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Partition problems with System Commander

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by thedrummer2006

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I am running system commander with two installations of Win XP Pro and one installation of Dos 6.2, dont ask why. I have been running this setup for about 6 months with no problems when one day I accidentally powered down the pc while booting into one of the XP OS's. The next time I booted the pc checkdisk scanned the hard disk and popped up several errors. Me not taking it very seriously didnt take note of the messages. Now when I try to boot either of the windows XP OS's windows starts loading but just before it gets to the login screen it automatically restarts the pc in an endless loop. Same thing with safe mode.

I have booted into recovery console and run fixboot, fixmbr and chkdsk /p /r which said it fixed several problems but to no avail. After reading 10000 postings on the web and trying numerous recovery techniques I have had no luck. I have run TestDisk and tried to recover my boot record but no fix either. I have also tried to reinstall windows on top of the old installation using the repaair option but it fails. I have tons of important data on this drive and dumb me didnt make a backup.

Does anyone have an idea how to fix this without having to format and reinstall?

One note, when I run TestDisk I see all of my files in the partition so I know my data is still in tact. Im assuming I have a problem with my file system just not sure how to fix it.

Thanks in advance.

9 replies

by rob miners

http://kb.avanquestusa.com/al/12/1/article.aspx?aid=4027&tab=search&bt=4&r=

If it does'nt work you will have to Backup all of your Data and start again. If I Dual Boot I use two Hard Drives.

You can use the Hard Drive Makers Testing Utility to Test the Drive

Hitachi / IBM - DFT "Drive Fitness Test"
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Works with all manufacturers

Western Digital "Data Lifeguard"
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools
Works with WD drives only

Fujitsu "FJDT"
http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/drivers.asp?L=en&CID=1
Works with fujitsu models only

Samsung "hutil"
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Hard...ties/hutil.htm
Compatability unknown...

Seagate "Seatools"
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools
Works with Seagate drives only

If you have failures you will have to replace the drive.

If the Drive tests out OK then use this to wipe it. Autonuke should do it.

Darik's Boot and Nuke

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Recreate your Partitions and you should be good to go.

by thedrummer2006

Thanks for the help but I am not running system suite or fix-it. I have checked my disk which has no problems. Im sure its a file system problem. There must be a way to recover this hard disk without reformatting.

by Former member

Is to get another hdd and install Windows on the new one then you can then access your files and folders from your old drive. But PLEASE DO A BACK UP AFTER THIS, The many times we say this to people but they still do not do a back up, then they want miracles to happen to get their files back. With computers, miracles do not happen period.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by rob miners

Backup your Data. You are going to have to reinstall. Here is a way to Backup your Data.

UBCD4Win

http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows from UBCD4Win. UBCD4Win is a bootable CD which contains software that allows you to repair, restore, or diagnose almost any computer problem. UBCD4Win is based on Bart?s PE and all software included are freeware utilities for Windows. In short, Windows PE is Windows in a disc. You can run Windows directly from CD without having a hard drive. I always carry UBCD4Win in my CD case with me.

With UBCD4Win, I can use any of the methods below to backup files from an unbootable Windows. First, I boot up the system with UBCDWin. When I get in to Windows PE, I can either:
- Plug in a USB flash drive and backup
- Plug in USB external hard drive and backup
- If computer has CD burning capabilities, burn data to CD
- If network is supported, backup data to server/computer.
- Backup to FTP using built-in FileZilla Client

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2007/10/20/backup-files-from-dead-windows-to-ftp/

by thedrummer2006

I was really hoping not to have to do that. Actually I am a fairly new IT manager for a small company and preach and practice the importance of backing up at work. I guess its like a mechanic's car never runs. I have learned a valuable lesson.

by thedrummer2006

I actually have the ultimate boot cd but it must be an older version because it does not have a windows shell. That is were I found the TestDisk program. I will try this new cd out. Thanks for the lead.

by Former member

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

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