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FREE partition table repairing

XP no longer sees my 2nd HDD drive as NTFS rather RAW. This happened once before and I was able to fix it with Knoppix. This time Knoppix can't mount the "unknown" format. I think the partition table needs repairing. Data Doctor sees my files on D drive. Looking for FREE software to do this seeing as I'll have to buy another HDD and I'm not made out of money.
Thx

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

SysExpert

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zoobie

ASKER

While other aps say it's RAW, Fat32, or unformatted, all report the 250gb drive is only 58gb.

Partinfo for XP reports it's FAT16.
PowerQuest PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
Date Generated: 07/26/07 14:26:45
General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 536,330,240
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 245,555,200
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,309,601,792
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 226,648,064

===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 7476 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 60,050,907
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 3737 254 63 63 60050907

===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 7437 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
===========================================================================================================
0 0 80 0 0 1 04 1023 107 22 0 119,482,168
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 0 1 04 7437 107 22 0 119482168
Error #109: Partition ends after end of disk.
ucEndCylinder (7437) must be less than 7437.
Error #108: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndHead expected to be 254, not 107.
Error #108: Partition didn't end on cylinder boundary.
ucEndSector expected to be 63, not 22.
Error #120: Logical Drive chain extends toward start of drive.

===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 1: 58,643.5 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 29,321.7 0 0 63 60,050,907
Unallocated Pri 29,321.8 None -- 60,050,970 60,050,970

===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 2: 58,337.6 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
D: FAT16 Pri,Boot 58,340.9 0 0 0 119,482,168

===========================================================================================================
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: 60050906
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 3753181
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x9440C4DB40C4C568
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive D: (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 0, Type: FAT)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: FC 31 C0
2. OEM Name: }Ð1ä}Ø}À
3. Bytes per Sector: 190
4. Sectors per Cluster: 124
5. Reserved Sectors: 191
6. Number of FAT's: 6
7. Root Dir Entries: 185
8. Total Sectors: 62209 (0xF301)
9. Media Descriptor: 0xA5
10. Sectors per FAT: 61118
11. Sectors per Track: 45063 (0xB007)
12. Number of Heads: 59912 (0xEA08)
13. Hidden Sectors: 1568 (0x620)
14. Big Total Sectors: 129187456 (0x7B33E80)
15. Drive ID: 0xFF
16. Dirty Flag: 0x75
17. Extended boot Sig: 0x04
18. Serial Number: 0x07B31688
19. Volume Name: ¬<
20. File System Type: Ðèsð
21. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

zoobie

ASKER

BTW, the first thing I tried was testdisk and it couldn't help me.

SysExpert

You need to fix the partition size using testdisk first if possible.

If not, you will need a low level disk editor PTEDIT or the windows PartEd ( I think ) to fix this.

zoobie

ASKER

So, 3 or 4 aps and be a HDD expert and I'm ready to go?

SysExpert

1) Did you check the BIOS, to see how the drive is identified ?

2) It is possible that te HD died or is flakey, which is why it is not recognized properly.

3) Did you run the Vendors diagnostics on the drive ?

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Drive Fitness Test
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products/index.htm Maxtor & Quantum
http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/support/hard-drives/software_utilities.html#diagnostic Fujitsu
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm Samsung
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html Seagate
http://support.wdc.com/download/#diagutils Western Digital
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm IBM & Hitachi DFT

I hope this helps !

zoobie

ASKER

Yes, no, and yes.
Strange that the free recovery aps don't see my extra drive but paid aps like Data Doctor see all files just sitting there. Some aps only recover some files.
I've just ordered another HD to copy the files to. I may try a DOS ap next week just for fun.
In the meantime, I'm still searching for solutions.
Thx

zoobie

ASKER

Anyway, this comes under NTFS recovery but I can't change the thread title.

zoobie

ASKER

Ok...I've installed another 250gb HD...

SysExpert

SO is the issue resolved ?

zoobie

ASKER

Nope. Most aps don't see all the files. I'm stuck. Looking at "unformat" aps now and hoping someone will point out more free aps to me.

SysExpert

For Test disk, did you try both the Windows and DOS version.

On my machine, I had to use the DOS version since the windows version did not see the correct Disk size.

I hope this helps !

zoobie

ASKER

That's the major problem. Most aps only sees 25% of the disk.
Testdisk says::
This version should work under
- MSDOS 6.x
- FreeDOS
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
If you are using NT 4, Windows 2000, run the Windows version of TestDisk.
Too bad I have MSDOS 5.1 that came with XP Pro...I'm not sure anyone could figure out the directions anyway...even experienced users.

SysExpert

Bootable media floppy images are available at www.bootdisk.com for almost all of the above DOS/Win versions.

I hope this helps !

zoobie

ASKER

I'm back with ptedit32 for windows now. It says my file system is fat16 in the first column/row with the rest of the table's rows zeroed out. Not finding instructions on the net but learning never-the-less...very slowly.

zoobie

ASKER

Hey...I just noticed BIOS is reporting drive D @ 57gb which is wrong but when I try to dl activex for a bios upgrade scan, the screen goes black and the computer restarts. Hmmm....

zoobie

ASKER

I finally got testdisk to run but it can't recover the partition. Bios reports correctly for 3 other slaves so I believe D drive was damaged with the XP install to C. Microsoft fails to tell you to disconnect all other HDD's when installing.
Well, I guess this is where my 3 year warranty kicks in. They're sending me a new disk free of charge. Thx