Elusive (missing) hard drive boot sector
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 1998
Posts: 137
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Elusive (missing) hard drive boot sector
I transferred my main operating system (Win2000) to another hard drive, a Maxtor 20gig. First I tried it with PartitionMagic ver 7 and got the warning when I did so that the copy might not be bootable. Went ahead anyway and sure enough, got the message when I tried booting up with the copied HD: "A disk error occurred. Try again"
So I tried CHKDSK and then CHKDSK /F, to no avail. So I re-copied my OS to the same HD using Nortons Ghost. Still no joy. The 20gig happily works as a slave to the original HD, but won't boot up itself.
So I got an old Win98 boot didk and FDISKed the offending HD, cleaning all partitions off it before re-formatting it as a bootable Win98 FAT32 single partition, then converted the partition to NTFS using PartitionMagic before using Nortons Ghost to copy the operating system back onto the HD.
Result? Same old "A disk error occurred. Try again".
Anyone got any ideas? Thanks in advance.
So I tried CHKDSK and then CHKDSK /F, to no avail. So I re-copied my OS to the same HD using Nortons Ghost. Still no joy. The 20gig happily works as a slave to the original HD, but won't boot up itself.
So I got an old Win98 boot didk and FDISKed the offending HD, cleaning all partitions off it before re-formatting it as a bootable Win98 FAT32 single partition, then converted the partition to NTFS using PartitionMagic before using Nortons Ghost to copy the operating system back onto the HD.
Result? Same old "A disk error occurred. Try again".
Anyone got any ideas? Thanks in advance.
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Did you install the Maxtor disc with Maxtor's own installation floppy? I had a similar problem and had to make sure that I followed MAXTOR's rules. This allows the HDD to be properly formatted and avoids, as it should, using F/dsk which is a pain.
That done. Did you check your BIOS for the boot sequence?
That done too, I wouldn't use Partition Magic. From a personal standpoint I found it to be very much less than useful.
Finally, your new disk will have to be master or slave to get the boot sequencing right.
Best I can offer. Hope it all works out.
Ought to have also mentioned, in the light of the later post, that Maxtor installtion automatically partions your disk. So, F/DSK is thankfully not required. Also, the original MBR should be OK in this case.
That done. Did you check your BIOS for the boot sequence?
That done too, I wouldn't use Partition Magic. From a personal standpoint I found it to be very much less than useful.
Finally, your new disk will have to be master or slave to get the boot sequencing right.
Best I can offer. Hope it all works out.
Ought to have also mentioned, in the light of the later post, that Maxtor installtion automatically partions your disk. So, F/DSK is thankfully not required. Also, the original MBR should be OK in this case.
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 145
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From: Where?
Have a look at the following Microsoft link on using the fdisk/mbr command.
USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION.... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Microsoft - Master Boot Record
Cheers,
USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION.... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Microsoft - Master Boot Record
Cheers,
Plastic PPRuNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,902
Likes: 0
From: Rochechouart, France
410 - I've emailed you. Contact me and I'll send you a small utility that will zero out your MBR properly and completely (writes the first logical blocks of the drive with 00h pattern, startling at Cyl 0, Hd 0, Sec 1)
----------------------------------------------------
Found another in the Mac archives and the link still works.
Goto http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/ and download MBRTool(free) - they have some other nice stuff there too.
----------------------------------------------------
Found another in the Mac archives and the link still works.
Goto http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/ and download MBRTool(free) - they have some other nice stuff there too.
Last edited by Mac the Knife; 15th June 2002 at 18:20.
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
From: Sydney, Australia
All depends on how you cabled the new hard disk. Is it REPLACING your original HDD? ie. set to primary/master?
I'm not sure about all the MBR tools that others have recommended, I've never really played with them.
Check your boot.ini file, ensure your ARC path names are correct.
Ensure you have these files copied to the active partition:
- Ntldr
- Ntdetect.com
- Boot.ini
- Ntbootdd.sys (if present - required if ARC path starts with SCSI)
Alteratively, make a WinNT bootdisk using the files above, ensure the boot.ini has ARC paths that refer to your HDD config, does the PS boot up then?
If you have a FAT32 parition now, have you Sys'd it so it's bootable? (command.com/msdos.sys/io.sys)
I'd say what you've done is pretty dodgy.. if you get a new Hard disk, always install a fresh operating system. The only alternative I've used it GHOST... which normally works.
Regards,
I'm not sure about all the MBR tools that others have recommended, I've never really played with them.
Check your boot.ini file, ensure your ARC path names are correct.
Ensure you have these files copied to the active partition:
- Ntldr
- Ntdetect.com
- Boot.ini
- Ntbootdd.sys (if present - required if ARC path starts with SCSI)
Alteratively, make a WinNT bootdisk using the files above, ensure the boot.ini has ARC paths that refer to your HDD config, does the PS boot up then?
If you have a FAT32 parition now, have you Sys'd it so it's bootable? (command.com/msdos.sys/io.sys)
I'd say what you've done is pretty dodgy.. if you get a new Hard disk, always install a fresh operating system. The only alternative I've used it GHOST... which normally works.
Regards,
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 0
From: Geriatrica, UK
I find Partition Magic to be excellent - except for merging partitions. It is best not even to attempt that. It is quite normal to get that warning, but there is nothing sinister about it. They're just covering themselves.
Did you make the new partition that you hoped to boot from "Active" when you created it? This option is found at the bottom of the "Operations" Menu under "Advanced" and is a bit obscure.
If you don't, you will get an error message such as "no operating system found".
Did you make the new partition that you hoped to boot from "Active" when you created it? This option is found at the bottom of the "Operations" Menu under "Advanced" and is a bit obscure.
If you don't, you will get an error message such as "no operating system found".
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 1998
Posts: 137
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Thanks for all the incredibly informative replies, gents. I think my problem lies in an area touched upon in one of the replies - I had LINUX installed on the problem hard drive for a short time and it would appear that that is my problem.
Mac, thanks for the kind offer. I'm not sure how the new Pprune emailing system works - I've changed email addresses since setting up the '410' name with Pprune and the account doesn't exist any more. Could you try me again at [email protected], although in the meantime, I'll try the MBRtool. Thanks.
Mac, thanks for the kind offer. I'm not sure how the new Pprune emailing system works - I've changed email addresses since setting up the '410' name with Pprune and the account doesn't exist any more. Could you try me again at [email protected], although in the meantime, I'll try the MBRtool. Thanks.
Last edited by 410; 16th June 2002 at 04:39.
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 0
From: Geriatrica, UK
Speechless Two, there was a time when I experimented with BootMagic (From Powerquest - the makers of Partition Magic) and I should have added my reservations about that.
When I wanted to undo the Multiple Operating System Boot arrangement I had created, I couldn't get NT4's osloader to find the Boot Sector.
Salvation came in the form of a Boot Floppy with Norton Utilities which gave the option of reparing the Boot Sector of the HD.
I keep that little Golden Floppy Disk very handy now! But happily don't find I have to use it as I keep clear of BootMagic.
When I wanted to undo the Multiple Operating System Boot arrangement I had created, I couldn't get NT4's osloader to find the Boot Sector.
Salvation came in the form of a Boot Floppy with Norton Utilities which gave the option of reparing the Boot Sector of the HD.
I keep that little Golden Floppy Disk very handy now! But happily don't find I have to use it as I keep clear of BootMagic.
