manually partitioning non-boot disk (save data?)
 

Hello,

Hopefully someone here can help me, or if there is a more suitable
forum, please direct me there.

I reformatted a 2nd disk (\Device\HardDisk1) that had a Linux OS on
it. I was using GRUB on the 2nd Disk to choose between Linux and
Windows XP, which is on my 1st disk (\Device\HardDisk0).

After reformatting the Linux drive to NTFS and moving a lot of files
there, I realized I would need to get Windows to boot up on its own,
and after some luck, I got it to do that, but in the process I zeroed
out the whole MBR that was on the 2nd disk and the partition info
(where I had already reformatted to NTFS and saved a lot of files).

I have MBRTOOLS which allows me to edit the partition table and the
rest of the MBR for the 2nd disk, but I get an incorrect size for
that
disk after I boot into windows - it should be 80 Gig, but it's
showing
one partition at 7.88GB and then 66.65 unallocated.

Aside from the size problem with the partition, *I want to save the
data on the disk*, so if I get the partition entered correctly in
MBRTOOLS, will I be able to access it again? If
so, can someone clarify the partition settings for me.

I have the following set up (obviously incorrectly).
act = 00 (I think this means non-bootable)
type = 7 (for NTFS ?)
start CHS = 0,1,1
end CHS = 1023, 254,63 (note, when I enter 63 for Sector, the
Cylinder
auto decrements to 1022)??
LBA start = 63
LBA Length = auto populated at something like 16,5??,??? (sorry,
forget the exact)

This is Seagate's 80GB Hard drive, model ST380013A. Maybe the auto-
decrementing of the Cylinder value is to blame and I need to use a
tool other than MBR TOOLS

Thanks in advance,
Brian

manually partitioning non-boot disk (save data?)
 

On 29 May 2007 03:36:31 -0700, StringChopper
wrote:

Aside from the size problem with the partition, *I want to save the
data on the disk*, so if I get the partition entered correctly in
MBRTOOLS, will I be able to access it again? If
so, can someone clarify the partition settings for me.

If the data is important it might be worth doing a sector by sector copy
of the entire disk to another 80GB disk before attempting anything.

I have the following set up (obviously incorrectly).
act = 00 (I think this means non-bootable)
type = 7 (for NTFS ?)
start CHS = 0,1,1
end CHS = 1023, 254,63 (note, when I enter 63 for Sector, the
Cylinder
auto decrements to 1022)??
LBA start = 63
LBA Length = auto populated at something like 16,5??,??? (sorry,
forget the exact)

NT4 (and presumably later variants) uses the LBA info rather than the
CHS info so I wouldn't worry about the incorrect end CHS. It is close
to the maximum possible value anyway.

The LBA start looks okay. The LBA Length should be maximum LBA key for
the drive (i.e. drive cyls * 255 * 63 - 1) minus 63. This value should
be reduced so the volume ends at the end of a cylinder.

act = 00 is non-bootable, type 7 is NTFS, so these look okay.

The MBR must contain 55 AA in bytes 511, 512 (last two bytes of 512-byte
sector).

If you get stuck can you try to read the volume on a PC running Linux.
Their NTFS driver might process the filesystem control records
differently from the MS drivers and be more forgiving and let you access
the data files.

--
Steven

manually partitioning non-boot disk (save data?)
 

On May 29, 7:04 am, Steven Saunderson wrote:
On 29 May 2007 03:36:31 -0700, StringChopper
wrote:

Aside from the size problem with the partition, *I want to save the
data on the disk*, so if I get the partition entered correctly in
MBRTOOLS, will I be able to access it again? If
so, can someone clarify the partition settings for me.

If the data is important it might be worth doing a sector by sector copy
of the entire disk to another 80GB disk before attempting anything.

I have the following set up (obviously incorrectly).
act = 00 (I think this means non-bootable)
type = 7 (for NTFS ?)
start CHS = 0,1,1
end CHS = 1023, 254,63 (note, when I enter 63 for Sector, the
Cylinder
auto decrements to 1022)??
LBA start = 63
LBA Length = auto populated at something like 16,5??,??? (sorry,
forget the exact)

NT4 (and presumably later variants) uses the LBA info rather than the
CHS info so I wouldn't worry about the incorrect end CHS. It is close
to the maximum possible value anyway.

The LBA start looks okay. The LBA Length should be maximum LBA key for
the drive (i.e. drive cyls * 255 * 63 - 1) minus 63. This value should
be reduced so the volume ends at the end of a cylinder.

act = 00 is non-bootable, type 7 is NTFS, so these look okay.

The MBR must contain 55 AA in bytes 511, 512 (last two bytes of 512-byte
sector).

If you get stuck can you try to read the volume on a PC running Linux.
Their NTFS driver might process the filesystem control records
differently from the MS drivers and be more forgiving and let you access
the data files.

--
Steven

Thanks Steven,

Though I had interest in setting the CHS or LBA manually - for the
learning exercise, in a moment of weakness I installed partition magic
which auto-corrected the start/end info. However, even after doing
that, windows still wanted me to format the drive. It seems I had to
make the partition "active" from within the Partition Magic Program.

That worked well for my 2nd disk, but Partition Magic messed up my OS
disk and now it incorrectly reads 150GB from within Windows and reads
as 200+ GB in Partition Magic. It really has 160 GB. Error #109.
Hopefully I can get this corrected without losing data, but since the
OS is still operating, I do have the opportunity to Ghost it.

Thanks again.

Brian

manually partitioning non-boot disk (save data?)
 

If you have re-created the damaged partition as it originally was, then I
guess it's NTFS. Windows 98 cannot access a NTFS partition, and any
description of that partition you are seeing from within Windows will be
meaningless.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"StringChopper" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hello,

Hopefully someone here can help me, or if there is a more suitable
forum, please direct me there.

I reformatted a 2nd disk (\Device\HardDisk1) that had a Linux OS on
it. I was using GRUB on the 2nd Disk to choose between Linux and
Windows XP, which is on my 1st disk (\Device\HardDisk0).

After reformatting the Linux drive to NTFS and moving a lot of files
there, I realized I would need to get Windows to boot up on its own,
and after some luck, I got it to do that, but in the process I zeroed
out the whole MBR that was on the 2nd disk and the partition info
(where I had already reformatted to NTFS and saved a lot of files).

I have MBRTOOLS which allows me to edit the partition table and the
rest of the MBR for the 2nd disk, but I get an incorrect size for
that
disk after I boot into windows - it should be 80 Gig, but it's
showing
one partition at 7.88GB and then 66.65 unallocated.

Aside from the size problem with the partition, *I want to save the
data on the disk*, so if I get the partition entered correctly in
MBRTOOLS, will I be able to access it again? If
so, can someone clarify the partition settings for me.

I have the following set up (obviously incorrectly).
act = 00 (I think this means non-bootable)
type = 7 (for NTFS ?)
start CHS = 0,1,1
end CHS = 1023, 254,63 (note, when I enter 63 for Sector, the
Cylinder
auto decrements to 1022)??
LBA start = 63
LBA Length = auto populated at something like 16,5??,??? (sorry,
forget the exact)

This is Seagate's 80GB Hard drive, model ST380013A. Maybe the auto-
decrementing of the Cylinder value is to blame and I need to use a
tool other than MBR TOOLS

Thanks in advance,
Brian