on the first partition of the primary or first
drive (drive0). Then drive0 partition 2 and so on.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,2"

Another possibility is to try loading the controller driver also from
floppy. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows 2000 the disk must
contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows 2000 machine,
not a DOS/Win9x, so the "NT" boot sector gets written to the floppy), then
copy ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the boot.ini to give it a
correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.

In order for this to work you'll want to change the arc path in boot.ini
from multi syntax to scsi syntax to indicate that Windows 2000 will load a
boot device driver and use that driver to access the boot partition. Then
also copy the correct manufacturer scsi driver to the floppy but renamed to
ntbootdd.sys


Something like this below;

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows
[operating systems]
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,1"
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,2"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,1"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,2"


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

| Hi,
| I'm using an HP vectra 420, P4 1.8 GHz, running Win2KPro.
| After forcing a shutdown I got a NTLDR not found error. When I tried
| to repair w/ the HP OS backup CD, it said the I386 file didn't exist.
| I can boot w/ teh Windows Ultimate Boot CD4 into a basic version of XP.
| When I looked at regedit it said there was no Windows OS on my hard
| drive. HP diagnostics say nothing is wrong w/ the HD. I can't find an
| emergency repair disc other than the HP set.
|
| I used PC Inspector to scan part of the C partition and found files
| on C. I think the D partition is OK (not sure). I have an external
| USB 2.0 HD attached that seems fine.
|
| Should I use PC Inspector to copy files to an external HD? Can it
| recover the files in place on C (since they must be still there)?
|
| Whats my best course of action now?
|
| Thank you very much in advance for any help you can offer.
| Don
|

 

[donaldmix]

Thank you,
I have a floppy with ntldr and ntdetect copied from an XP machine, but
I couldn't find boot.ini. I also don't know where to find another
Win2K machine to create a boot floppy. Maybe I can check all the comps
at my work. Will using the PC Inspector not work or help? Will this
procedure work if the whole partition has been "erased" (as far as
windows knows)?
Thanks
don

 

[Dave Patrick]

Use the ones I posted. No if the partition is deleted then you're done.
(apart from the recovery services)

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

| Thank you,
| I have a floppy with ntldr and ntdetect copied from an XP machine, but
| I couldn't find boot.ini. I also don't know where to find another
| Win2K machine to create a boot floppy. Maybe I can check all the comps
| at my work. Will using the PC Inspector not work or help? Will this
| procedure work if the whole partition has been "erased" (as far as
| windows knows)?
| Thanks
| don
|

 

[dagdabrona]

Hello,

If you wish to restore lost partition Active@ Partition Recovery is the
choice. It works really great and hlped me much before. Really good
too, extremely awesome methods. Recommended!!
http://www.partition-recovery.com/

 

[Guest]

Greetings,
You can try data recovery software: Partition Table Doctor or
DataRecoveryWizard.
These tools helped me, so give it a try. Really awesome soft!

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