partition recovery

[_steppingstone]

I added a new D hard drive yesterday and reinstalled windows xp sp2.
Now the partition seem to be messed up on my F drive. It has 300 gigs
of data on it. Bios recognizes it but windows explorer doesn't show it.
I started norton disk doctor and it's looking for partitions, but it is
gonna take a month. disk management in explorer says that the drive is
there but unallocated. I had it set as a ntfs drive.

does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? or do it faster than a
month?

thanks

[John John]

Did you have a backup?

John

_steppingstone wrote:
> I added a new D hard drive yesterday and reinstalled windows xp sp2.
> Now the partition seem to be messed up on my F drive. It has 300 gigs
> of data on it. Bios recognizes it but windows explorer doesn't show it.
> I started norton disk doctor and it's looking for partitions, but it is
> gonna take a month. disk management in explorer says that the drive is
> there but unallocated. I had it set as a ntfs drive.
>
> does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? or do it faster than a
> month?
>
> thanks
>

[_steppingstone]

no backup

On Nov 15, 9:27 am, John John > wrote:
> Did you have a backup?
>
> John
>
> _steppingstone wrote:
> > I added a new D hard drive yesterday and reinstalled windows xp sp2.
> > Now the partition seem to be messed up on my F drive. It has 300 gigs
> > of data on it. Bios recognizes it but windows explorer doesn't show it.
> > I started norton disk doctor and it's looking for partitions, but it is
> > gonna take a month. disk management in explorer says that the drive is
> > there but unallocated. I had it set as a ntfs drive.
>
> > does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? or do it faster than a
> > month?
>
> > thanks

[John John]

Hmmmm. Best to consult with the various recovery firms out there. You
will probably be able to recover your data using one of the many
software solutions available out there. Most have a trial version that
can show what it might be able to recover. I can't reccomend any in
particular but most partition recovery utilites in the $50-$100 range
should be able to fully recover the data. My hunch is that the MBR or
boot sector might be corrupt, an easy thing to fix or get around but
best not to chance things with valuable data. These might be starting
points in your quest:

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/art-partition-recovery.htm
http://www.uneraser.com/partitionrecoveryconcepts.htm

John

_steppingstone wrote:

> no backup
>
> On Nov 15, 9:27 am, John John > wrote:
>
>>Did you have a backup?
>>
>>John
>>
>>_steppingstone wrote:
>>
>>>I added a new D hard drive yesterday and reinstalled windows xp sp2.
>>>Now the partition seem to be messed up on my F drive. It has 300 gigs
>>>of data on it. Bios recognizes it but windows explorer doesn't show it.
>>>I started norton disk doctor and it's looking for partitions, but it is
>>>gonna take a month. disk management in explorer says that the drive is
>>>there but unallocated. I had it set as a ntfs drive.
>>
>>>does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? or do it faster than a
>>>month?
>>
>>>thanks
>
>

[_steppingstone]

here's what i found with partition magic tools can anyone make sense of
it?


Symantec PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
Date Generated: 11/15/06 11:44:49
Copyright (c)1994-2004, Symantec Corporation
Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.

Symantec, makers of Norton PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and
DriveCopy(tm), can be reached at:
Voice: 801-437-8900
Fax: 801-226-8941
Web site: http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/

General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 469,221,376
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 368,488,448
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,109,643,264
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 412,311,552



================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 4865 Cylinders, 255 Heads,
63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head
Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 254
63 63 78,140,097
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 4863 254 63 63
78140097

================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 38913 Cylinders, 255 Heads,
63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head
Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======

================================================== ================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 3: 41345 Cylinders, 240 Heads,
63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head
Sect StartSect NumSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
0 0 63 368 111 45 07 371 101
51 218,129,5091,701,990,410
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 63 14426 133 11 07 126992 13 60
2181295091701990410
Warning: Partition boot flag expected to be 0x00 or 0x80,
not 0x63. This should not be a problem.
Error #105: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
ucBeginHead expected to be 0 or 1, not 133.
Error #106: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
ucBeginSector expected to be 1, not 11.
Error #109: Partition ends after end of disk.
ucEndCylinder (126992) must be less than 41345.
Error #108: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndHead expected to be 239, not 13.
Error #108: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 60.
0 1 73 67 115 32 74 299 114
44 729,050,177 543,974,724
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 73 48217 145 3 74 84194 184 29 729050177
543974724
Warning: Partition boot flag expected to be 0x00 or 0x80,
not 0x73. This should not be a problem.
Error #107: Partition begins after end of disk.
ucBeginCylinder (48217) must be less than 41345.
Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
ucBeginHead expected to be 0 or 1, not 145.
Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
ucBeginSector expected to be 1, not 3.
Error #109: Partition ends after end of disk.
ucEndCylinder (84194) must be less than 41345.
Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndHead expected to be 239, not 184.
Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 29.
0 2 74 114 111 32 65 353 115
52 168,653,938 0
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 2 74 11154 86 41 65 11154 86 40 168653938
0
Warning: Partition boot flag expected to be 0x00 or 0x80,
not 0x74. This should not be a problem.
Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
ucBeginHead expected to be 0 or 1, not 86.
Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
ucBeginSector expected to be 1, not 41.
Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndHead expected to be 239, not 86.
Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 40.
Info: This partition unexpectedly contains no sectors.



================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 1: 38,162.2 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 38,154.3 0 0 63
78,140,097
Unallocated Pri 7.8 None -- 78,140,160
16,065


================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 2: 305,242.8 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
Unallocated Pri 305,242.8 None --
63 625,137,282


================================================== ================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 3: 305,242.4 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
TotalSects
================================================== ================================================== =======
Unallocated Pri 82,350.5 None -- 63
168,653,875
NetWare Pri,Boot 0.0 0 2 168,653,938
0
Unallocated Pri 24,149.2 None -- 168,663,600
49,457,520
QNX, UN*X Pri,Boot 831,050.0 0 0
218,129,5091,701,990,410
Info: MBR Partition Table not in sequential order.
Type 74 Pri,Boot 265,612.7 0 1
729,050,177 543,974,724
Error #113: Primary partition starting at 729050177 overlaps previous
partition.


================================================== ================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: NTFS)
================================================== ================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 78140096
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 4883756
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x3ED8A43AD8A3EDF9
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55




On Nov 15, 9:53 am, John John > wrote:
> Hmmmm. Best to consult with the various recovery firms out there. You
> will probably be able to recover your data using one of the many
> software solutions available out there. Most have a trial version that
> can show what it might be able to recover. I can't reccomend any in
> particular but most partition recovery utilites in the $50-$100 range
> should be able to fully recover the data. My hunch is that the MBR or
> boot sector might be corrupt, an easy thing to fix or get around but
> best not to chance things with valuable data. These might be starting
> points in your quest:
>
> http://www.z-a-recovery.com/art-partition-recovery.htmhttp://www.uneraser.com/partitionrecoveryconcepts.htm
>
> John
>
> _steppingstone wrote:
> > no backup
>
> > On Nov 15, 9:27 am, John John > wrote:
>
> >>Did you have a backup?
>
> >>John
>
> >>_steppingstone wrote:
>
> >>>I added a new D hard drive yesterday and reinstalled windows xp sp2.
> >>>Now the partition seem to be messed up on my F drive. It has 300 gigs
> >>>of data on it. Bios recognizes it but windows explorer doesn't show it.
> >>>I started norton disk doctor and it's looking for partitions, but it is
> >>>gonna take a month. disk management in explorer says that the drive is
> >>>there but unallocated. I had it set as a ntfs drive.
>
> >>>does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? or do it faster than a
> >>>month?
>
> >>>thanks

[John John]

It says that the partition table on disk 3 is all screwed up. There is
or should be a backup of the partition table on the disk, if I remember
correctly the MBR backup copy is usually at the end of the disk.
Recovery software should be able to read the MBR backup and from it
rebuild the partition table. Essentially that is all that fixmbr does,
it replaces the current mbr with the backup copy stored on the disk. I
highly advise AGAINST trying to restore the mbr by using the fixmbr
command when partition corruption and data loss is encountered! Doing
so may fix the problem but if it doesn't it may make data recovery much
more difficult! Generally speaking this type of recovery is easy with
the right software or when performed by knowledgeable recovery technicians.

John

_steppingstone wrote:

> here's what i found with partition magic tools can anyone make sense of
> it?
>
>
> Symantec PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
> Date Generated: 11/15/06 11:44:49
> Copyright (c)1994-2004, Symantec Corporation
> Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
> as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.
>
> Symantec, makers of Norton PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and
> DriveCopy(tm), can be reached at:
> Voice: 801-437-8900
> Fax: 801-226-8941
> Web site: http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/
>
> General System Information:
> Total Physical Memory (bytes): 469,221,376
> Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 368,488,448
> Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,109,643,264
> Current Page File Size: (bytes): 412,311,552
>
>
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 4865 Cylinders, 255 Heads,
> 63 Sectors/Track
> System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head
> Sect StartSect NumSects
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> 0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 254
> 63 63 78,140,097
> Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Actual values are:
> 0 0 80 0 1 1 07 4863 254 63 63
> 78140097
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 38913 Cylinders, 255 Heads,
> 63 Sectors/Track
> System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head
> Sect StartSect NumSects
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Disk Geometry Information for Disk 3: 41345 Cylinders, 240 Heads,
> 63 Sectors/Track
> System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head
> Sect StartSect NumSects
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> 0 0 63 368 111 45 07 371 101
> 51 218,129,5091,701,990,410
> Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Actual values are:
> 0 0 63 14426 133 11 07 126992 13 60
> 2181295091701990410
> Warning: Partition boot flag expected to be 0x00 or 0x80,
> not 0x63. This should not be a problem.
> Error #105: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
> ucBeginHead expected to be 0 or 1, not 133.
> Error #106: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
> ucBeginSector expected to be 1, not 11.
> Error #109: Partition ends after end of disk.
> ucEndCylinder (126992) must be less than 41345.
> Error #108: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
> ucEndHead expected to be 239, not 13.
> Error #108: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
> ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 60.
> 0 1 73 67 115 32 74 299 114
> 44 729,050,177 543,974,724
> Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Actual values are:
> 0 1 73 48217 145 3 74 84194 184 29 729050177
> 543974724
> Warning: Partition boot flag expected to be 0x00 or 0x80,
> not 0x73. This should not be a problem.
> Error #107: Partition begins after end of disk.
> ucBeginCylinder (48217) must be less than 41345.
> Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
> ucBeginHead expected to be 0 or 1, not 145.
> Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
> ucBeginSector expected to be 1, not 3.
> Error #109: Partition ends after end of disk.
> ucEndCylinder (84194) must be less than 41345.
> Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
> ucEndHead expected to be 239, not 184.
> Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
> ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 29.
> 0 2 74 114 111 32 65 353 115
> 52 168,653,938 0
> Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
> Actual values are:
> 0 2 74 11154 86 41 65 11154 86 40 168653938
> 0
> Warning: Partition boot flag expected to be 0x00 or 0x80,
> not 0x74. This should not be a problem.
> Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
> ucBeginHead expected to be 0 or 1, not 86.
> Info: Partition didn't begin on head boundary.
> ucBeginSector expected to be 1, not 41.
> Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
> ucEndHead expected to be 239, not 86.
> Info: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
> ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 40.
> Info: This partition unexpectedly contains no sectors.
>
>
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Partition Information for Disk 1: 38,162.2 Megabytes
> Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
> TotalSects
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> C: NTFS Pri,Boot 38,154.3 0 0 63
> 78,140,097
> Unallocated Pri 7.8 None -- 78,140,160
> 16,065
>
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Partition Information for Disk 2: 305,242.8 Megabytes
> Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
> TotalSects
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Unallocated Pri 305,242.8 None --
> 63 625,137,282
>
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Partition Information for Disk 3: 305,242.4 Megabytes
> Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect
> TotalSects
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Unallocated Pri 82,350.5 None -- 63
> 168,653,875
> NetWare Pri,Boot 0.0 0 2 168,653,938
> 0
> Unallocated Pri 24,149.2 None -- 168,663,600
> 49,457,520
> QNX, UN*X Pri,Boot 831,050.0 0 0
> 218,129,5091,701,990,410
> Info: MBR Partition Table not in sequential order.
> Type 74 Pri,Boot 265,612.7 0 1
> 729,050,177 543,974,724
> Error #113: Primary partition starting at 729050177 overlaps previous
> partition.
>
>
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: NTFS)
> ================================================== ================================================== =======
> 1. Jump: EB 52 90
> 2. OEM Name: NTFS
> 3. Bytes per Sector: 512
> 4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
> 5. Reserved Sectors: 0
> 6. Number of FATs: 0
> 7. Root Dir Entries: 0
> 8. Total Sectors: 0
> 9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
> 10. Sectors per FAT: 0
> 11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
> 12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
> 13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
> 14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
> 15. Unused: 0x80008000
> 16. Total NTFS Sectors: 78140096
> 17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
> 18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 4883756
> 19. Clusters per FRS: 246
> 20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
> 21. Serial Number: 0x3ED8A43AD8A3EDF9
> 22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
> 23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 15, 9:53 am, John John > wrote:
>
>>Hmmmm. Best to consult with the various recovery firms out there. You
>>will probably be able to recover your data using one of the many
>>software solutions available out there. Most have a trial version that
>>can show what it might be able to recover. I can't reccomend any in
>>particular but most partition recovery utilites in the $50-$100 range
>>should be able to fully recover the data. My hunch is that the MBR or
>>boot sector might be corrupt, an easy thing to fix or get around but
>>best not to chance things with valuable data. These might be starting
>>points in your quest:
>>
>>http://www.z-a-recovery.com/art-partition-recovery.htmhttp://www.uneraser.com/partitionrecoveryconcepts.htm
>>
>>John
>>
>>_steppingstone wrote:
>>
>>>no backup
>>
>>>On Nov 15, 9:27 am, John John > wrote:
>>
>>>>Did you have a backup?
>>
>>>>John
>>
>>>>_steppingstone wrote:
>>
>>>>>I added a new D hard drive yesterday and reinstalled windows xp sp2.
>>>>>Now the partition seem to be messed up on my F drive. It has 300 gigs
>>>>>of data on it. Bios recognizes it but windows explorer doesn't show it.
>>>>>I started norton disk doctor and it's looking for partitions, but it is
>>>>>gonna take a month. disk management in explorer says that the drive is
>>>>>there but unallocated. I had it set as a ntfs drive.
>>
>>>>>does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? or do it faster than a
>>>>>month?
>>
>>>>>thanks
>
>