Loss of partition
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Not sure if this is the best forum, but it is relating to an operating system not booting. I've now seen for the second time a computer where the partition table on the boot disk has been lost, meaning that no partitions exist on the disk. In both instances, I've managed to recreate the partition with a Linux based CD, which recovered all the data, and then fixed the master boot record of the boot device and all was fine. But in both instances, I haven't been able to find the root cause of the problem. I'm not aware of any programs that can do this, or anything a user can do to cause this, and I think it's happening at too low a level and too specific to be a virus. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions or possible answers would great!!
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
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Not sure if this is the best forum, but it is relating to an operating system not booting. I've now seen for the second time a computer where the partition table on the boot disk has been lost, meaning that no partitions exist on the disk. In both instances, I've managed to recreate the partition with a Linux based CD, which recovered all the data, and then fixed the master boot record of the boot device and all was fine. But in both instances, I haven't been able to find the root cause of the problem. I'm not aware of any programs that can do this, or anything a user can do to cause this, and I think it's happening at too low a level and too specific to be a virus. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions or possible answers would great!!
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
If you are running windows xp, you could boot with the installation disk, go to the repair console, and use chkdsk to see see if your hard drive has any errors. If you're not running windows xp, then maybe your hard drive is close to burning out?
Code pre-built is code that you don't have to build later. :)
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If you are running windows xp, you could boot with the installation disk, go to the repair console, and use chkdsk to see see if your hard drive has any errors. If you're not running windows xp, then maybe your hard drive is close to burning out?
Code pre-built is code that you don't have to build later. :)
In this case it was a Small Business Server 2003, and the OEM disk didn't include the recovery console, which is something I'll be taking back to the OEM vendor. I did get my hands on a retail edition though, which does include the recovery console which fixed the master boot record. It actually happened to my own system quite some time ago as well, and the hard drives in that system are still running without issue, so I'm not sure it is the hard drive burning out either.
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
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In this case it was a Small Business Server 2003, and the OEM disk didn't include the recovery console, which is something I'll be taking back to the OEM vendor. I did get my hands on a retail edition though, which does include the recovery console which fixed the master boot record. It actually happened to my own system quite some time ago as well, and the hard drives in that system are still running without issue, so I'm not sure it is the hard drive burning out either.
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
Not sure what it could be then. I've never had that problem with any of my hard drives before, and I've had them for about 5 to 6 years so far. Glad to try to help you, though.
Code pre-built is code that you don't have to build later. :)
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Not sure if this is the best forum, but it is relating to an operating system not booting. I've now seen for the second time a computer where the partition table on the boot disk has been lost, meaning that no partitions exist on the disk. In both instances, I've managed to recreate the partition with a Linux based CD, which recovered all the data, and then fixed the master boot record of the boot device and all was fine. But in both instances, I haven't been able to find the root cause of the problem. I'm not aware of any programs that can do this, or anything a user can do to cause this, and I think it's happening at too low a level and too specific to be a virus. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions or possible answers would great!!
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
Could you post more detailed information about that? How many users are using the OS? How the issue manifested (blue-screen, reboot or something). What kind of applications have you installed?
Work @ Network integrated solutions | Flickr | A practical use of the MVC pattern
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Could you post more detailed information about that? How many users are using the OS? How the issue manifested (blue-screen, reboot or something). What kind of applications have you installed?
Work @ Network integrated solutions | Flickr | A practical use of the MVC pattern
The first one a while ago was simply a single system, that had a heap of programs installed under Win XP. It was fine the night before, and when it went to startup the following day, the operating system not found message appeared. The second time around, and the most recent, was an SBS 2003 R2 box, which was only less than a month old, and was shut down in order to install a UPS. Once connected to the UPS, the machine was restarted, and the operating system not found message appeared. In this instance, it only acts as a server, no user at the console, has the standard SBS stuff installed - SQL, Exchange etc., and not much, if anything else is installed, but has not more than 15 or 20 users accessing it. Therefore, about the only commonality I've been able to see is that both have occurred on a shutdown, but I don't know if the partition table was cleared before shutdown, during shutdown or on the restart.
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
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The first one a while ago was simply a single system, that had a heap of programs installed under Win XP. It was fine the night before, and when it went to startup the following day, the operating system not found message appeared. The second time around, and the most recent, was an SBS 2003 R2 box, which was only less than a month old, and was shut down in order to install a UPS. Once connected to the UPS, the machine was restarted, and the operating system not found message appeared. In this instance, it only acts as a server, no user at the console, has the standard SBS stuff installed - SQL, Exchange etc., and not much, if anything else is installed, but has not more than 15 or 20 users accessing it. Therefore, about the only commonality I've been able to see is that both have occurred on a shutdown, but I don't know if the partition table was cleared before shutdown, during shutdown or on the restart.
------------------------ Luke Lovegrove ------------------------
I guess you're using NTFS. In your case I would try to isolate the issue somehow. For example try to disable the swap file, disk caching, etc. It's nasty if you don't know how to reproduce the issue. Maybe you could experiment with a cloned partition on another machine. Or the disk in another machine. I would like to know the causes of this, so if you find out anything please post it.
Work @ Network integrated solutions | Flickr | A practical use of the MVC pattern