Please help me access my hard drive!

[bovinda]

My registry corrupted (damaged system file in the config folder evidently). I can't access safe mode or do a repair install. Anyway, I want to manually restore my system to the last restore point, BUT I'm having a lot of difficulty accessing the hard drives.

Here's what I've tried:
1) Recovery console--won't work. Says "Access denied" if I try to make a directory, for example. Or it says "The volume contains one or more unrecoverable problems" if I try to chkdsk in any form. Or if I enter "dir" it says the volume is not ready. I can't access either hard drive on the computer.**

2) Booting through Knoppix--my two hard drives show up as USB icons. I can see ALL the files on them. But I can't cut, modify, or do anything to affect them.

3) Booting through a BartPE disk--under the file management program, my hard drives both show up as "removable disks" with 0 MB. I can't get into them at all. Under properties they both show up as Generic USB Devices.

How can I access the hard drives to modify them? If I can, I think I can restore the system file. Anyone any ideas?

A complete history of the situation is here. But I just want to figure out how to modify the hard drives.

Here's my hardware:

AMD 64 3400 (754)
Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro mobo
1 gig Corsair RAM (XMS series, 2 x 512 DDR sticks, 32MX8 PC-3200)
Windows XP Home (OEM install)
Radeon 128 9800 Pro
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Antec 1000AMG case, with 530W Fortron Power supply
Two WD 120 GB hard drives
Sony DVD ROM
Plextor CD burner (PX-W5224TA)
Floppy drive
8-in-1 card reader sort-of-deal
Phone modem (PCI card)

**I'm pretty sure this is NOT a hard drive failure. Why? (1) It's happened identically before, and I had to reinstall from the manufacturer's preinstalled disk image. After doing that, the drives were fine, and Chkdsk nevefr showed anything. (2) I used Western Digital's diagnostics, and they don't show anything on either drive. (3) It seems unlikely they would both go bad in exactly the same way, in the same error, twice, if it was a hardware problem.



Anyone got any ideas??

 

[RBBRMADE]

In knoppix, you have to change the properties to allow read/write.
I don't remember exactly, but you right click on the volume and go from there.
Ron

 

[bovinda]

I right-clicked on the drives, went into properties, went into permissions, and tried to select "View and Modify" for User/Owner, but it said that it couldn't do it. (I forget exact words, but it was something along the lines of unable to do it.) I tried this for folders and files in both drives.

Anything else I can try?

 

[RBBRMADE]

NTFS?

Are you using the latest knoppix?

I don't use knoppix enough to help you step by step, but you may want to google 'captive ntfs'.

 

[bovinda]

Interesting suggestion RBBRMADE. Both my hard drives are NTFS. I googled "captive NTFS" and saw a post somewhere saying that it isn't bundled with the Knoppix CD isos, which is what I was using. Could that explain why I could read, but not write/modify? It was able to write to the desktop, though (where is that stored? That has to be on the hard drive somewhere, doesn't it?). How does this all work?

I am downloading version 4.0.2 of the Knoppix DVD right now. I'll give it a try tomorrow morning (looks like it will take several hours to download) and let you know how it works out. But I am also willing to try anything. I'm going to keep trying until this weekend to get it to work.

 

[NotquiteanooB]

It has been suggested twice in your other thread. Move your HDD(s) to another PC with the same OS. Set them as slaves, you should then be able to access and read your data. Copy that data to a CD/DVD or directly to the other HDD. If you don't feel qualified to move the HDD's. Try a techie friend or a PC shop. If you successfully retrieve your data, then the next step would be to reinstall your HDD's in your PC, download a copy of Active@Killdisk (FREE - just 'google' it) wipe your drive(s) and reinstall the OS. Download the Killdisk while using the good PC, as you need to make a boot disk floppy with the Killdisk app on it.
I hope this helps.

 

[RBBRMADE]

Originally posted by: NotquiteanooB
It has been suggested twice in your other thread. Move your HDD(s) to another PC with the same OS. Set them as slaves, you should then be able to access and read your data. Copy that data to a CD/DVD or directly to the other HDD. If you don't feel qualified to move the HDD's. Try a techie friend or a PC shop. If you successfully retrieve your data, then the next step would be to reinstall your HDD's in your PC, download a copy of Active@Killdisk (FREE - just 'google' it) wipe your drive(s) and reinstall the OS. Download the Killdisk while using the good PC, as you need to make a boot disk floppy with the Killdisk app on it.
I hope this helps.

Definitely worth a shot, but since Bart's PE does not give access to the files, I bet they will not work on any Windows based OS.

 

[NotquiteanooB]

Rbbrmade: Are you suggesting that even if the drives are recognized by the bios of another working PC and same OS, that you still can't or may not be able to access the data thru the folders ? I would think that if the drive is recognized, given a title (HDD F for example) that you should be able to go thru My Computer; dble click that drive and see the folders. It worked for me in the past. I hooked up a HDD that was Windows 3.1 data on a PC using Windows ME and retrieved the folders/files. They were FAT not NTSF, so maybe that is the hangup. NTSF is supposed to be better protected, so maybe that is the problem.

 

[RBBRMADE]

All I am saying is that if the recovery console and Bart's PE are unable to access/read/write the drives, I doubt another Windows machine will either.
I still say give it a try, it is an easy way to retrieve the data if it will work.
Did you try FIXBOOT and FIXMBR?
Ron
Ron

 

[bovinda]

Hey guys, yeah, I tried FIXBOOT (it would say the drive had one or more unrecoverable problems) and FIXMBR (would pause for a moment and then give me another prompt--as far as I could tell, didn't do anything).

I found a version of BartPE that has a bunch of bundled drivers with it though, and that is letting me access and modify both drives now. I'm going to dry manually restoring from a restore point in a few minutes and will let you know how it goes. If that doesn't work...I'd have no idea what else to try.

NotquiteanooB, I know it's been suggested to me several times elsewhere to just transplant the hard drive and get my files off there, then reformat. I wanted to thoroughly investigate whether or not I could recover first though, before I started moving hardware around. I'm pretty sure I could restore to the manufacturer's disk image, b/c I've done that before, it's just that I'd like to see if I can salvage all the programs on here too. I probably didn't make it very obvious what I was looking for, and perhaps I should have responded more directly to those suggestions. Thank you for the suggestions about Killdisk though.

EDIT: The reason BartPE is working now, is because of those bundled drivers I think. I was using a barebones version of BartPE, evidently, and 'cuz I use SATA drives I guess I needed drivers or somesuch.

 

[bovinda]

I deleted the System, Software, Security, SAM, and Default files from the config file and copied the REGISTRY_SYSTEM, etc. (or however they are named exactly) files into the config folder. I rebooted the computer.

I can now access a list of options if I press F8 while it's first booting (list Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Netoworking, etc.). That's new!

But if I select Safe Mode, or Last Known Good Configuration, or Start Windows Normally, it still gives the same error message.

However, it's a little different when I try to go into Safe Mode. It first lists several files, and then the error message, as below:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\KDCOM.DLL
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\BOOTVID.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\config\system
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\config\system.alt

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.


Is this progress? What should I try now? Does this mean anything?

 

[NotquiteanooB]

Bovinda: the reason I suggested pulling the drives and using another PC was to recover and save the data first. That seems most important to me. Then, if and when the data is saved; put the drives back in your PC and play boot recovery games until you are blue in the face. But if the data isn't that important ... do it your way. If you mess with it and delete various .dlls , etc. you may never get the data off.

 

[bovinda]

Your point is well-taken. I probably should get the files off their first, b/c that is my priority. I'll spend today doing that.

After I do though, do you (or anyone else!) have any suggestions about recovering from this without reformatting? I'm not sure what else to try.

 

[NotquiteanooB]

I've never run into your type of problem myself. I backup to an external harddrive (USB) weekly. In addition I use Raid 1 and that's just like having a backup. I don't worry too much about things going buggy. If Bad things happen, I just use 'killdisk' and then reload clean. I've never tried using some of the recovery tools or apps.
Good luck. If you're successful at getting your system up again, you'll be miles ahead of me. Document your method for future reference.

 

[bovinda]

Hey, what software do you use to backup to the external drive? Does it make a complete copy of your hard drive, including OS, programs, etc? That seems like it might be a good idea for me for future reference, b/c it seems like it would have the advantage of protecting you from situations like mine. (The main protection RAID1 offers is from hard drive failure, right?)

If I figure anything out, I will definitely post it. I'm giving myself until tomorow evening or Saturday morning to find some way to restore.

Right now I just need to get three more things off the HD (everything else is off and backed up)--an Excel VBA script and my contact and calendar in Outlook. But I don't know where to find them. Anyone know how to recover those specific things?

 

[ajikan]

When something similar to this happened to my hard drive..
I just used Norton Ghost and copied all the files out, then reformatted.

that MIGHT work. not sure though.

 

[NotquiteanooB]

I use the backup feature in Win XP. I do the Partitions that have my non OS apps and data. C: drive is OS and updates etc (all the windows junk). D: Drive is other programs; anti-virus, anti spyware; all non Microsloth programs. E: Drive is all stored Music, Videos, and photo's. G; is the external 80G drive. I backup D & E to G. C is the OS and if it gives me grief it gets a clean install.
Norton Ghost will give you an image of the complete system, I believe.
Raid 1 duplicates the same image on both drives. If one drive fails; replace the bad drive and the data will then be crosswritten to the new drive from the remaining good drive. The fact that I still backup to a separate drive is overkill on my part. But, I'm the Blessed Pessimist !

 

[bovinda]

Hey NotquiteanooB, I like your system. I think I'm going to do something similar, because it turns out I just have to reformat everything in mine. I have one more question for you then. If you put the programs on a separate partition from the OS, and you decide to do a clean install of the OS, don't you essentially lose all the programs anyway, since even if you reinstall the OS you wouldn't be able to use those programs without also reinstalling them? Or is there someway to circumvent that? Or do you just keep them on separate partitions because that helps performance somehow? I'm really curious, especially if there's a way to salvage programs on a separate partition from the OS with a clean OS install. (Sorry--I am a noob. )

 

[NotquiteanooB]

Bovinda: U R correct. When the C drive and OS get wiped the registry is gone. Yes I have to reload the apps as well. I don't know for sure that it helps performance, I think it does. If an app gets corrupted, it isn't likely to affect the OS. At least that my reasoning behind keeping windows and the non Micro stuff separate. Once the apps are restored; I can copy the data back the apps folders from the backup.