Guest GO Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 Hello, XP crashed on me yesterday and upon rebooting the system I found that my second hard drive was "missing". Probably not really relevant but at the time of the crash I was copying a disc and "burning" the image to said hard drive. Under XP's Disk Management I discovered that it's now marked as unitialized, and have lost the 3 partitions I had on it. I haven't lost anything crucial but I would still like to recover the partitions if possible. I've run some basic diagnostics and nothing unusual has shown up in the Event Logs so I'm assuming the drive is still ok. I've run Acronis' Disk Director partition recovery tool (the quick method) and it was unable to recovery anything. I'm in the process of running the complete/extensive test in Disk Director but am wondering if it will recovery anything either. It's presently been running for 12 hours and judging from it's progress it will likely take 3 or 4 days to complete. Is anyone here familiar with Disk Director? I realize it's going sector by sector but is this a normal amount of time (for a 200GB drive)? Does anyone have any other tools that may do the trick (something free or inexpensive would be preferable)? TIA, Greg
Guest GO Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 Re: recovering lost partitions... Too weird. XP crashed again tonight (during the running of Disk Director). When I rebooted my partitions were all magically back and intact. Now to find out what's causing the crashing.... I'd still appreciate any insight on Disk Director for any that use it. Thanks, Greg GO wrote: > Hello, > > XP crashed on me yesterday and upon rebooting the system I found that > my second hard drive was "missing". Probably not really relevant but > at the time of the crash I was copying a disc and "burning" the image > to said hard drive. Under XP's Disk Management I discovered that > it's now marked as unitialized, and have lost the 3 partitions I had > on it. I haven't lost anything crucial but I would still like to > recover the partitions if possible. I've run some basic diagnostics > and nothing unusual has shown up in the Event Logs so I'm assuming > the drive is still ok. I've run Acronis' Disk Director partition > recovery tool (the quick method) and it was unable to recovery > anything. I'm in the process of running the complete/extensive test > in Disk Director but am wondering if it will recovery anything > either. It's presently been running for 12 hours and judging from > it's progress it will likely take 3 or 4 days to complete. Is > anyone here familiar with Disk Director? I realize it's going sector > by sector but is this a normal amount of time (for a 200GB drive)? > Does anyone have any other tools that may do the trick (something > free or inexpensive would be preferable)? > > > TIA, > > Greg
Guest Gerry Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 Re: recovering lost partitions... Please provide a copy of the Stop Error Report. Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Right click on the My Computer icon on the Desktop and select Properties, Advanced, Start-Up and Recovery, System Failure and uncheck box before Automatically Restart. Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure even after you have solved the problem as it's better disabled. Check for variants of the Stop Error message. An alternative is to keep pressing the F8 key during Start-Up and select option - Disable automatic restart on system failure. Also please provide copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the time when the error occurs. No Information Reports please. You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important. HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should double click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further information. http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp (Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only) A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event Viewer. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GO wrote: > Too weird. XP crashed again tonight (during the running of Disk > Director). When I rebooted my partitions were all magically back and > intact. Now to find out what's causing the crashing.... > > I'd still appreciate any insight on Disk Director for any that use it. > > > Thanks, > > Greg > > > GO wrote: >> Hello, >> >> XP crashed on me yesterday and upon rebooting the system I found that >> my second hard drive was "missing". Probably not really relevant but >> at the time of the crash I was copying a disc and "burning" the image >> to said hard drive. Under XP's Disk Management I discovered that >> it's now marked as unitialized, and have lost the 3 partitions I had >> on it. I haven't lost anything crucial but I would still like to >> recover the partitions if possible. I've run some basic diagnostics >> and nothing unusual has shown up in the Event Logs so I'm assuming >> the drive is still ok. I've run Acronis' Disk Director partition >> recovery tool (the quick method) and it was unable to recovery >> anything. I'm in the process of running the complete/extensive test >> in Disk Director but am wondering if it will recovery anything >> either. It's presently been running for 12 hours and judging from >> it's progress it will likely take 3 or 4 days to complete. Is >> anyone here familiar with Disk Director? I realize it's going sector >> by sector but is this a normal amount of time (for a 200GB drive)? >> Does anyone have any other tools that may do the trick (something >> free or inexpensive would be preferable)? >> >> >> TIA, >> >> Greg
Guest GO Posted August 1, 2007 Posted August 1, 2007 Re: recovering lost partitions... Hi Gerry, My system has always been set to not restart on a failure. Not much help in this case anyways as the machine completely froze on both occasions (ie no life whatsoever. Mouse was frozen, no keyboard, etc). Event Viewer is also of little help here as it's surprisingly "clean". Nothing out of the ordinary in the Application log and the only thing in the System log is some stupid ATI checksum messages (seems to be a known bug as it's been reported for the last several releases of their drivers). I'm thinking it's either some bizarre software/driver conflict or a sign of pending hardware failure. I do think the hardware is fine but will run some tests to be safe. The hard drives seem to be fine as Windows detects no errors nor does the diagnostic tools provided from the manufacturer (Maxtor). I'm aware of "memtest" to test system memory but is there any good diagnostic tools for other hardware (such as the motherboard)? Gerry wrote: > Please provide a copy of the Stop Error Report. > > Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by > allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Right click on > the My Computer icon on the Desktop and select Properties, Advanced, > Start-Up and Recovery, System Failure and uncheck box before > Automatically Restart. > > Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure even after you > have solved the problem as it's better disabled. Check for variants > of the Stop Error message. > > An alternative is to keep pressing the F8 key during Start-Up and > select option - Disable automatic restart on system failure. > > Also please provide copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing > in the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the time when > the error occurs. No Information Reports please. > > You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel, > Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning > of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description > are important. > > HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us > > Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you > should double click for further information. You can copy using copy > and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further > information. > http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp > (Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only) > > A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double > click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a > button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event > Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of > the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from > Event Viewer. > > > > GO wrote: >> Too weird. XP crashed again tonight (during the running of Disk >> Director). When I rebooted my partitions were all magically back and >> intact. Now to find out what's causing the crashing.... >> >> I'd still appreciate any insight on Disk Director for any that use >> it. >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> Greg >> >> >> GO wrote: >>> Hello, >>> >>> XP crashed on me yesterday and upon rebooting the system I found >>> that my second hard drive was "missing". Probably not really >>> relevant but at the time of the crash I was copying a disc and >>> "burning" the image to said hard drive. Under XP's Disk Management >>> I discovered that it's now marked as unitialized, and have lost the >>> 3 partitions I had on it. I haven't lost anything crucial but I >>> would still like to recover the partitions if possible. I've run >>> some basic diagnostics and nothing unusual has shown up in the >>> Event Logs so I'm assuming the drive is still ok. I've run >>> Acronis' Disk Director partition recovery tool (the quick method) >>> and it was unable to recovery anything. I'm in the process of >>> running the complete/extensive test in Disk Director but am >>> wondering if it will recovery anything either. It's presently been >>> running for 12 hours and judging from it's progress it will likely >>> take 3 or 4 days to complete. Is anyone here familiar with Disk >>> Director? I realize it's going sector by sector but is this a >>> normal amount of time (for a 200GB drive)? Does anyone have any >>> other tools that may do the trick (something free or inexpensive >>> would be preferable)? >>> >>> >>> TIA, >>> >>> Greg
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