Hard disc recovery

[mike o'sullivan]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

 

[old jon]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty motherboard, the boot
sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and re-format the HD, is
there any software which would enable me to recover the data? I had just
loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

If you`ve got the original OS CD, there`s no reason you shouldn`t be able to
do a repair install, without losing your stuff. Also, go have a read here:
www.ptdd.com/fixboot.htm
best wishes..OJ

 

[Ken]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

In my opinion, you should take the HD out of the current computer and
try recovery operations with it as a slave in a computer. The less you
do to the drive until you recover the files you want, the better.

Ken

 

[Analabha Roy]

old jon wrote:

If it's only your boot sector that's corrupted, then just download a
knoppix linux cd image (google for it), burn it and boot into it. The
desktop will have an icon for your hard drive partitions. Click on it to
access the files and copy them somewhere else.

 

[mike o'sullivan]

I'm very grateful to everyone who replied. I'll investigate them all.

Mike

 

[BlastUK]

i'd recommend following the knoppix one first as that has the least
chance of damaging your drive

 

[John McGaw]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

I take it that you've done the obvious and executed "fixboot" and
nothing happened? There are other ways to repair the boot sector if it
is merely corrupted and that area of the disk is not physically damaged.
You might try to google for "fix boot sector" (no quotes of course) to
see if anything there looks likely to you. Otherwise the Knoppix method
is good as long as your system will boot a Knoppix CD -- I have two
machines that won't do so because of the odd hardware so that isn't the
first thing that comes to my mind.

BTW: you will need to have someplace to receive the files you recover
under Knoppix. Another hard drive would be most likely or possibly
another computer on the network (I believe that Knoppix will do the
network thing). Or possibly a USB thumb drive if Knoppix recognizes them.

 

[mike o'sullivan]

In my opinion, you should take the HD out of the current computer
and try recovery operations with it as a slave in a computer. The less
you do to the drive until you recover the files you want, the better.

Ken

Thanks, I've now done that, unfortunately the drive could not be recognised.

 

[Captin]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty
motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and
re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the
data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

Installing the drive as a slave is often simpler and easier than doing
a repair install for someone that’s not sure about what they are
doing.
Especially if there system has all the latest service packs and
updates
installed and their installation disc is an early one

 

[mike o'sullivan]

I take it that you've done the obvious and executed "fixboot" and
nothing happened? There are other ways to repair the boot sector if it
is merely corrupted and that area of the disk is not physically damaged.
You might try to google for "fix boot sector" (no quotes of course) to
see if anything there looks likely to you. Otherwise the Knoppix method
is good as long as your system will boot a Knoppix CD -- I have two
machines that won't do so because of the odd hardware so that isn't the
first thing that comes to my mind.

Sorry but you lost me, excuse my ignorance but what is "fixboot! ?

 

[John McGaw]

Sorry but you lost me, excuse my ignorance but what is "fixboot! ?

Making the wild assumption that you are running either W2K or XP:

(quoted from XP help)
FixbootWrites a new partition boot sector to the system partition. The
fixboot command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console.

fixboot [drive]

Parameter

drive

The drive to which a boot sector will be written. This replaces the
default drive, which is the system partition you are logged on to. An
example of a drive is:

D:

Example

The following example writes a new partition boot sector to the system
partition in drive D:

fixboot d:

Note

Using the fixboot command without any parameters will write a new
partition boot sector to the system partition you are logged on to.
Related Topics
(endquote)

 

[mike o'sullivan]

Making the wild assumption that you are running either W2K or XP: (quoted from XP help)
FixbootWrites a new partition boot sector to the system partition. The
fixboot command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console.

fixboot [drive]

Parameter

drive

The drive to which a boot sector will be written. This replaces the
default drive, which is the system partition you are logged on to. An
example of a drive is:

D:

Example

The following example writes a new partition boot sector to the system
partition in drive D:

fixboot d:

Note

Using the fixboot command without any parameters will write a new
partition boot sector to the system partition you are logged on to.
Related Topics
(endquote)

thanks for the reply. I am running Win 2000, but after saerching the
help files I still can't find any reference to this tool. Sorry for
this, but where do I find it? (be gentle with me, I'm a home user, not a
techie).

 

[Captin]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty
motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and
re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the
data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

Stupid question..
Is the drive recognised by your computer when it’s installed as the
single Master drive?
If so, exactly how did you configure it when you installed the drive
as a
slave?
Is it possible that you simply have a system that required a
different
configuration to recognise the slave drive?
When I think of it, you can simply use your XP installation disc to
repair
the boot sector.. Or even Seagate’s Seatools which is not too bad at
all.
What boot disks have you tried?
bootdisk.com have all the bootdisks ready to download any man will
need

 

[mike o'sullivan]

Thanks for all the hints. I'm saving them to show my friend and computer
guru when he comes in a few days with my rebuilt pc. (I'm using a
borrowed computer at present).

I use Win 2000 Pro with SP4, but I'm shortly upgrading to XP. Is it more
likely that I might be able to save the data with XP?

We have tried running the drive as a slave, but the computer did not
recognise it.

 

[Captin]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty
motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and
re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the
data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

Yep, if you do an upgrade install of XP it may be safer than playing
with Windows 2000..(Let me explain why)

It is likely that you have downloaded and installed SP4 and other
updates after Windows 2000 was installed from your installation disc?
Sometimes the system refuses to do the repair on the basis that it
thinks you are using a copy of windows which is not current enough to
suit the copy of Windows 2000 on your computer!

XP is the go anyway

 

[Bob]

It is likely that you have downloaded and installed SP4 and other
updates after Windows 2000 was installed from your installation disc?
Sometimes the system refuses to do the repair on the basis that it
thinks you are using a copy of windows which is not current enough to
suit the copy of Windows 2000 on your computer!

I have done an IPU several times and never have I seen that.

XP is the go anyway

Not mature enough. Over half of business installations are Win2K.

 

[Captin]

I had a recent disater when, possibly due to a faulty
motherboard, the
boot sector became inaccessible. Before I admit defeat and
re-format the
HD, is there any software which would enable me to recover the
data? I
had just loaded my daughter's wedding pics so I'm desperate.

Dear Bob, sometimes there is also a snag or two with XP when the
system has SP2 and current updates installed but your installation
disc is an early version. Not always but sometimes and when a hard
drive does not boot you are in no position to try and uninstall any of
the updates even if you wanted to.
There is nothing " wrong" with Windows 2000 except it is getting
long in the tooth and some of us have stopped living in the past. Many
home users may not realise that many corporate computers using Windows
2000 do not even have SP4 and all the current updates anyway. Simply
some err on the side of caution and if it an’t broke they won’t spend
a penny trying to fix it.
I don’t think the idea to upgrade to XP is silly at all and besides
if it’s something you were planning on anyway then there’s no time
like the present.

 

[Bob]

There is nothing " wrong" with Windows 2000 except it is getting
long in the tooth and some of us have stopped living in the past.

LOL

It's always a pleasure to see someone has a sense of humor.

 

[kony]

Dear Bob, sometimes there is also a snag or two with XP when the
system has SP2 and current updates installed but your installation
disc is an early version. Not always but sometimes and when a hard
drive does not boot you are in no position to try and uninstall any of
the updates even if you wanted to.
There is nothing " wrong" with Windows 2000 except it is getting
long in the tooth and some of us have stopped living in the past.

A completely invalid argument. Of all the reasons to change
things, being unexcited by your OS is not a reason to
change. An OS is not suppose to arouse you, it's supposed
to be an element never thought about, the "invisible"
background canvas for running the applications.

XP is a fine toy. It looks pretty and makes things easier
for those who don't know how to handle windows and don't
know proper terminology so they need windows to ask them
things like "is this a business network?". That's fine if
someone wants it that way, but from any reasonable viewpoint
an upgrade needs hold value for the user, fullfill an
expressed need else it was just a waste of time and $.

Many
home users may not realise that many corporate computers using Windows
2000 do not even have SP4 and all the current updates anyway. Simply
some err on the side of caution and if it an’t broke they won’t spend
a penny trying to fix it.
I don’t think the idea to upgrade to XP is silly at all and besides
if it’s something you were planning on anyway then there’s no time
like the present.

Actually, NO. In the middle of recovering data is
ABSOLUTELY NOT the time to go changing things like the OS.
Get the rest of the data and system issues worked out THEN
reassess the whole idea of whether XP offers anything
useful.

 

[mike o'sullivan]

A completely invalid argument. Of all the reasons to change
things, being unexcited by your OS is not a reason to
change. An OS is not suppose to arouse you, it's supposed
to be an element never thought about, the "invisible"
background canvas for running the applications.

XP is a fine toy. It looks pretty and makes things easier
for those who don't know how to handle windows and don't
know proper terminology so they need windows to ask them
things like "is this a business network?". That's fine if
someone wants it that way, but from any reasonable viewpoint
an upgrade needs hold value for the user, fullfill an
expressed need else it was just a waste of time and $.





Actually, NO. In the middle of recovering data is
ABSOLUTELY NOT the time to go changing things like the OS.
Get the rest of the data and system issues worked out THEN
reassess the whole idea of whether XP offers anything
useful.

There's nothing like a consensus!