I may have discovered something here by accident which I don't fully understand but which maybe someone can unravel the mystery of.
Here is how my computer is set up:
Windows XP is on drive C partition
All my programs are on drive D partition
C and D are part of the same hard drive.
Partition F & G were part of the slave drive
All of a sudden some files on partition F would not burn nor would they transfer to another drive or partition. The transfer or burn would just halt and give a bad sector warning.
I decided to quickly move all the good files that I needed to partition G. I had no trouble moving or burning files from partition G so I thought it was safe and that is where I had a lot of extra space.
I made the assumption that the problem was purely a problem with some sectors of partition F.
Then I opened Nero burning software and moved the files I wanted from partition G to the window of Nero that I wanted to burn but it only filled up about 3 gigs and so I saved the compilation and then decided to take a break and come back later on to look for another 1.5gigs of files to burn to make the maximum of approximately 4.5gigs of the DVD disk. I always want to fill the DVD up to the max of 4.5 gigs or close to it when I do a burn.
So later on when I started up the computer I got a warning that said something like SMART failure. I was shocked because I assumed it was just a partition sector problem and not a drive head problem. Other files on drive F transfered perfectly, it was just a few that didn't with a drive sector warning.
So Windows starts up and partition F and G are totally gone. I restart the computer with no difference. I turn the computer on and off several times and finally come to terms that I am totally screwed and drive F and G are gone. I must have put too much strain on the drive heads when I transferred the still good files over to partition G. But I assumed it was only a partition sector problem and not a drive head problem. And I'm thinking about what a stupid idiot I was to transfer all my important files to Partition G when I could have transferred them to my flash drive or another working partition on a different drive. Partition F and G were on the same hard drive and I knew that too.
All my programs are still working fine because they are on partition D. So I wanted to make a record of the important files I had lost and opened up my Nero compilation I made earlier. I see them in the compilation and I'm thinking Oh, my God, I'm never going to be able to recreate some of those files and even if I did it would take many weeks. I'm really screwed. So just for the hell of it, I decide to burn the compilation even though I know I'll probably just make a toasted disk.
When I start the burn, I got a message that said there are errors and this burn may not work. I loved that it said "MAY" not work. I would think it would have said that it "WILL" not work. So I take a chance and burn it anyway. It starts out very slow and has nothing but warnings saying, "The system cannot find the path specified" after every file. But then low and behold somehow it starts burning and I'm thinking that any moment it is going to crash but it keeps on burning and then I'm thinking it will go all the way to the end and then give me some error saying it cannot complete the burn but it doesn't. It completes the burn and says burn done. I'm shocked. I then try out the burned DVD and try out all the files and all the files work and have been burned perfectly. How in the World....
Could someone please tell me how that could be? The partition G I burned it from was completely invisible yet it still managed the burn from the compilation I made earlier before the G partition disappeared. Weird, really weird. Even when I began burning it, it said, "The system cannot find the path specified" after every file came up to burn. It makes no sense.
But could that be a way of saving files from a bad drive where partitions have gone awol and when the bad drive is your slave drive and most of your partition sectors are still good and your programs are on the good drive.
Let's say in that scenario above you create a compilation with Nero of all of or most of your files before your hard drive goes bad and so long as you don't move them to another spot, could that system be used as an insurance safety net when your partition has been damaged and disappears?
Wouldn't that be a great discovery. It sure was a great discovery for me. I saved the majority of my files. At least all the important ones I needed.
Maybe someone can unravel this mystery.
Here is how my computer is set up:
Windows XP is on drive C partition
All my programs are on drive D partition
C and D are part of the same hard drive.
Partition F & G were part of the slave drive
All of a sudden some files on partition F would not burn nor would they transfer to another drive or partition. The transfer or burn would just halt and give a bad sector warning.
I decided to quickly move all the good files that I needed to partition G. I had no trouble moving or burning files from partition G so I thought it was safe and that is where I had a lot of extra space.
I made the assumption that the problem was purely a problem with some sectors of partition F.
Then I opened Nero burning software and moved the files I wanted from partition G to the window of Nero that I wanted to burn but it only filled up about 3 gigs and so I saved the compilation and then decided to take a break and come back later on to look for another 1.5gigs of files to burn to make the maximum of approximately 4.5gigs of the DVD disk. I always want to fill the DVD up to the max of 4.5 gigs or close to it when I do a burn.
So later on when I started up the computer I got a warning that said something like SMART failure. I was shocked because I assumed it was just a partition sector problem and not a drive head problem. Other files on drive F transfered perfectly, it was just a few that didn't with a drive sector warning.
So Windows starts up and partition F and G are totally gone. I restart the computer with no difference. I turn the computer on and off several times and finally come to terms that I am totally screwed and drive F and G are gone. I must have put too much strain on the drive heads when I transferred the still good files over to partition G. But I assumed it was only a partition sector problem and not a drive head problem. And I'm thinking about what a stupid idiot I was to transfer all my important files to Partition G when I could have transferred them to my flash drive or another working partition on a different drive. Partition F and G were on the same hard drive and I knew that too.
All my programs are still working fine because they are on partition D. So I wanted to make a record of the important files I had lost and opened up my Nero compilation I made earlier. I see them in the compilation and I'm thinking Oh, my God, I'm never going to be able to recreate some of those files and even if I did it would take many weeks. I'm really screwed. So just for the hell of it, I decide to burn the compilation even though I know I'll probably just make a toasted disk.
When I start the burn, I got a message that said there are errors and this burn may not work. I loved that it said "MAY" not work. I would think it would have said that it "WILL" not work. So I take a chance and burn it anyway. It starts out very slow and has nothing but warnings saying, "The system cannot find the path specified" after every file. But then low and behold somehow it starts burning and I'm thinking that any moment it is going to crash but it keeps on burning and then I'm thinking it will go all the way to the end and then give me some error saying it cannot complete the burn but it doesn't. It completes the burn and says burn done. I'm shocked. I then try out the burned DVD and try out all the files and all the files work and have been burned perfectly. How in the World....
Could someone please tell me how that could be? The partition G I burned it from was completely invisible yet it still managed the burn from the compilation I made earlier before the G partition disappeared. Weird, really weird. Even when I began burning it, it said, "The system cannot find the path specified" after every file came up to burn. It makes no sense.
But could that be a way of saving files from a bad drive where partitions have gone awol and when the bad drive is your slave drive and most of your partition sectors are still good and your programs are on the good drive.
Let's say in that scenario above you create a compilation with Nero of all of or most of your files before your hard drive goes bad and so long as you don't move them to another spot, could that system be used as an insurance safety net when your partition has been damaged and disappears?
Wouldn't that be a great discovery. It sure was a great discovery for me. I saved the majority of my files. At least all the important ones I needed.
Maybe someone can unravel this mystery.
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