Disk Read Error 3

[boweasel]

Running (or rather, WAS running) Windows XP Professional SP2. One day last week the machine began to run VERY slowly, and thinking I might have picked up something, I attempted to run Spybot S&D. I was just barely able to open the tool when the PC shut down.

When it restarted I got the DOS screen-like message "Disk Read Error. Press CNTL\ALT\DEL to restart" (or continue, I don't remember exactly). Of course CNTL\ALT\DEL only brings the same result.

I am unable to access the screen for safe mode. About the only thing I can do is access the BIOS, and I did set everything back to normal settings, but of course it made no difference.

This is a PC I bought a couple years ago from a friend (now deceased) who put it together himself, and the install CD he used is who knows where. I do have a product code for XP Pro, but without a CD I have no idea what to attempt.

I really, REALLY don't want to lose everything I have on this PC, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

 

[linney]

And here's me thinking it meant that when I find the thread too hard I "jump" to the next one. I do a lot of thread jumping nowadays.

 

[boweasel]

Glad you got BartPE running, I hope it works for you like it does for me and others."

Well linney, I dunno. I suppose I better do some investigation on this here BartPE CD. I mean it loaded, I got the BartPE desktop (no icons, mind you), with one option (Go). I tried accessing the A43 File Management Utility, and I can hear the CD spinning but 'taint nothing happening...

OMG it finally displayed, and it does look like Windows Explorer, but when I click on Local Disk (C I get a (Not Responding) message at the top of the page. Wait it finally went away (about 3 minutes - I see what you mean about it being slo

http://wwwwwww....),

but crap, there's nothing displaying on the local disk...

How could that be?

 

[goombawaho]

BartPE is only slow to load on slow PCs. I mean, it may take a little longer than windows on the same machine, but it's not normally a 10 minute affair.

The local disk is having a problem OR you don't have drivers loaded for the SATA controller. (Hmmm - I can't remember whether you even get a C: icon in A43 if the SATA driver is not loaded).

Here's how to be sure and to fix any c: problems in BartPE. Open a command prompt and then do the following:
ckdsk c: /f

See if it can "read" the C: drive and do it's thing.

 

[boweasel]

This just gets worse...

"The local disk is having a problem" - gee goombawaho, if my hard drive was NOT having problems, I'd hardly be using the BartPE product now, would I?

As for your advice, when I go to a command prompt in Bart, and type in 'C:', I get the msg 'The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.'

Duhhhh.... Once again, aren't those some of the VERY reasons why an individual would go to all this trouble (and believe me, it WAS trouble) of creating a BartPE CD?

 

[tlcscousin]

http://www.runtime.org/

They have a trial version of getdataback you would need to slave the hard drive to another computer and run their software and see if it is possible to recover any files.The trial allows you to see if the data is recoverable before buying the software.
They also make a plugin for the BartPE cd.

 

[boweasel]

goombawaho,

Way back on April 22nd, you suggested I do a manual system restore with a BartPE CD.

Since I now have a BartPE CD, how do I do that?

 

[tlcscousin]

It is not something you can do if you cannot access the files on c drive.

 

[BadBigBen]

boweasel - at this stage, if you want the DATA that is on the drive, I would do as suggested by TLCSCOUSIN and use a data recovery app...

it sounds like the MBR and partition info may have been overwritten or corrupted...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[boweasel]

it sounds like the MBR and partition info may have been overwritten or corrupted..."

I have already run a Fixboot from the repair console. It did no good.

I also went into a Hitachi site and burnt a bootable Drive Fitness test. I ran a quicj test which gave me a "Failure code 0x73 - Defective Device. Excessive Shock."

I then ran the Advanced test which gave me a "Failure code 0x72 - Defective Device. S.M.A.R.T. Failure."

tlcscousin,
You said "They also make a plugin for the BartPE cd." What does that mean, and how would I use/create it?

 

[BadBigBen]

FIXBOOT will only fix the BOOT FILES... not the MBR, for that to happen you need the FIXMBR command...

but with those errors, you need to attempt to get the DATA from that drive ASAP (use a data recovery program)...

if the drive is still under warranty get it replaced, if the warranty ran out, then nail it to a wall... the drive is TOAST...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[boweasel]

FIXBOOT will only fix the BOOT FILES... not the MBR, for that to happen you need the FIXMBR command..."

Ran that as well. Useless...

Maybe I should try that suggestion from WAY back and get an IDE to USB converter.

 

[tlcscousin]

IDE to USB converter is a nice option to have but if the file system is not readable then windows would not see it to get the files off.I have had lots of luck using getdataback while old drive is connected using a usb converter when windows cannot read the file system.

 

[goombawaho]

At this point I agree that a data recovery application like GetDataBack is your only option. If the drive is not bootable and it's not readable in BartPE, it won't be readable as a slave drive in another computer either.

So you don't have many options left.

Download and install the "free" trial of GetDataBack for NTFS and run it in a system with your bad drive as the slave and see if it can see any data on the drive that is recoverable.

If so, you can buy it and recover what you can. If not, there's no point. The only other option is to send out for professional data recovery and your talking $500 - $600.

http://www.gillware.com

is one our company uses.

 

[goombawaho]

GetDataBack for NTFS plug-in for BartPE on this page. Then you wouldn't have to put your drive in another PC as a slave, but you would have to burn another BartPE disc after implementing the new plug-in

http://www.runtime.org/peb.htm

 

[tlcscousin]

During setup of BartPE you have the option to add other plugins, at that stage point to the downloaded plug in you want to include.Create the ISO and again burn it to a cd. Boot BartPE and the menu should list an entry for the getdataback software.

 

[goombawaho]

The o/p may have jumped off a bridge if his data is gone.

 

[boweasel]

Couple questions:
"During setup of BartPE you have the option to add other plugins, at that stage point to the downloaded plug in you want to include.Create the ISO and again burn it to a cd."

I aleady have the getdataback_for_ntfs.cab downloaded to my desktop.

When I open up PE Builder v3.1.10a and press <Plugins> I get the following: Please enter a valid source path first. 'C:\pebuilder3110a\BartPE\i386\ntdll.dll' not found.

My Windows install files ARE in the directory C:\pebuilder3110a\BartPE and I do have an i386 directory under that, but no ntdll.dll...

goombawaho wrote "The o/p may have jumped off a bridge if his data is gone."

I don't understand that sentence. Does o/p mean output? And I'm not familiar with the phrase "jumped off a bridge" in this context.

 

[linney]

I took that to mean "original poster".

Error stops PE build: 'ntdll.dll' not found." Help, TI

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21057&pid=141880&mode=threaded&start=

Are you showing both Hidden and System files via Folder Options/ View?

 

[boweasel]

Somehow, linney I managed to screw this up. When I first created the BartPE CD, my original Windows files were loaded into C:\pebuilder3110a\BartPE\. I had my output as the same thing, so the Windows files got overwritten. I reloaded XP Home into BartPE, and said the output should be in Bart2.

So I have created the a new BartPE CD with getbackdata, have booted from it, and have gone into GetDataBack. Now what do I do next, please?

 

[tlcscousin]

Run getdata back and point it to the c drive to start recovery analysis procedure.
It has a fairly good wizard that will guide you through the setup.