On Tue, 4 Sep 2001, Mark Glassberg wrote:
> I can't uninstall lilo because I had symlinked /boot to a directory on
> the crashed disk.
Doh.
Ummmmmm... I think you might be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
> I know that the partition was formatted as part of a Win95 install. I
> assume that the installation process wrote the necessary code to the
> PBR.
Code *and* data. Consider what would happen if you zeroed the MBR: You
would lose the bootstrap (which FDISK /MBR would fix), but more importantly,
you would lose the partition table (which FDISK cannot fix). This is a
similar situation, but for the PBR. You blew away the bootstrap and some
critical filesystem information.
> Is there a place where I can find the equivalent information on the
> length and layout of the PBR?
A point to clarify: There is no standard Partition Boot Record, because
what goes there depends on what the partition is being used for. In other
words, it depends on the filesystem. A minor distinction, true, but in my
experience, subtle misunderstandings are the worst kind.
Anyways, you would need to lookup the format of a Microsoft FAT16 or
Microsoft FAT32 filesystem. You need to know where the bootstrap goes, and
where the media descriptor goes, and what goes in each. This is well beyond
my level of understanding; I haven't a clue where you'd start looking.
Microsoft's tech docs, maybe?
> If so, and if I can find out which bytes lilo overwrote, and if the
> overwritten bytes were the same ones my Win95 would write to if it were
> installed to a partition of the same length, starting on the same place
> on the same hard drive, then I should be able to reconstruct the PBR.
Might work. Myself, if I were in your shoes, I would make my decision
based on how important the data was. If unimportant, I would cut my losses
and reformat. If important, I would send the disk to data recovery
specialist.
> All thoughts, criticisms and suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Next time, make a backup first. :-/
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
| The opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not |
| necessarily represent the views or policy of any other person, entity or |
| organization. All information is provided without warranty of any kind. |
**********************************************************
To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the
*body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter:
unsubscribe gnhlug
**********************************************************
