I've lost my MBR and can't FDisk

background: On my primary system (win xp), I've got two hard drives. the first drive is strictly OS & installed programs. the second drive contains things windows would like to just toss in the "My Documents" folder. documents, pdf, photos, game save files, the usual.

I normally keep a back up of most of the files on a separate hard drive on another computer, but due to recent circumstances, i had to delete that back up to free up some space for other projects and hadn't gotten around to backing it up again when the secondary drive on my primary system failed.

what I've determined thus far: it's a MBR failure. BIOS still properly recognizes the drive. So I grabbed my trusty old copy of Partition Magic 8.0, ran that, and it can't create the partition. (error 11117)

I don't mind formatting the drive as I should still be able to recover the data after the format. nifty little program from stompsoft called recover lost data. (I wind up having to use it every 2-3 years for some reason) only problem is that I need to get the disk working again before I can recover the data.

 

Do you have XP system disk ???
If so put it in the PC and restart, then when it comes to "press any key to load from disk" press any key, then you get the menu and it should say "press R for repair" press R you will then be asked to type a number for your OS this is normally 1 then you admin password and at the command point you need to type "fixmbr" (without the quotes) it will then restore your MBR and all you docs and files will still be there.

 

Didn't work. Only gave me the option to repair the MBR on the primary drive, not the secondary drive.

I suppose I could try unplugging the primary drive... make the secondary drive the only drive... will try that and brb...

 

well, after unplugging the primary drive and re-booting, BIOS no longer recognizes the secondary drive at all, and it started making scratching noises, so I figure I've got a head-crash, not just a bad MBR. so much for that drive...

 

Let me understand your system.
Does the secondary drive also have an OS installed ??
If it has then you will be able to repair it by changing the bios to boot from the secondary drive.

Just as a matter of interest i have widows 7 Pro installed on 2 separate hard drives, your original key will allow this as they are using the same Mobo and i use the second installation to store my files and docs, it is also accessible from the other OS by using "computer" and the opening the other hard drive.

As you can see in the photo i am using the drive (F) as my OS (indicated by small windows flag) but drive (C) also has the OS installed and that is where i store all my files.

 

No, the secondary drive does not have an operating system installed on it. it is, well was, purely data storage.

If you are only going to run one OS, like windows 7, there is no need to install windows 7 on both drives. That is a massive waste of space on the second drive. All you need to do with the second drive in create the boot record, and partition(s), then format, assuming that the drive doesn't come that way from the factory.

Why did you install a copy of windows on the second drive?

 

as you can see from the photo i am not short of space and also have an Acronis backup of the disks just in case of a major problem so i will be able to boot from one disk or the other.

As to your problem i am not sure if disconnecting the primary drive will let you repair the MBR on the secondary drive (I have never tried it but that does not mean it will not work)

 

as stated a few minutes ago:

I still wonder what purpose installing the second copy of windows has. You may not be short on space currently, but it still doesn't make any sense to me...

 

I tend to go to some strange places on the net and have been known to pick up a virus or two and the way i have my system means i can always boot from anothe HDD.

Can you run "chkdsk" ?
Alternatively if the disk still works you may be able to install the OS on it and normally it will save file and docs to "windows old" from where you can recover them.

 

how do you recommend I attempt that considering that BIOS no longer recognizes the drive exists?

 

Have you tried "ultimate boot disk" to see if it can find the HDD.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

If you remove the primary drive and boot from the disk

 

Hi Guys,

All drives have an MBR. ON a boot drive it has a table of all pertinent information about the drive and instructions on which files to execute to boot the OS. On a non Boot drive the table is there but the boot instructions basically just say that the system can not boot. Hope this helps a little.

Good Luck, Jim

 

I understand what you are saying Jim but the problem is the drive that the OP is trying to recover has lost the MBR and the bios can not see it so i am trying to get the PC booted without the OS and hopefully with UBD we can get the PC to see the HDD and allow us to get the info from it after which we can format the disk.

I am always ready for other suggestions so any input is welcome.

 

Ah, so that's where your confusion is coming from. The computer boots just fine. The drive with the OS on it is functioning fine. The problem is that I have lost a lot of data now that the data drive is no longer recognized by BIOS. I'm not sure where your misconception that the computer didn't boot came from, but I apologize if it was something I said that lead to it. I'm sending this message from that computer right now.

At this point, it's purely an exercise in attempting to recover the data-drive, not the OS.

 

Have fun sorting it out.

 

It sounds like the drive is failing/failed. You can't do anything unless it gets recognized by BIOS either in that computer or another. I would unplug it both power and data and let it sit for 8hours or so. Then plug it back in and see if it will be recognized by BIOS.

As far as I know you only need the partition table to be intact to access data on a secondary HD. The partition table is part of the MBR but can be rebuilt separately. Before when the drive was still recognized in BIOS what were the symptoms that made you think it was an MBR problem? ie. the drive is recognized in BIOS but what happened in Windows? Was in seen in My Computer? Did it show in Disk Management?

I think I would let the drive cool down, try to get it recognized in BIOS. See how it is seen in Disk Management and then use use TestDisk to recover the partition table.

I can give basic instructions for using TestDisk but it has to be seen by BIOS to do anything.

 

Hi All,

More on the subject: Many years ago the MBR was used by the system to get info about the drive. The BIOS did not read the drive for setup info. Now the BIOS automatically gets the info from the drive and sets the drive up. It does not get that info from the MBR. The manufacturer puts it into a hidden partition and the BIOS gets it from there. You can wipe the entire drive includeing the MBR and the BIOS will still get the info and setup the drive. I'm not 100% on this but think it's fairlyclose.

Luck, Jim