RE: 20GB experience + a few questions
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 21:24:57 +0100 From: "Alexandre Kaoukhov" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: 20GB experience + a few questions A HD sector editor would let you manually alter the master file directory, then let you chain files together sector by sector by hand. Since all directories pretty much are laid out like: Directory Listing for File0001 points to first HD sector #, with pointer to second sector, which points to second HD sector # and has a pointer to the their sector .it is merely a matter of locating the first sector of your ZIP (or any other file you want to recover), locating the second sector, and so forth, then making sure the directory is properly updated with this information. Yes, you can spend days working on this recovering multi-MB files by hand, but it works fine. The solution was much simpler than that. Win2k has an utility called diskprobe. It allows you directly manipulate sectors. In fact in my case information in first EBR about the next extended partition was overwritten. It was matter of minutes to calculate the right data, write it and all the chain of extended partitions was recovered. However I spent the whole week-end learning about partitions in order to do this. BTW recover boot sector in NTFS is even easier. Actually I made floppy backup of all partitions tables as well as boot sectors. Now I am looking for two DOS utilities from NT4 resource kit: disksave and diskprobe. As for a program that writes 1's to disk, I wouldn't know. I'd just write a program myself. I am doctor not programmer! Maybe www.softseek.com or www.deja.com/usenet has some clues. No 1 From time to time I hear a rather loud click inside and Windeows freezes in that moment. This problem was present from the first time I installed the drive. What that could be? Does Windows crash or do anything bad? No it just freezes for a fraction of second. It's either the HD head moving about, or HD failure. Both IBM and Toshiba have low-level diagnostics programs you can run on the HD to make sure nothing bad is happening, just in case. This is certainly HD head hitting something. But I have never heard that kind of sound on other HD IBM or not. 2 Some time ago I read from your page about SIIG PCMCIA fan. Have you seen Win2k drivers for it? No idea. But one person who did try it recommended against it. It is such a tight fit that it damaged the MB/circuitry around the area and caused problems for that one person. however,that was merely an example of stupidity. If the card, if out of spec sizewise, was too hard to squeeze in, then why did that person proceed? I'm sure another PCMCIA fan card, if the proper size, would fit just fine and not cause problems. The name of "one person" is Nicolas Rubinstein. As I remember he is no longer on the list. He is otherwise smart guy and gave us many useful tips about Win2k and overclocking. By the way I remind you that he fixed his motherboard with a drop of glue. Remember, for all electronic equipment, it shouldn't need much force to put together. If it does, something is most likely wrong and you shouldn't force it in -- or else you'll risk damage. I must admit that card in question fits rather tight and if your motherboard is weak it can be damaged. But in my opinion his and mine problem is that we tend to forget that most so called IT professionals are just incompetent when are not trying to cheat you. It just hard to imagine that you paid $$ for a potentially dangerous misconceived card. Finally, David about previous suggestion about FAT. From all that I had to read about FAT/NTFS comparative stability I am happy to stay with NTFS. Most if not all recovery utilities just take the address from MFT of the first sector of file to recover and then recover the next sectors corresponding to file size. Thus, unless you defragmented partition minutes before failure your chances to recover are nil. Theese are just my 2c, Alexandre ** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ ---UNSUBSCRIBE--- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST-- Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **
RE: 20GB experience + a few questions
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 13:54:55 -0700 (PDT) From: David Chien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: 20GB experience + a few questions Any good ol' HD sector editor will do as well if you've got the time (and as long as the NTFS partition isn't encrypted) How is it possible to recover that way? I can imagine to recover some text but what about zip archives? BTW which HD sector editor do you consider as good? While I am on it which would easily fill unpartitioned space (from cylinder to cylinder) with 1's? A HD sector editor would let you manually alter the master file directory, then let you chain files together sector by sector by hand. Since all directories pretty much are laid out like: Directory Listing for File0001 points to first HD sector #, with pointer to second sector, which points to second HD sector # and has a pointer to the their sector ..it is merely a matter of locating the first sector of your ZIP (or any other file you want to recover), locating the second sector, and so forth, then making sure the directory is properly updated with this information. Yes, you can spend days working on this recovering multi-MB files by hand, but it works fine. -- As for a program that writes 1's to disk, I wouldn't know. I'd just write a program myself. Maybe www.softseek.com or www.deja.com/usenet has some clues. 1 From time to time I hear a rather loud click inside and Windeows freezes in that moment. This problem was present from the first time I installed the drive. What that could be? Does Windows crash or do anything bad? It's either the HD head moving about, or HD failure. Both IBM and Toshiba have low-level diagnostics programs you can run on the HD to make sure nothing bad is happening, just in case. 2 Some time ago I read from your page about SIIG PCMCIA fan. Have you seen Win2k drivers for it? No idea. But one person who did try it recommended against it. It is such a tight fit that it damaged the MB/circuitry around the area and caused problems for that one person. however,that was merely an example of stupidity. If the card, if out of spec sizewise, was too hard to squeeze in, then why did that person proceed? I'm sure another PCMCIA fan card, if the proper size, would fit just fine and not cause problems. Remember, for all electronic equipment, it shouldn't need much force to put together. If it does, something is most likely wrong and you shouldn't force it in -- or else you'll risk damage. d =) = adorable toshiba libretto The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner. http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Messenger - Talk while you surf! It's FREE. http://im.yahoo.com/ ** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ ---UNSUBSCRIBE--- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST-- Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **
Re: 20GB experience + a few questions
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 14:57:52 GMT From: "Fubar Libretto" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: 20GB experience + a few questions I finally purchased the new IBM 20GB drive from Weesco Alexandre, which model Libretto do you have? _ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ ---UNSUBSCRIBE--- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST-- Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **
RE: 20GB experience + a few questions
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 00:06:38 +0200 From: "Alexandre Kaoukhov" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: 20GB experience + a few questions I finally purchased the new IBM 20GB drive from Weesco Alexandre, which model Libretto do you have? 100CT ** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ ---UNSUBSCRIBE--- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST-- Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **
Re: 20GB experience + a few questions
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 11:55:00 -0700 (PDT) From: David Chien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: 20GB experience + a few questions How can I find where Libretto hibernates before I loose any data??? One easy way is to get a program that'll write a series of 1's to the HD from just after oh, let's say, the first 2GB of HD to the end of the HD. You then hibernate, then run a HD hex editor over the entire space looking for anything other than pure 1's. Then, simply create a hibernation space that size and a couple MB bigger just in case. 2 Another weird problem happened to me which may explain my first problem. I was urged to get some data from a friend's desktop so I hibernated Win2k, went from hibernation. The files were not there! Actually I suppose that Win2k keeps all filetables in memory and on some occasions may restore them to drive after standby/hibernation. Can anybody confirm this? No idea here. But I'd start with shutting down the entire OS first before I'd pull any HD. Not a very bright idea to pull a hibernated HD unless you'd want a messed up HD. 3 I am going to use System Commander to switch from Win2k to Win98. Are there any hidden problem to ghost in this particular case? Ghost should be able to backup the entire partition w/o any problems. It doesn't care because system commander works on the MBR, outside of the primary partition either OS resides in. 4 What is the better choice Ghost or Drive Image? I have one point for Drive Image: it can verify integrity of allocation tables of all drives before dumping partition. For myself, I still go with Ghost. It has never failed, does the job, and works over the parallel port just in case I have no working floppy or CD-ROM drives in my PC (just as long as I can boot and get Ghost running that is..). However, I have used both to backup and restore HDs and they work just the same in the important aspects, but to me, it seems Ghost is more intuitive to me and works faster. Both have added the latest feature of going directly to CD-RW drives, but I haven't yet tested this feature. Did anyone managed to save partition directly to NTFS disk? DI docs say it I wouldn't think this to be likely, even with any 3rd party NTFS enabler. d =) = adorable toshiba libretto The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner. http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Messenger - Talk while you surf! It's FREE. http://im.yahoo.com/ ** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ ---UNSUBSCRIBE--- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST-- Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **
20GB experience + a few questions
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 21:59:05 +0200 From: "Alexandre Kaoukhov" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: 20GB experience + a few questions Hi, I finally purchased the new IBM 20GB drive from Weesco (thanks to David). There are quite a few options for nonUS residents. Actually, few companies ship and bill outside US. Those who accept ask you to pay through money order. It is not easy to send MO as subsequently if something go wrong you lose your money. Bob the owner of Weesco is a nice guy and has a good feedback in E-Bay. The prices are reasonable and shipping charges are $25.00. Finally he kindly noted "Replacement Hard Drive" on the top of the box and so far I have not received VAT customs form. I found only one company (do not actually remember the name) which ships overseas and accept credit cards but they were charging $85 for shipping. Note for French buyers: at least IBM France offers only 3 months warranty for parts (IMO Toshiba do the same) for this cutting edge technology! Thus, 3 years of US warranty well worth the hassle of buying in US. I am actually at my third drive replacement in two-year Libretto experience. Toshiba's 6GB died for the second time while I was waiting for 20GB. I will have to contact that f#@$ng Toshiba support again! Hope this helps future buyers. Now the questions. 1 Aware of potential hibernation zone problem I FDISKed first. Obviously in DOS I was limited to 8GB. I carefully noted the last sector which was Cyl 1016; Head 254; Sector 63. My partition plan was the following: 1st primary Win2K 3GB 2nd primary Win98 1,5GB 3st primary DOS 0,5 GB Extended 3GB 200MB for temporary Windows files, Internet cashe, Recent, Cookies 200MB pagefile 80MB beginning Cyl 1017 Head 1 sect 1 12GB CD images I remember that when I partitioned hibernation zone on 6GB drive whenever BIOS hibernation occurred partition table was erased and the hibernation zone appeared again as unallocated space. Thus this was my test. And it did not work! After BIOS hibernated my Libretto I was able to access all logical drives. How can I find where Libretto hibernates before I loose any data??? 2 Another weird problem happened to me which may explain my first problem. I was urged to get some data from a friend's desktop so I hibernated Win2k, pulled out the drive and connected through USB adapter. Though DNboy is supposed to be limited to 13GB drives I was able to access the whole drive and copy my files. I even tested if I was able to access those files on my drive. It was a bad surprise when I discovered my drive in Libretto just after it went from hibernation. The files were not there! Actually I suppose that Win2k keeps all filetables in memory and on some occasions may restore them to drive after standby/hibernation. Can anybody confirm this? 3 I am going to use System Commander to switch from Win2k to Win98. Are there any hidden problem to ghost in this particular case? 4 What is the better choice Ghost or Drive Image? I have one point for Drive Image: it can verify integrity of allocation tables of all drives before dumping partition. Did anyone managed to save partition directly to NTFS disk? DI docs say it is possible as long as DOS gives a letter to the disk. I tested with demo of NTFSDOS but failed. Computer is rebooted whenever I try to start DI/Ghost. When NTFSDOS is loaded with hymem.sys it says stack overflow. Systernals site says to ask technical assistance but it is limited to NTFSDOSPRO users. These are all my questions. Thank you for any help. If you remember my post about CD emulators - Win2k incompatibilities. I finally got solution it is Paragon CD emulator. Quick reminder: Virtual Drive - only one drive can be created; need to reboot Win2k when you plug PCMCIA CD-ROM VirtuoCD - no compression, the author seems to forget about his commitment to develop this software Virtual CD v3 - prevents standby/hibernation ** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ ---UNSUBSCRIBE--- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=cmd:unsubscribe UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST-- Use above but add DIGEST to the subject line... **
