Partition not accessible via Windows Explorer

Hi all,

Long-time reader, first-time poster...

Got a hard drive problem (or possibly OS?) and I was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction. This is a Windows XP SP2 PC. It's got a single IDE hard disk with two partitions...SYSTEM (C:\) and DATA (D:\). Partition sizes are 20GB and 10GB, respectively. To my knowledge (since I'm the admin on my younger brother's PC), nothing that could do "critical damage," i.e. ACTUALLY formatting the partition, was done to the machine by my brother, a user account. But recently, we can no longer access the folders and files on the D: partition. The OS and all software is functioning fine, otherwise. The D: partition does show up in Windows Explorer as "Local Disk "...The volume label DATA does not show up. When we try to click on the drive to access the files via Windows Explorer, it lags for a while and whirrs and makes noise only to ask whether or not we'd like to "format" the drive?! Hell NO! We need the data on that partition!

So, I brought up PartitonMagic 8.0 to see what it had to say about the disk. According to PartitionMagic; the D: partition, it's NTFS file system, and the data on it are intact! Now, when I tried to get properties on the D: partition, it had some trouble. It gave me a few of the "Error #45: CRC error in data" and a few "Error #1609: Lost cluster" which I wrote down the cluster numbers...approx 15 clusters were lost. Eventually, it finished analyzing the partition and the statistics are below in the pictures.






So, I ran a CHKDSK D: /F /R from a dos prompt to take care of the errors, lose a couple files, and HOPEFULLY recover the partition. My intention was to fix the errors, backup the data, and defrag (something that has not been done to the drive ever, but very little data-intensive work is done on the PC...word processing, internet, a little gaming). The CHKDSK fixed the errors and supposedly got thru all 5 steps...Here's a C/P of the DOS session.


Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

C:\DOCUME~1\TRENTO~1>chkdsk d: /f /r
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is DATA.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
File record segment 24 is unreadable.
File record segment 25 is unreadable.
File record segment 26 is unreadable.
File record segment 27 is unreadable.
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
Deleting index entry $ObjId in index $I30 of file 23.
Deleting index entry $Quota in index $I30 of file 23.
Deleting index entry $Reparse in index $I30 of file 23.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is recovering lost files.
Fixing flags for file record segment 25.
Correcting a minor error in file 25.

C:\DOCUME~1\TRENTO~1>

Thinking all was kosher, I rebooted the computer expecting to be able to access D: and pick thru the remnants of the files...No Dice. Still can't access the partition via Windows Explorer. Same symptoms. DOS will switch to a D:\ prompt, but a DIR command yields nothing but another D:\ prompt. Windows XP Disk Management tool gives the following result...



I don't want to Defrag before fixing the errors on the disk. Most importantly, I want to get AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE of the very important data off that partition, ghost the whole system to removable media, and probably replace the drive if it's physically damaged...maybe even get two. I tried plugging the drive into my PC to get the data off of there, but I've only got one SATA disk that the BIOS apparently treats as an IDE (***?!) and the REAL IDE drive plugged into the only IDE channel (Primary) on my newer motherboard placed itself ahead of my SATA drive in the boot order (which I apparently am unable to change?!) meaning I would boot into his disk, not mine.

Any Ideas??? Is the MBR or Partition table FUBAR'd? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post...I realized after that it's quite long!

Arie:
It's a Western Digital WD307AA. Good tip! I will try WDigi website and see what kind of diagnostic tools they have. I did use a diagnostic tool of theirs (or maybe some other manufac. for another HD) once though, and the manufac. diagnostics did more harm than good, so I will try that out, but maybe after calling them first...

TonyT:
Wow, I never thought of using Linux boot cd and everything you're talking about! Probably because I've never really gotten into Linux. Whenever I couldn't access a drive in Windows, I was usually able to copy off whatever I needed with DOS (painstakingly), but not so in this case. How exactly does one "mount" the NTFS volume? Is it not normally recognized by the Linux environment/shell? Is there a File Explorer-type app in Linux? A DVD burn app would be great, but how can I do that if I'm running off the boot cd? Would I just boot off the Linux cd in a cd drive and then burn files to another DVD drive? If Arie's solution doesn't work, I will definitely try your solution. I had thought about trying to just use Ghost to backup the partition to DVD, check it on another PC, and copy it back after fixing the partition...but I figured it wouldn't work when DOS wouldn't even let me copy. Do you think Ghost-to-DVD might work?

 

Ok, I downloaded Western Digital Data lifeguard Diagnostic tools. Made it a boot cd. Booted up and ran the Quick Test...gave me some errors close to or beyond the "threshold" for various problems. So, before I do the Extended Test and try to fix anything by physically altering the drive, I thought I should try to get the files off there via Linux first. Worth a shot if I can do it via Linux boot cd and any one of the myriad of tools in the cd drive and a blank DVD in the dvd drive.

TonyT:
After looking thru some of those sites and "live" boot cd's, i didn't see one that had a ntfs read/write app and a dvd burn app on the same cd. i saw a CD imaging app (i think) on the partedmagic.com site's boot cd, but the partition has about 7GB of data...that would be a lot of CD's unless i can find a DVD burning app. i may not need to burn to dvd, but it would be nice. there's probably enough room on the fully functioning C: drive to copy the majority of the 7GB of important data on the partition onto the C: drive. any recommendations based on experience as to which Linux boot cd would be best...and which tool (cuz there are quite a few on that Ultimate Boot CD) would be the best to mount the NTFS drive and copy the contents onto the other partition or onto a dvd? if no dvd app is avail, then what ntfs or partition app would be best to accomplish this task? Sorry to ask to be spoonfed, but I have NO experience with Linux and want to be as safe as possible. Thanks again!

 

lbdoubledown

I noticed in your first post, test5.jpg displayed a iPod.
Try using your iPod as a storage drive within Linux. Would be much faster if you can backup files to iPod drive.

 

TonyT:
I downloaded the Knoppix iso image, which has a boot folder and a Knoppix folder as well as some autorun files, but I'm not really sure how the file structure needs to be laid out on the bootable CD. Also, I'm using Nero Express, which I'm pretty sure has a bootable data CD option. I'm thinking maybe the contents of the boot folder in the iso image need to be in the root of bootable CD? Does that sound right? Boot folder goes in the root folder of the bootable CD along with the Knoppix floder?

Dennis:
Yeah, I thought about using the iPod, but that's a FAT32 file system, if I remember correctly, and I don't want to deal with having to convert all those files from NTFS to FAT32 and back to NTFS again. I'd just assume copy them onto the intact C: partition. There's plenty of room for them. But thanks for thinking of all the angles! At this point, I'm just gonna get everything on C:, Ghost the C: drive, get a new drive (prob SATA), and bring up a new system.

 

I finally got Knoppix to load off the CD after a couple tries...Pretty cool...Linux is like Microsoft mated with Mac...sort of. When I tried to right-click and mount the D: partition that is having errors, it hung at 0% and gave me the following message:

Could not mount device.
The reported error was:
mount: I could not determine the filesystem type, and none was specified.

Any other tools in Knoppix (there sure are a lot of them!!) that might work to access this freakin' partition (maybe GParted?) before I give up and run the Extended Test on Data Lifeguard Tools and actually alter the physical structure of the drive?