Utils to Fix Hard Drive Partition Table Errors?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kenitholson
  • Start date Start date
L...

I must have been tired when first posted this problem! Noticed that
while I mentioned the error message for chkdsk forgot to mention that
for FDISK and Format.

FDISK error reading fixed disk

Format required parameter missing

The FDISK and Format error messages have not changed after using
KillDisk and other Utils.
Click to expand...

Assuming you have format on a floppy disk then format /? should give
help.
Suggest you take this Q to one of the batch groups (Google is your
friend).
The folks in there should be helpful..

Lou
 
Lou,
Assuming you have format on a floppy disk then format /? should give
help.
Suggest you take this Q to one of the batch groups (Google is your
friend).
Click to expand...


Yes am using a Win9X boot/rescue floppy

Did as you mentioned but only got info on the options for formating
floppy then tried format c: /? and got the same thing.

When the 9X floppy boots mentions C: not found and may be due to a
virus and run virus scan software.

Any recommendations? Just to eliminate this possibility.

Thanks

Ken
 
Thanks again, Wipeout probably works fine if the HD is not messed up!
Click to expand...
Wipeout is perfect for a messed up drive.

Shall check your proceedure.

1: Have put wipeout on your boot disk. ( can send you mine if required
)
2: Put the boot disk in & start up your computer ( the bios must be set
to boot from the floppy 1st )
3: At the A:\> type > wipeout c: /nq /np ( must be exact, with the
spaces )
 
jmatt'
1: Have put wipeout on your boot disk. ( can send you mine if required
)
2: Put the boot disk in & start up your computer ( the bios must be set
to boot from the floppy 1st )
3: At the A:\> type > wipeout c: /nq /np ( must be exact, with the
spaces )
Click to expand...

Did as you mentioned and get Drive c: has no partition

To find out if anything has changed ran chkdsk and got original message

3 hidden files
6 user files

So whatever is on the Partition Table is not removed by Wipeout.

Ken
 
Update

Am still checking for Utils that can solve this problem!

Came across IBM's Wipe and Zap
http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/os/misc/ibm-wipe-zap.html

DLed and made Floppy when ran got error code 01h unsupported function
or parameter

Ken
Click to expand...

I once had a seemingly similar problem. What happened to mine was that
some program had been used to compress the HD then when all the other
programs to format/fdisk etc were applied, their inability to access that once
compressed area, made it a smaller HD. So if an HD is compressed, it
needs to be UNcompressed first, before any of the other utils will work.

Then another possibility is a corrupt or damaged boot sector. ;( at the
very beginning of the HD.
 
Thanks Al, must admit I'm not familar with > one track higher than
before.
Click to expand...

The partition is relative to where it starts - track 10 is 10 tracks
up from the beginning of the partition, NOT the 10th physical track on
the disk.

Remember, regardless of what you do, there's data on a disk. Every
bit is either a one or a zero. What makes it useful or dangerous is
that the sequence of bits means something.

If the directory starts in the middle of what used to be a file, the
data is just bits - there's no virus that needs to be on the directory
that can survive having the directory forget where it lives. (MBR
viruses are different, but every virus program can handle them.) Even
if the entire directory structure remained, it's telling you to load
file X from track Y, sector Z - relative to itself. Since it's no
longer Y tracks and Z sectors from that virus, what it'll load from
the disk is garbage, (In reality, when you format the "new" sector
all the entries become empty, so it won't load anything until you save
something.)

It's like delivering a letter in Los Angeles after a bad quake - it
goes to the third house on Main street - but the house is over on Elm
street now, so the letter never gets there.
Fdisk no problem, but I only use the 1 partition now.
Click to expand...

And that's all you'd have. A (depending on number of tracks) tiny
wasted space on the drive, then one partition. One
no-longer-virus-ridden partition. Freeware - no need to go looking
for a program either.
 
format the drive
Click to expand...

Format only runs on a disk that's been partitioned - it formats
partitions, not drives. (Low-level formatting formats drives, but
then you have to partition them. LL is absolute - the first physical
sector on the drive is sector 1 - high level formatting is relative to
the partition - the first sector is the first sector on the partition,
which, guaranteed, is not the first physical sector on the drive. Not
these days.)

(For the purists: I know. This is acf, not drive engineering 101.)

Kenith:

Download The Ultimate Boot Disk
(<http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=518> is one site) or any
version of a CD-runnable Linux distribution. Use that to partition
the drive. (TUBD has at least one partitioning program on it.)

At that point you'll have a drive with at least 1 partition (your
choice how to partition it), and you can format it from a DOS boot
floppy with Format on it, or just boot with your Windows CD and let
the Windows installation format the drive for you.

If you want to try the trick, just don't give the partitioning
software the entire disk - make 2 partitions - the first one being the
smallest one the particular software is capable of (usually a couple
of megs), the second one the rest of the drive. Use "the rest of the
drive" partition.

Good luck. I just did 2 drives on the desktop (I lost 3 over the
weekend) and the laptop is going in for warranty service this weekend
to get its drive replaced. 50 degrees C is a little too warm for a
drive to run regularly. Next time I slipstream SP2 and get a few
hours sleep at night.
 
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/BootToolsRefs.htm
http://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.html
TestDisk is a powerful data recovery utility! It was primarily designed
to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable
again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types
of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing your Partition
Table
Click to expand...

How about when you accidentally "erase" the data bus buffer chip on
your drive? :(

Anyone want to lend me a disk drive lab for the weekend? The platters
are probably still good, for all that does me. 120 gigs of data to be
resurrected from somewhere.
 
Checked and DBaN has a good reputation. Downloaded and made Floppy.
It ran OK and when done used MS FDISK and still got the original error
message error reading fixed disk.
Click to expand...

You may just have a physically damaged master boot sector.

If you have access to a pre-Windows 98 computer, you may be able to do
something with a raw disk utility, like Norton's Diskedit. I don't
think there's anything out like that for post-95 systems, since
there's no more real physical disk outside the kernel.
 
Op 30 Mar 2006 09:31:47 -0800, (e-mail address removed) schreef:
Everyone,

Maybe I have not really stated my question very well.

I have used KillDisk and others to wipe the HD. Did not realize that
there was a lot of residual Linux and other NonDOS info in Partition
Table which now seems really messed up, may even have some type of
virus or malware there, because std DOS FDISK will not even work.
Click to expand...

You should use Linux fdisk. If you don't have a Linux boot floppy you
can get it at http://www.bootdisk.com/linux.htm
 
Lou,



Yes am using a Win9X boot/rescue floppy

Did as you mentioned but only got info on the options for formating
floppy then tried format c: /? and got the same thing.
Click to expand...
Which is correct as you are asking for help by using /?

Just use format c:
When the 9X floppy boots mentions C: not found and may be due to a
virus and run virus scan software.
Click to expand...
If this occurs then fdisk needs to come into play to check that there
is a single primary partition on the hard disk and that it is assigned
as the active partition. There may, or may not, be an extended
partition as well as the primary. The extended partition will contain
all other partitions used by windows (if any).

It may be a virus that has erased your c: partition.
Any recommendations? Just to eliminate this possibility.
Click to expand...
Download f-prot for DOS and utilize it to scan your memory and boot
sector(s). make sure that the machine has been turned off at the mains
prior to booting to DOS to perform the virus check. You may need to
remove the CMOS battery to reset everything if the virus is in CMOS.
 
j....

Tried Wipeout but when used wipeout c: /nq got error message
unable to read C's boot sector.

Any ideas why?

Thanks again, Wipeout probably works fine if the HD is not
messed up!

Ken
Click to expand...


Am not clear of you are swapping hard drives over or adding a hard
drive or exactly what. However - are the MASTER/SLAVE jumper
settings correct?
 
Recently posted that was given a HD that capacity listed by DOS was
very different from what it should be.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt....hread/cd4ec287f87df371/0e4f93ac19d4faad?hl=en

After a number of DLs and tests found that the problem is not Bad
Sectors but Partition Table Info.

This has been a Real Learning Experience and I now know a lot more
about Partition Table Errors than ever wanted to. Here is one listing
of possible errors
http://www.fedu.uec.ac.jp/ZzzThai/winth_jp/FIPSDOCS/errors.txt

Considering my inexperience would prefer a util of any OS, and possibly
even prefer a Unix because have read that some Windows malware will
corrupt the Partition Table. So far I have only found TestDisk that
might do this. http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk I tried chkdsk
/f but nothing was fixed.

If necessary to input the correct info manually where do I get the
correct info? Am guessing I would need to check Western Digital's
docs for it. This is what I have been able to find out. Gen Specs
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?r=3

Manually read about using DOS Debug
http://groups.google.com/group/alt....on+table+errors&rnum=6&hl=en#eb47a44b387917af
but the process seems complex for a beginner.

DO you want to restore an existing partition table? Or repair one that
has a
problem and will not allow you to fdisk the drive. This script will
allow
you to clear the partition sector. After that you can repair the MBR if
you
want. Utilities can do this too. I like debug so here is the way to do
it
A:\>DEBUG
- f 200 L200 0
- a 100
xxxx:0100 mov ax,301 (ignore segment:offset values at left)
xxxx:0103 mov bx,200
xxxx:0106 mov cx,1
xxxx:0109 mov dx,0080
xxxx:010C int 13
xxxx:010E int 3
xxxx:010F (Press ENTER an extra time here)
- d 100 LF
xxxx:0100 B8 01 03 BB 00 02 B9 01-00 BA 80 00 CD 13 CC
(make sure that hex values match above line before proceeding)
(if values do not match, type Q and start over)
- g=100
(ignore register display)
- q (quits back to DOS)


Am open to all suggestions!

Thanks

Ken
Click to expand...


At one time - back in the DOS days - there was a program
called Drive Pro which was able to boot and view the boot
sector and partition table info. I had a WD drive that was
acting the way I understand yours is acting. I was able to
use it to delete the boot tracks and MBR records
individually or all. It appears that the drive actually
maintains several MBR's only one of which should be active
at any time. If the drive is reading a corrupted MBR, it
will also report the wrong info. Using this, I was also
able to remove a stubborn restore partition that had been
installed by Goback. If you have ever had Goback or a
similar program installed, there is probably a well hidden
partition or "container" in there somewhere that a normal
FDSIK and format operation may not correct. After all, that
is why you would have Goback installed. If this is Goback
related, you may be able to contact their support service as
I did on one occasion. They gave me a command line that
removed the hidden partition. That was several years ago
and may no longer be available.

Good luck

Lugnut
 
Lugnut,

Thanks for the "Drive Pro" tip! Have been trying to track it down.

So far found mention: "One after market program called drive pro can do
true low level formating 9and alot more). Another intresting thing
about drive pro is it is what maxtors maxblast drive formating utility
seems to be based on. Its more of a stripped down drive pro like
program. It contains a few commands that are true low level formating
commands. Those commands are ones any intermidiate end user can make
use of."

Am guessing this is the DOS util you mentioned? "Drive Pro, from Micro
House, has an alternative to low-level IDE format called Erase First
Ten Cylinders. This operation doesn't rewrite the Sector ID Header
information, but merely zeros out the data sectors. This simple
operation often corrects many apparent Hardware Layer drive faults."
comes from this hit
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...+utility+"Drive+pro"&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9
which is technically over my head.

If this is correct may have found a download for it. "MHIDE97.ZIP is
here, a collection of Free IDE utilities from Microhouse (1997) to
Query, Swap, Save and Restore System areas (MBR, Partition Table, FAT,
etc.) to Floppy/elsewhere (includes CMOS & Extended CMOS). (191 kB)
Note: The main programs (IDE/info, Save & Restore) are full-screen
interactive type programs that will display everything one needs to
know for each step. All work great with Drives up to 80 GB (tested). A
set of "Help" files (*.txt) are also included for reference." It is
from Ben's Home Page
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...ohouse+dos+utilities&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
which has a lot of other interesting things! Have DLed it and will
try.

Ken
 
Lugnut,

Thanks for the "Drive Pro" tip! Have been trying to track it down.

So far found mention: "One after market program called drive pro can do
true low level formating 9and alot more). Another intresting thing
about drive pro is it is what maxtors maxblast drive formating utility
seems to be based on. Its more of a stripped down drive pro like
program. It contains a few commands that are true low level formating
commands. Those commands are ones any intermidiate end user can make
use of."

Am guessing this is the DOS util you mentioned? "Drive Pro, from Micro
House, has an alternative to low-level IDE format called Erase First
Ten Cylinders. This operation doesn't rewrite the Sector ID Header
information, but merely zeros out the data sectors. This simple
operation often corrects many apparent Hardware Layer drive faults."
comes from this hit
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...+utility+"Drive+pro"&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9
which is technically over my head.

If this is correct may have found a download for it. "MHIDE97.ZIP is
here, a collection of Free IDE utilities from Microhouse (1997) to
Query, Swap, Save and Restore System areas (MBR, Partition Table, FAT,
etc.) to Floppy/elsewhere (includes CMOS & Extended CMOS). (191 kB)
Note: The main programs (IDE/info, Save & Restore) are full-screen
interactive type programs that will display everything one needs to
know for each step. All work great with Drives up to 80 GB (tested). A
set of "Help" files (*.txt) are also included for reference." It is
from Ben's Home Page
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...ohouse+dos+utilities&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
which has a lot of other interesting things! Have DLed it and will
try.

Ken
Click to expand...


Is there something on this drive you are trying to save?

If you have data that must be saved, you may have a real
problem requiring professional recovery service.

If not, use a low level format utility for the brand of
drive you have? This is not the same as the DOS or high
level format. It is at the hardware level and should return
the drive to the manufacturers original condition with the
bad sectors flagged or blocked as they should be. Once the
drive is low level formated, you will have to run the FDISK
utility to partition the drive and setup the MBR followed by
formating each partition. Your boot partition will need to
be setup as active which is not necessary for extended
partitions. If you are installing XP, you can boot the
machine from the CD and allow XP to do the dirty work if you
have an OEM or retail version.

If you are using win9x, 2000 or ME, you will need a boot
floppy with FDISK and format utilities installed. If you
have a large drive, be forewarned it may exceed the limits
of older BIOS or operating system. This means an older BIOS
or OS can only "See" part of the complete drive no matter
how big the drive is. XP is the first that could read above
137GB. DOS could only read a few MB. It may be that your
drive itself is in fine condition and either your BIOS or
operating system just can't see it which is a different
problem than you have been discussing.

See the page below to d/l a LL format utility for whatever
drive you have. If you have to open the machine to find out
what drive you have, then that is the place to start. Make
sure you record all the data from the label on the drive.
Some of that info may help here.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...+utility+"Drive+pro"&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9


Lugnut
 
Lugnut,
Is there something on this drive you are trying to save? No I inherited it because suddenly stopped being able to load Windows...and am just trying to find out what is causing the problem. Have run a number of tests on it and there seems to be No physical problems.
Click to expand...

What I have been able to find "Drive Pro" is a Gem for older
HardDrives! Review of: DrivePro, Professional Hard Drive Set-up
Software 09/18/92

Runs on: For 286, 386 or 486 based PC-compatible systems with hard disk
drives (NOT for XT, 8088 or 8086 computers). Requires DOS 3.1 or
higher; runs from 1.2MB or 1.4MB distribution disk

From: MicroHouse International, 4900 Pearl East Circle, Boulder, CO
80301. Tel: 303-443-3388 (Orders 800-926-8299, Fax 303-443-3323, BBS
303-443-9957)

Price: Suggested Retail Price: $129.95

PUMA Rating: 3.9 (on a scale of 1=lowest to 4=highest)

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: Thom Foulks

Summary: A versatile, high-powered, hard drive set-up utility of
interest primarily to technicians, but well worth a look from DOS
"power users." Entire review is at
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_1992_Sept_18/ai_12590576

Update concerning recent DL of what thought was "Drive Pro" was Not
and one of text messages mentions their DrivePro: Professional Hard
Drive Setup which has drive table override, full featured partition
creator and editor.... I called the tel # given but it was not
working. Did some searching and MicroHouse has not been around for a
while. MicroHouse>StorageSoft >PhoenixTech
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache...microhouse+drive+pro&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

Was able to run the other utils.

MHIDE ver3.00 listed the HD as Physical Drive 0 Formatted capacity
1220.61 MB
Physical Drive 2
Parameters returned by Drive are invalid

If not, use a low level format utility for the brand of
drive you have? This is not the same as the DOS or high
level format. It is at the hardware level and should return
the drive to the manufacturers original condition with the
bad sectors flagged or blocked as they should be.
Click to expand...

The HD is an old Western Digital Caviar 21200 so MHIDE seems to be
returning its ~ size which is normally listed as 1281.9MB the other
parameters are listed at WD website.
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?r=3

Cylinders 2484
Heads 16
Sectors/Track 63
Landing Zone 2484
WPC 2484

So it is within the range that DOS should be returning correct info. I
have the WD Data Lifeguard Tools Floppy and when run it on this HD only
gives an Error Message and to contact WD Support. Since the HD is way
out of warranty have not even tried to check with WD Support.

So far the only DOS util to provide any meaningful info to me has been
chkdsk when tried to run DOS 6.22 Scandisk only got Scandisk cannot
examine drive C. But others have given messages "partition table is
invalid".

Ken
 
Recently posted that was given a HD that capacity listed by DOS
was very different from what it should be.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.freeware/browse_thread/th
read/cd4ec287f87df371/0e4f93ac19d4faad?hl=en

After a number of DLs and tests found that the problem is not
Bad Sectors but Partition Table Info.

This has been a Real Learning Experience and I now know a lot
more about Partition Table Errors than ever wanted to.
Click to expand...


Am replying to the original post.
Wot a thread! :-) It's time to take a reality check.
What is being attempted should not be so difficult.

I am surprised that all these weird and wonderful (and usually
ancient) HDD utilities are getting wheeled out. It seems to me that
if the BIOS is working with the HDD then all that is needed should be
this:

(a) wipe the whole MBR including the MPT.

(b) prefereably also wipe all the rest of track 0

(c) if desired ... carry on wiping the whole of the
rest of the hard drive to map out any bad clusters
OR run a surface test tool to address worries that
the hard drive is physically corrupt.

(d) use util to create new partition. (Preferably not
FDISK because it is too crap, uses poor terminology in
messages & prompts and has limits on the size of partition
it can create.)

Many have said to use the manufacturer's utilities and they would be
a first choice. The manufacturer will have a utility or several
utilities to (A) test the drive and most probably to (B) wipe it.

Speaking purely *personally* I would wipe the MBR+MPT using option 4
on MBRWORK from Terabyteunlimited then option 3 and then option 5.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

Speaking *personally* again, I would create a new partition with
BootIt using Work With Partitions > Create Partition). I would run
BootIt from a floppy without installing it to HDD and without doing
anything whatsoever involving an EMBR. Don't tell me Bootit is not
freeware because we are looking at a basket-case here and the 30 day
trial is enough for any of this.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

Maybe kenith olson's technique is messing something up. The safe
approach would be a matter of taking these steps:

--------------- STEPS --------------------
Prepare floppy (format it and copy chosen utils to it).
In my own case: prepare one formatted floppy
with MBRWORK copied to it and one floppy by using
the BootIt floppy creator when I run the BootIt
installation program.

Switch off machine at the mains.
Remove connections to original HDD.
Set jumpers on duff HDD.
Connect duff HDD in place of orignal HDD.
Insert prepared bootable floppy with utils.
Make power available to machine once more.
Power up and boot.
Check to see if BIOS picks up duff HDD hardware name correctly.
Arrive at floppy's program. If not see BIOS's boot device sequence.
Run utils to clear HDD as above.
------------- END STEPS ------------------

Don't try a real, genuine low-level format as that may cause real
trouble. It's very unlikely you will get offered a real LL format.
Most "low level formats" are really mid-level formats and that is the
most you may or may not need.

If all this fails then smash open the drive and take out the magnets
to use as playthings. http://tinyurl.com/f4rbr
 
Maybe kenith olson's technique is messing something up. The safe
approach would be a matter of taking these steps:
Click to expand...

My wife's laptop just decided to go on vacation. This is "the weekend
that things break", I guess. (Would you believe that HP tech support
told me that to recover the data on the otherwise unreachable internal
notebook drive I should buy an adapter, remove the drive from the
notebook, hook it up to a desktop computer and copy the data? Mark
Hurd is getting a nice letter, along with a transcript of that - he
should know what kind of nonsense his company is paying for.)

I was able to boot a minimal Bart PE SP1 with no problem, copy all the
data to an external USB drive, repartition the internal drive (same
parameters - just a fresh write), quick format and reinstall XP. I
suppose that if the drive had been REALLY fritzed I could have booted
a minimal Linux and fdisked it. Unfortunately these beasts have no
floppies, and I don't consider a $60 drive a diagnostic tool for an
in-warranty device, but I always have a few different kinds of boot
CDs around.

Now for the desktop. Sometimes it gets into a mood. It goes
"bank-bang-bang" on a cycle of about 500ms, with the drive light
keeping time to the banging - even if there's no drive connected. I
have no idea where the noise is coming from. (I have no directional
hearing.) At this point pushing the power button does nothing - I
have to pull the plug or turn the supply off. Ten minutes later it
comes back on as if nothing had happened. It's on 24/7, so I think a
new MB/CPU or whole box is in the works. Just upgraded it to 700 gigs
of storage too. Oh, well.
 
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