Strange Case of the Disappearing Partition.

[Sid Elbow]

My second IDE HD (160 GB) has but two (primary) partitions (both NTFS):

DATA ... 8 GB
BIGSPACE ... the remainder

(EnableBigLBA is set)

It's been running happily for a couple of years until yesterday or today
when the BIGSPACE partition disappeared. In Disk-Manager it just showed
up as "unallocated" space.

The data on it wasn't especially crucial (and in any case I recovered
about 90% of it with a file recovery program) so I thought ho-hum and
proceeded to recreate and format the partition. This went fine, the
partition was created with no reported errors. Then I rebooted and the
partition was gone again!

I've tried creating the partition both as a primary and as extended
(with a logical drive). Still it disappears when I reboot. Virus scans
find nothing.

Next I backed up the DATA partition, shut down and ran the
manufacturer's HD diagnostic from DOS. No problem, the disk is fine.
While in DOS, I ran Partition Magic, killed the DATA partition then
recreated both partitions and formatted NTFS (V3.0 for Win2K). Rebooted
(still in DOS) and ran PM again to confirm the partitions were still
there (they were).

Rebooted Windows. Chkdsk kicked in at startup (expected) on the DATA
partition but after fully booting the BIGSPACE partition had gone again!

FWIW I have 3 primary partitions on the first HD plus the primary DATA
partition on the second HD. Not sure what the maximum per system is but
in any case I tried both primary and extended. (Disk Manager didn't
object either way).

(The only thing of significance that I did yesterday was to temporarily
disconnect the second HD and replace it with another drive for testing
purposes. This was all done in DOS, I never booted into Windows with
that drive. I then reconnected the original drive, put the original
drive in a USB box, rebooted windows and partitioned/formatted the usb
drive from Disk-Manager and copied some files to the usb drive, all of
which went without a hiccup. Because of the mechanical handling during
this process, I've checked and rechecked the HD/Motherboard data and
power connections without joy ... in any case, the DATA partition on the
same HD has shown no signs of trouble).

 

[philo]

My second IDE HD (160 GB) has but two (primary) partitions (both NTFS):

DATA ... 8 GB
BIGSPACE ... the remainder

(EnableBigLBA is set)

It's been running happily for a couple of years until yesterday or today
when the BIGSPACE partition disappeared. In Disk-Manager it just showed
up as "unallocated" space.

The data on it wasn't especially crucial (and in any case I recovered
about 90% of it with a file recovery program) so I thought ho-hum and
proceeded to recreate and format the partition. This went fine, the
partition was created with no reported errors. Then I rebooted and the
partition was gone again!

I've tried creating the partition both as a primary and as extended
(with a logical drive). Still it disappears when I reboot. Virus scans
find nothing.

Next I backed up the DATA partition, shut down and ran the
manufacturer's HD diagnostic from DOS. No problem, the disk is fine.
While in DOS, I ran Partition Magic, killed the DATA partition then
recreated both partitions and formatted NTFS (V3.0 for Win2K). Rebooted
(still in DOS) and ran PM again to confirm the partitions were still
there (they were).

Rebooted Windows. Chkdsk kicked in at startup (expected) on the DATA
partition but after fully booting the BIGSPACE partition had gone again!

FWIW I have 3 primary partitions on the first HD plus the primary DATA
partition on the second HD. Not sure what the maximum per system is but
in any case I tried both primary and extended. (Disk Manager didn't
object either way).

<snip>

I have definately seen a few drives pass the mfg's diagnostic...yet still be
bad.

I'd remove the drive in question and put another in it's place.
If the 2nd drive is OK and has no "disappearing" partitions...
then the original drive must be bad.

If the problem shows up again on the 2n drive...
then the controller or cable could be bad

 

[The Kat]

It's been running happily for a couple of years until yesterday or today
when the BIGSPACE partition disappeared. In Disk-Manager it just showed
up as "unallocated" space.

Sounds like the drive is going bad.

If it's SMART-capable, get a SMART-reader and check that.

Also, try FDisk /mbr

Otherwise, I'd replace that puppy.






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[Sid Elbow]

I have definately seen a few drives pass the mfg's diagnostic...yet still be
bad.

I wouldn't doubt that, actually. There are only so many things a
consumer-level utility can test.

I'd remove the drive in question and put another in it's place.
If the 2nd drive is OK and has no "disappearing" partitions...
then the original drive must be bad.

If the problem shows up again on the 2n drive...
then the controller or cable could be bad

I do just happen to have another 160 GB drive which I can try. It's hard
to imagine though, a drive problem (or especially a controller/cable
problem) which can repeatedly cause the loss of only the second
partition on the drive (and only then during a reboot ... as long as I
stay booted, the partition is stable) while leaving the first (and its
data) totally unaffected.

I still lean towards a Windows disk interface problem.

 

[Sid Elbow]

Sounds like the drive is going bad.
If it's SMART-capable, get a SMART-reader and check that.

SMART is run as part of the manufacturer's diagnostic

Also, try FDisk /mbr

I'm running a boot manager so I want to leave that as a last resort.

Otherwise, I'd replace that puppy.

See my response to Philo

 

[philo]

I wouldn't doubt that, actually. There are only so many things a
consumer-level utility can test.


I do just happen to have another 160 GB drive which I can try. It's hard
to imagine though, a drive problem (or especially a controller/cable
problem) which can repeatedly cause the loss of only the second
partition on the drive (and only then during a reboot ... as long as I
stay booted, the partition is stable) while leaving the first (and its
data) totally unaffected.

I still lean towards a Windows disk interface problem.

Well, if you try another drive in there...
it will be a start for trouble-shooting

 

[Sid Elbow]

Well, if you try another drive in there...
it will be a start for trouble-shooting

Well, I fixed the problem. First off, while Windows (both win2K and XP
installations on a multi-boot) insisted the partition did not exist, two
different partition utilities outside of Windows insisted that it did.

So I tried an fdisk /mbr and now the partition was back in Windows.

As I had feared, this did inactivate my boot-manager (BootitNG). It was
rather trivial to reactivate it though .... except that when I did, I
lost the partition in Windows again!

I considered uninstalling/reinstalling BootitNG but on a hunch I tried
simply deleting the embr for that drive and replacing it with a standard
mbr and now everything is working.

There was a side-effect that some of my other partitions got
re-lettered. Not, curiously, the problem partition which took the same
letter that it had before the problem began. I don't know why the others
got re-lettered.