Remove Norton Disk Lock?

[kenitholson]

Inherited an old HD that am unable to rewrite the partition table with
std MS DOS FDISK and other DOS utils.

Began to think the PT was locked but never heard of this. Did a search
and found similar problem.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp...partition+table&rnum=3&hl=en#4b6a5912dfa63064

"Here's the problem. I had LILO installed to boot linux from
partition 2 on drive 1. DOS was installed on partition 1 on
drive 1. I installed Norton Disk Lock, which seemed to have encrypted
the entire partition table, plus any other relevant information
pertaining to the disks. What happened after this - it rebooted, and
asked me for my Norton Disk Lock password - all went fine, but then it
tried loading LILO and kept locking at 'LIL' hard lock.

So - so far i've tried using Norton Disk Doctor to rebuild the
partition
table - no luck since it's probably encrypted - and only searches for
DOS
partitions. I've tried using the Norton Disk Lock un-install package
which says 'Norton Disk Lock' is not installed. I could care less
about
logical partition 1 (DOS), however is there anything that can search
through my disk - and find the beggining of partition #2 (linux) -
rebuilding the partition table?"

Main problem is there was never an answer to this problem.

Am wondering if you could manually remove all the encrypted info....
Am not interested in any data on the HD.

Hopefully someone else has found a solution.

Ken

 

[Al Klein]

Am wondering if you could manually remove all the encrypted info....
Am not interested in any data on the HD.

Hopefully someone else has found a solution.

Boot linux - raw from a floppy or CD. Rewrite the partition table the
way you want it - 1 partition, more than 1, whatever.

 

[kenitholson]

Al ,

Boot linux - raw from a floppy or CD. Rewrite the partition table the
way you want it - 1 partition, more than 1, whatever.

Thanks for the tip.

So far I have tried to do this with Ubuntu both ver 5.04 and 5.10 but
with manual partition edit get error message

Input/output error during read on /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc

If you know of a way to copy this partition table to a floppy would
post it or send to anyone interested.

Ken

 

[Al Klein]

Al ,


Thanks for the tip.

So far I have tried to do this with Ubuntu both ver 5.04 and 5.10 but
with manual partition edit get error message

Input/output error during read on /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc

A guess, but you have one of two problems:

A bad spot on the platter at the partition table (fatal without some
of the stuff the manufacturer has) or a hardware problem (disk
controller).

If you know of a way to copy this partition table to a floppy would
post it or send to anyone interested.

Copy it intact, no, although I know software could be written to do
it. To the point that you could send the data to someone else for
analysis, sure. Any disk editor capable of reading the hex data on
the partition table. (After all this you probably have a few.) Then
take a picture of the screen with a camera if that's the only way. Hex
80 at byte 112 (or whatever) means the same thing if it's on a picture
of your screen or on someone else's screen running the same program on
your data.

I'm not sure which one you're talking about - intact would mean that
the floppy would show any bad bits on the hard disk. A picture would
show what's supposedly there, but I doubt that bad data would cause
linux's fdisk to barf that badly. I've rewritten some pretty screwy
partition tables - some that I brought to that state myself by hitting
Enter before realizing that I had dumped garbage into the buffer - but
writing a clean table (no partitions) fixed that right up. Then a
normal write wrote whatever partition setup I was looking for. At one
time I was really interested in what sat at that low a level and
played with the table a lot. Hidden partitions, stuff like that.
Never wrote anything to a disk that I couldn't over-write and fix.

But you said that this is a 1.2 gig drive? I can understand doing
this for the knowledge you're gaining - and you're probably gaining
loads of it. I hope you're not doing it because you think the drive
is worth much.

 

[kenitholson]

Al,

A guess, but you have one of two problems:

A bad spot on the platter at the partition table (fatal without some
of the stuff the manufacturer has) or a hardware problem (disk
controller).

What about Virus? or Messed up PT due to DiskLock encryption and/or
various OSes FDISK?

Copy it intact, no, although I know software could be written to do
it. To the point that you could send the data to someone else for
analysis, sure. Any disk editor capable of reading the hex data on
the partition table. (After all this you probably have a few.) Then
take a picture of the screen with a camera if that's the only way. Hex
80 at byte 112 (or whatever) means the same thing if it's on a picture
of your screen or on someone else's screen running the same program on
your data.

What PT editor(s) have you found to be the most user friendly? Somehow
just can not connect with DOS DeBug. Maybe just takes time?

Never wrote anything to a disk that I couldn't over-write and fix. Are there any PT editors that prevent you from making Really stupid Mistakes?

But you said that this is a 1.2 gig drive? I can understand doing
this for the knowledge you're gaining - and you're probably gaining
loads of it. I hope you're not doing it because you think the drive
is worth much.

It is more like solving a mystery/crossword puzzle... Since it is not
worth much, really do not have anything to loose.

Thanks again for all the help!!!

Question, do you know of any Original Partition Table Databases for
Western Digital Hard Drives?

Ken

 

[KeithS]

Am wondering if you could manually remove all the encrypted info....
Am not interested in any data on the HD.

Hopefully someone else has found a solution.

Ken

Would 'Clean Slate' at http://sac-ftp.externet.hu/utildisk12.html
(#597 on the list) be of any use?

 

[Al Klein]

Al,

What about Virus?

You mean a Windows program sitting on a disk in a machine you booted
into linux and still can't fdisk? The "virus" is just bits on a
platter. (Really want to mess up a virus' evening? Mount the drive
in a Mac. A Frenchman starving to death in Mongolia - and he's deaf
and blind.)

or Messed up PT due to DiskLock encryption and/or various OSes FDISK?

Most fdisks can rewrite the PT without any regard for what's on it, as
far as bit patterns are concerned.

What PT editor(s) have you found to be the most user friendly?

I don't look for user friendly, I look for "it works, even if it takes
me 5 minutes of reading to use it". That's better, IMO, than "I can
see exactly how to use it as soon as it runs" ... and it doesn't do
the job. It's like a doctor - if you had only 2 choices, would you
want the best surgeon in the world, who has the bedside manner of a
scorpion, or a nice guy who tells great jokes?

Bart PE. UBCD. Linux (a CD based version so you just boot, not
install). Last resort - a really strong magnet and a (real) low lever
formatting program. If that doesn't do it it's time to remove the
magnets and pin notes on the fridge with them. (The platters are
really shiny.)

Somehow just can not connect with DOS DeBug. Maybe just takes time?

Debug should read the sector (it's only 1 sector) in the time it takes
to get the Enter key all the way down. Maybe 3 times that long. 10
seconds? Nah.

Are there any PT editors that prevent you from making Really stupid Mistakes?

Good ones? No. Good ones let you write whatever you like wherever
you like. Is that good? It is if you have to write something on a
sector that most programs "protect" you from writing. It's terrible
if this is the last backup of life-critical data, you just want to
make sure the PT is good, and you get distracted for a second.

It is more like solving a mystery/crossword puzzle... Since it is not
worth much, really do not have anything to loose.

Then enjoy to the max. I love playing that game. We start learning,
we're born, we stop learning. That last one is also phrased "we're
dead". I love learning things. Any things.

Question, do you know of any Original Partition Table Databases for
Western Digital Hard Drives?

Look at any partition table and figure out what the various locations
mean - partition type, start sector, end sector, etc. Norton's
Diskedit used to be almost a tutor for that. (Look at the numbers as
a PT, then look at the same data as raw hex.) There might be freeware
out there that does the same thing. I think I downloaded some over
the weekend, but it's slow looking for it remotely via VNC, which is
how I'm posting at the moment. Write a 10 meg partition in the first
slot. If it works you have something to play with. (Primary PTs have
to all be the same, from one manufacturer to another, otherwise
compatibility would go out the window.)

 

[kenitholson]

On 4 Apr 2006 07:45:26 -0700, (e-mail address removed) wrote:

How would you determine if there is a "bad spot on PT"?

Also if there is a "bad spot" is there anyway the HD can be used for
file storage?

Thanks again for all your help!

Ken

 

[Al Klein]

How would you determine if there is a "bad spot on PT"?

The OEM's test program.

Also if there is a "bad spot" is there anyway the HD can be used for
file storage?

Probably not if it's a hard error. If it can be low level formatted
away, the drive is probably usable, but I wouldn't use it. Bad spots
are a sign that the platter is going bad.

 

[kenitholson]

The OEM's test program. Bad spots
are a sign that the platter is going bad.

Tried the WD Test Floppy and got an error message. Have had similar
ones before and when wipe HD they go away.

This specific HD has not had a lot of use but has had a number of
different OSes installed. The info still on it seems to be from the
last Linux install but so far have been unable to remove with any DOS
Partition Table Editor(PTE).

Am trying to learn something about using PTEs but to a Newbe seems
complex!

Have found a number of PT tutorials but do not even have the basic
knowledge of how good they are.
http://www.datarescue.com/laboratory/partition.htm
http://www.datarescue.com/laboratory/partition2.htm

I have tried to locate an identical WD Caviar 21200 HD but so far
nothing. Have been able to find a few that are reasonabily close so
would like to compare their PTs.

Any suggestions?

Ken

 

[Al Klein]

Have found a number of PT tutorials but do not even have the basic
knowledge of how good they are.
http://www.datarescue.com/laboratory/partition.htm
http://www.datarescue.com/laboratory/partition2.htm

If you learn all of that (it's accurate and complete - so accurate and
complete that I've saved both pages locally), you'll be able to fix
any fixable drive, as far as the PT is concerned.

I have tried to locate an identical WD Caviar 21200 HD but so far
nothing. Have been able to find a few that are reasonabily close so
would like to compare their PTs.

Any suggestions?

Copy those pages, format them and print them out. They have all the
information you need that, if you can get your drive to look like
that, it'll be fixed.

With one possible exception. I've never been able to find the cause
but some drives, even though every byte on every sector is perfect,
just won't boot. If you boot the computer from a floppy or CD the
drive is perfect. You can save to it, read from it - never have a
problem with it. But it won't boot Windows, it won't boot DOS, it
won't boot Linux, and it won't boot if you repartition it or put on
multiple bootable partitions. It's an inherent D drive - it works
fine, except for booting the computer. If it happens with your drive
and you find out why, let me know - that's been a mystery to me for
about 15 years.

 

[David]

If you learn all of that (it's accurate and complete - so accurate and
complete that I've saved both pages locally), you'll be able to fix
any fixable drive, as far as the PT is concerned.



Copy those pages, format them and print them out. They have all the
information you need that, if you can get your drive to look like
that, it'll be fixed.

With one possible exception. I've never been able to find the cause
but some drives, even though every byte on every sector is perfect,
just won't boot. If you boot the computer from a floppy or CD the
drive is perfect. You can save to it, read from it - never have a
problem with it. But it won't boot Windows, it won't boot DOS, it
won't boot Linux, and it won't boot if you repartition it or put on
multiple bootable partitions. It's an inherent D drive - it works
fine, except for booting the computer. If it happens with your drive
and you find out why, let me know - that's been a mystery to me for
about 15 years.

Has one partition been set as an Active partition? The usual cause of
the symptoms you describe is not having an active partition.

 

[kenitholson]

Al,

Think I have 2 that will work. Both WD Caviars a 21000 (1GB) and 31600
(1.6GB). Am guessing the 1GB would be the best.

Since you have a lot of experience concerning this, would it be
possible to send the PT info either to this forum or you directly? in
anyway you want it.

Thanks again for your help!

Ken

 

[Al Klein]

Think I have 2 that will work. Both WD Caviars a 21000 (1GB) and 31600
(1.6GB). Am guessing the 1GB would be the best.

Since you have a lot of experience concerning this, would it be
possible to send the PT info either to this forum or you directly? in
anyway you want it.

Sure, but to what purpose? Your problem is not being able to write to
it, right? What you can read from it may or not be what's on it.

You have Pierre's page - that and your PT should tell you all you need
to know. You have enough knowledge now to see whether your PT is sane
or not. It's not like a month or so ago when it was "PT? whassat?" -
you know what the bytes mean and you know what the table should look
like. What physical condition the coating on the platter is in?
That's one of those things man wasn't meant to know. But I have
confidence in you - you CAN do it.

(But sure, send me the PT if you want. al at webdingers dot com)

 

[kenitholson]

Al,

Your problem is not being able to write to
it, right? What you can read from it may or not be what's on it.

Have used every DOS based Hard Drive Utility I could find. None have
been able to change the Partition Table so seems that am unable to
write to PT since the HD is not Formated for DOS or Windows am also
unable to read what is on it.

Tell me how to record the PT info and I will send it to you.

Ken

 

[Al Klein]

Tell me how to record the PT info and I will send it to you.

Get it on your screen and enter all the values, one after the other,
in notepad, if that's the only way. (If you can read it with
software, the software may be able to save what you're looking at.)