IBM Deskstar, it's there and it isn't

[gillespie]

Hi.

I've managed to somewhat destroy a FAT32 drive (IBM-DTLA-307045).

I shut the machine off last night, and on the first boot this morning it gave a bluescreen, mentioning "win32k.sys". I then rebooted, and it wouldn't, saying that the disk was not a system disk. I then booted from the XP2600 CD, and started the Recovery Console. The disk was visible/accessible, but it gave a "directory enumeration" error when trying to list the root directory. I started Chkdsk, but it wouldn't procceed because "volume seems to have one or more unrecoverable problems".

I have used Ontrack EasyRecovery 6.0 to see if that will help. First I did a drivetest, and it seemed free of physical ailments.

The next thing I did was to use the AdvancedRecovery option.
It lists the directory structure perfectly, and seems to find the first part of every file (I've used the 'view' function to look at jpgs, and the first part of them seem ok, then it's just garbled and grey after that). The problem is how can I retrieve each file completely? I'd like to select file-by-file (because some files are crucial, and I would like them safe before continuing).

It's only the one FAT32 partition, and I think I used /z:64 to format the disk. I have to manually specify that it's a FAT32 partition. In PartitionMagic it says 'Unformatted' and in EasyRecovery it says 'Unidentified'.

The following is from the 'Properties...' dialog in PartitionMagic

Partition Type: 0C (Hex) Unformatted
Serial Number: None
First physical sector: 63 (Cyl 0, Hd 1, Sect 1)
Last physical sector: 90 060 389 (Cyl 5 605, Hd 254, Sect 63)
Total physical sectors: 90 060 327 (43 974,8 MB)
Physical Geometry 5 606 Cyls, 255 Hds, 63 Sects

I think the cause of this is:
http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/display.asp?id=517

Which I applied last night. I can't remember if I booted after having applied that, but I'm convinced it's the cause of everything.

If you have some input about what the problem is, what to do, what application(s) would help, etc I'd be too happy for words. If it's the MBR or FAT1/2 table, can I repair?

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hmmm. im not sure about all that, but as its an IBM drive i reccomend you run the IBM utility DFT and check the integrity of your drive.

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>

 

[HammerBot]

I recommend <A HREF="http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm" target="_new">Get Data Back</A>. I have used it before with excellent results. It is capable of making educated guesses on how the partition was formatted and reconstruction of directory structure so recovery of individual files is possible.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[gillespie]

HammerBot, I'll look at that because in theory it sounds like what I need (educated guess and that).

lhgpoobaa, I replied to you but the tread seems to have had some probs. I don't have a floppydrive just now so I haven't been able to use DFT yet. I've run some other apps to see for physical damage (having assured myself they were for scanning and wouldn't do a write-test), and they didn't report any damage.

I tried to do a bootable WIN98/DOS7 CD (Bart's way...) to see if the data was accessible, and it does boot, but not with the HD mounted, because there seems to be some type of conflict then (since it had/has a boot record itself).

Thanks, I'll just try and see what happens. I'll post if I discover something I think is useful for other ppl to know, or if I need some more help with it.

 

[gillespie]

HammerBot, that app is the _only_ app (and I've tried a few of them) that views _all_ my files completely. I can open them with their native viewer (and thus save the most crucial files). I'll get the full version and copy the entire drive to DVD-R's I think. Thank you so much.

 

[UsHeR_564]

I agree totally on this. That DFT program is excellent! I have several IBM drives and that tool has been invaluable. Seems as though IBM drives are a little more prone to boot sector problems and this program will blank it, and the main partition too allowing me to reformat without having any data left there to possibly corrupt the new install.

UsHeR_564

"You can run, but your punk ass will only die tired!"