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gtghm
Veteran Icrontian
gtghm
1,063 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 9:41am

Got a little problem???

Ok so I'm working on this computer that is having problems and I get done go into PM so that I can merge a couple of partitions and while I'm there I decide to convert them from extended to primary I apply the applications and bam all of the drive is whiped clean....

I didn't get any message about the operations you selected would cause you to lose all of your data thing, in fact usually I get a message that makes you type OK before it lets you do that...
But during the applying phase it crapped out on me and said something about bad boot sectors and crashed.
Then I rebooted to a disk failure notice... I tryed to boot into the system again via PM and it locked up before it went into the beginning screen. But I shut it back down and boot into PM again and now I got an unallocated disk with no partitions or information...

I suspected either a bug or a hardware issue initially but this is just weird...

Is there any way that I can recover the drive via share/freeware. It not important enough to send out to a service...

Thanks,
"g"
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Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,408 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 1:28pm
ICQ or AIM me after 4:30 EST or so. I'll be home from school to help you recover what data is left/intact, what have you.

We'll get your show on the road.
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gtghm
Veteran Icrontian
gtghm
1,063 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:15pm
Thanks Thrax.
I called the guy that owns the 'puter and told him.
He wasn't upset at all and said that he actually thought that it might have to be done.
He too, thinks that it might have been a bug of some kind. He's a kaza user... We all told him... *sigh* Oh well...
I will begin testing it for hardware issues late tomorrow or Sunday then if all is good I will format and do a clean install of XP then...
So we don't have to worry about recovering his data and the more he thought about it he felt that it was probably better that we don't recover since a bug of sone kind is suspected.

I gotta say though one of the oddest things I have ever seen...
I asked him how long his floppy wasn't working because it wasn't activaed in the BIOS, he said that it alwasys worked... So I think now that something was fowl because I was trouble shooting an error message "windows\system32\config corrupt or missing" that only showed up randomly.
When I went to fix it through the MS repair console I found that the files were not accessable initially, so I went into the BIOS and disabled anti-virus protection and then into the OS and disabled Norton went back into the windows repair screen, after a couple of lockups and made the changes according to the MS KB...
I assume now that when I disabled the protection/s the bug was unleashed and messed with the BIOS and stuff...
I could be all wrong too... but at least he dosen't mind starting over...

Thanks again for the offer, its nice to know that there are people here to help like that...

Later,
"g"
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gtghm
Veteran Icrontian
gtghm
1,063 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:22pm

BTW

Is there a better way to format that HD than with PM or the XP utility.
If there was a bug on there I think that I would like to be positive that any residue is gone from the drive....

"g"
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Mt_Goat
Relentless Pursuit
Mt_Goat
4,920 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:36pm
I would zero the drive. Maybe do it twice.
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gtghm
Veteran Icrontian
gtghm
1,063 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:38pm
mtgoat said
I would zero the drive. Maybe do it twice.
I don't know what "zero the drive" means... could you please elaborate?

Thanks,
"g"
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primesuspect
The Icrontic Guy
primesuspect
27,799 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:40pm
Download the drive tool from the manufacturer's website. It will generally make a boot floppy which will have an option called "low-level format"..

That's zeroing the drive. It can take hours and hours, but it really "factory-resets" the drive.
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gtghm
Veteran Icrontian
gtghm
1,063 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:41pm
Cool thanks I'll do that, its a WD drive.

"g"
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Geeky1
No comment.
Geeky1
7,972 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 5:55pm
Seems like it's probably a bug in the software to me... format and reinstall (ok, ok, I'm sorry. But Spinner got a little irritated in another thread with that response... I had to do it just ONE MORE time )

Anyhow, zeroing the drive refers the process of writing a zero to every_single_stinking_sector on the drive. It TOTALLY erases everything, so that in theory, the only way to recover the data is with highly specialized tools that detect trace magnetism that the FBI/CIA have. I doubt that it's THAT good, but it does at least make sure that no remnants of old files of any kind, so you're guaranteed a truly clean windows install...
__________________ -MCCCXXXVII
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Mt_Goat
Relentless Pursuit
Mt_Goat
4,920 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 6:34pm
primesuspect said
Download the drive tool from the manufacturer's website. It will generally make a boot floppy which will have an option called "low-level format"..

That's zeroing the drive. It can take hours and hours, but it really "factory-resets" the drive.
Actually that isn't zeroing the drive. Zeroing a drive is when you fill the entire drive with zeros. Low level formating actually goes through and marks bad sectors and resets it so that it will not read or write on those bad sectors. By zeroing it will pretty much secure erase averything on the drive. It will take a long time but not as long as doing a lowlevel format. I don't think WD includes Zero Drive in their Data Lifeguard Tools but do know that the current CD version of Seagate's Seatools has a very good one that works on all drives.
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primesuspect
The Icrontic Guy
primesuspect
27,799 Posts
19 Sep 2003, 6:50pm
I am pretty sure that the terms low-level format and zeroing the drive are interchangeable. Most drive tools, such as Hitachi DFT and SeaGate Seatools zero the drive when you select "low level format" -- in fact, DFT actually describes low level format as "Fills your hard disk with zeros, which erases all data and resets your disk to factory status"
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