[CGUYS] NTFS file system go poof.
The patient: P4 Gateway. Windows XP. 500GB hard drive. On boot, the computer cannot locate the start up volume. When the I ran the Windows XP Installer disk, it sees the physical hard drive, but not the previously installed system. It sees an un-partitioned space on the physical drive. I am guessing that something how gone awry with the file system, either the master boot record, or the database of the file system. At this point, i can clone the disk and work with a copy and pull of some of the photo files, but is there more i can do with disk utility software to restore the files and the file structure that was there, or am i at the point where i need to salvage what files i can and start with a reformat and a clean install of windows xp? The hard drive is less than a year old and physically seems sound. Would/could this condition be caused by a power surge, virus, or other event? Thanks, Rocky * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] NTFS file system go poof.
I would just format the disk and either restore your last image or install Windows clean. Then restore your documents from backup. At some point, I'd check the drive's SMART status. Drives sometimes go unformatted like that. Hard to say why; presumably one important byte value might shift due to cosmic rays or something. On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 9:21 PM, rocky lee ghostwheel...@yahoo.com wrote: The patient: P4 Gateway. Windows XP. 500GB hard drive. On boot, the computer cannot locate the start up volume. When the I ran the Windows XP Installer disk, it sees the physical hard drive, but not the previously installed system. It sees an un-partitioned space on the physical drive. I am guessing that something how gone awry with the file system, either the master boot record, or the database of the file system. At this point, i can clone the disk and work with a copy and pull of some of the photo files, but is there more i can do with disk utility software to restore the files and the file structure that was there, or am i at the point where i need to salvage what files i can and start with a reformat and a clean install of windows xp? The hard drive is less than a year old and physically seems sound. Would/could this condition be caused by a power surge, virus, or other event? * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] NTFS file system go poof.
http://www.iolo.com/sr/5/ Search and Recover is a product I have found useful. I've used versions 3 4, don't recall using or even installing v.5. Haven't needed anything for a long while (knock on wood). They appear to have gone to an annual fee program, which they didn't have with versions 3 4. Fred Holmes At 09:21 PM 12/27/2009, rocky lee wrote: The patient: P4 Gateway. Windows XP. 500GB hard drive. On boot, the computer cannot locate the start up volume. When the I ran the Windows XP Installer disk, it sees the physical hard drive, but not the previously installed system. It sees an un-partitioned space on the physical drive. I am guessing that something how gone awry with the file system, either the master boot record, or the database of the file system. At this point, i can clone the disk and work with a copy and pull of some of the photo files, but is there more i can do with disk utility software to restore the files and the file structure that was there, or am i at the point where i need to salvage what files i can and start with a reformat and a clean install of windows xp? The hard drive is less than a year old and physically seems sound. Would/could this condition be caused by a power surge, virus, or other event? Thanks, Rocky * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] NTFS file system go poof.
Thanks, Fred. Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:58:51 -0500 From: Fred Holmes f...@his.com Subject: Re: NTFS file system go poof. http://www.iolo.com/sr/5/ Search and Recover is a product I have found useful. I've used versions 3 4, don't recall using or even installing v.5. Haven't needed anything for a long while (knock on wood). They appear to have gone to an annual fee program, which they didn't have with versions 3 4. Fred Holmes At 09:21 PM 12/27/2009, rocky lee wrote: The patient: P4 Gateway. Windows XP. 500GB hard drive. On boot, the computer cannot locate the start up volume. When the I ran the Windows XP Installer disk, it sees the physical hard drive, but not the previously installed system. It sees an un-partitioned space on the physical drive. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
