Toasted partition on 2nd hard drive - what to do?? ## Resolved: Details inside ##

[T2T III]

Here's a quick run-down of the events. I was in the process of installing a new WD 80 GB hard drive to replace my 60 GB IBM drive. I utilized the WD utilities on the diskette and apparently hosed my data on my IBM drive. I'm currently running Norton Disk Doctor to search through the partition and see if any parts of it can be rebuilt. When I lauch Partition Magic, I get the following error:

" ucEndCylinder (4471) must be less than 4111.
Error #107: Partition begins after end of disk.
ucBeginCylinder (4472) must be less than 4111."

I then booted into DOS mode with a boot diskette and I'm able to see 2 of my 3 partitions with data on them. However, I can't see the WD drive so I can copy the files over.

Has anyone had any experience in this area where they might guide me to an area or utility that I've overlooked? Eventually, I might have to get some command line CD redording utilitites so that I can pull the data off the partitions and put it onto CD. But, I just wanted to ensure there wasn't a better way to resolve this situation.

Thanks!!

 

[DimZiE]

if you can see your DATA under DOS...

you might want to try Norton Ghost to clone your IBM drive onto your new WD drive... after that you can resize your partition w/ Partition Magic to use your unallocated 20 Gigs...

good luck..

 

[T2T III]

My issue has been resolved. Although Ghost seemed like a good option, the following limitations were present:

Under Windows XP: I could see the WD drive, but not my IBM drive's partitions.
Under DOS: I could see 2 of my 3 IBM drive's partitions, but not the WD disk/partition because it was in NTFS format. Also, the 3rd partition of the IBM drive was also in NTFS format - which prevented it from being seen at the DOS level. UGH!

Finally, the fix was located by searching through Deja news. There I found a lot of discussions regarding similar issues where partitions & partition tables were corrupted and causing similar issues. There was one key individual who was working through a lot of these issues with users who had problems. This individual was Svend, from Europe. Svend has a great set of utilities that he has created for resolving issues such as this. Also, I was in communication to Svend and he directed me through a series of steps utilizing his utilities and even a batch file that he created. After running a few utilities, then a batch file, followed by re-detecting my hard drives via the "auto" detect method in the BIOS, my issue was resolved.

Here is a link to Svend's wonderful utilities: Svend's Page - Bookmark it, print it, back them up to CD - there's no telling when you might need some fine (and free) utilities such as this.

I had many, many valuable documents on my hard drive that needed to get backed up. However, I had to get the 2nd hard drive in place to make all of this possible. During the installation of the 2nd hard drive, this whole mess was created. I utilized the utility on the WD setup disk - which when I recall the events, was a big mistake. Use other resources to set your drive up rather than this utility.

 

[RalfHutter]

Very cool utilites page, thanks for sharing.