Corrupt partition, can't boot, Startup Repair loop, tried chkdsk

[MMKH]

Recently, my computer had a few files that were "corrupted and unreadable" and upon restarting or powering on the PC, it would run chkdsk before booting to Windows. It failed a few times, but once I luckily managed to get it to boot after running Startup Repair for the first time. This was when I only had 2 options (startup repair or run normally, which would fail and keep looping). My PC loaded really slow and I experienced even more corruption like files not reading, games not running, etc. So I restarted and tried Startup repair again. This time it took extremely long (left it over night for about 10 hours, woke up still hanging) so I just manually turned off the PC. Now it keeps doing the same useless looping without really fixing my HDD.

Today I tried booting from the install DVD, using Recovery Environment to run cmd prompt, then "chkdsk /f /r" (based on some online tutorials I found) , but it would take at least 2 hours each time, and mostly says "file record segment is unreadable" around 180000 all the way up to around 300000+. It didn't say whether anything was fixed, it just deleted a lot of random files near the end.

I have a 600 gb WD velociraptor split into 2 partitions. Through the recovery environment, I noticed that:

C: was system reserved at 100 mb,
D: was the first partition (which was blank and said 0 MB for some unknown reason), and
E: was my second partition with some data and an old image, which surprisingly I can browse through.

I tried using cmd to load up the D: drive that Win 7 was installed in, but it says "file is corrupted or unreadable".

Right now, the RE says "unknown location" or something when trying to detect the primary location of the OS, even though through DVD RE cmd it is currently at "D:". When I type "cd D:" it says "file is corrupted or unreadable", and when I click on load drivers, it is blank and has "0 mb".

I even downloaded a Windows 7 update too within the past few days. I heard that this problem would've been prevented in an earlier patch, but apparently not.

I suspect the registries are corrupted which is causing the endless loop at boot, and bad sectors and such but I don't know how to fix this.

Please help, I have lots of important software I have on that drive/partition and would prefer it if I didn't have to re-image it, let alone reformat and do a clean Windows install. Thanks.

 

[writhziden]

Try looking through the following: TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity

 

[MMKH]

Try looking through the following: TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity

Okay, I've tried the 32-bit, 64-bit and even the DOS version on a USB stick while in the recovery environment cmd. 32-bit says there's some image missing and won't work, the 64-bit gives an application error (the instruction at 0x66e43839 referenced memory at 0xffffffff. The memory could not be read), and the DOS version said it's incompatible.

I don't know how to get that to run since I can't boot even in safe mode right now.

BTW I tried restoring to the image I had on the 2nd partition, it said that it was also corrupted or unreadable. :/

 

[writhziden]

Try looking through the following: TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity

Okay, I've tried the 32-bit, 64-bit and even the DOS version on a USB stick while in the recovery environment cmd. 32-bit says there's some image missing and won't work, the 64-bit gives an application error (the instruction at 0x66e43839 referenced memory at 0xffffffff. The memory could not be read), and the DOS version said it's incompatible.

I don't know how to get that to run since I can't boot even in safe mode right now.

BTW I tried restoring to the image I had on the 2nd partition, it said that it was also corrupted or unreadable. :/

Are you able to burn a CD on another computer. It is usually harder to boot from USB with programs like these in my experience.

 

[writhziden]

You can get Ultimate Boot CD - Download the UBCD and use parted magic's subprogram TestDisk instead.

The downloads are in the mirrors at the bottom of the page.

 

[rubyrubyroo]

You may also want to try running something like MS Standalone Sweeper From a "Offline" DVD or flash-drive, which it will make for you very simply. Although, If your not able to access Win 7 Environment, you may need another computer to make the disc.

Mike

 

[MMKH]

You may also want to try running something like MS Standalone Sweeper From a "Offline" DVD or flash-drive, which it will make for you very simply. Although, If your not able to access Win 7 Environment, you may need another computer to make the disc.

Mike

I got this error message:

windows defender offline error

windows defender offline cannot be started

error: unable to detect a windows system drive. this could be due to missing drivers, an encrypted drive, or a corrupted windows installation.

error code: 0x8004cc01



Btw I managed to boot up using an Ubuntu DVD to access my HDD to copy and backup my important files, even though Windows can't find that drive or let me open it.

EDIT: I have booted up Parted Magic using UBCD and am following the step-by-step instructions. So far it has not said "corrupted NTFS boot" like it does in the example. Am currently running a deeper analysis on the first partition with windows on it.

 

[writhziden]

You may also want to try running something like MS Standalone Sweeper From a "Offline" DVD or flash-drive, which it will make for you very simply. Although, If your not able to access Win 7 Environment, you may need another computer to make the disc.

Mike

I got this error message:

windows defender offline error

windows defender offline cannot be started

error: unable to detect a windows system drive. this could be due to missing drivers, an encrypted drive, or a corrupted windows installation.

error code: 0x8004cc01


As for UBCD, I have booted it up but where can I run the TestDisk feature? I can't seem to find it.

Btw I managed to boot up using an Ubuntu DVD to access my HDD to copy and backup my important files, even though Windows can't find that drive or let me open it.

You have to start parted magic. It is built into that program. I'll see if I can make some screenshots of how to get there.

 

[MMKH]

You may also want to try running something like MS Standalone Sweeper From a "Offline" DVD or flash-drive, which it will make for you very simply. Although, If your not able to access Win 7 Environment, you may need another computer to make the disc.

Mike

I got this error message:

windows defender offline error

windows defender offline cannot be started

error: unable to detect a windows system drive. this could be due to missing drivers, an encrypted drive, or a corrupted windows installation.

error code: 0x8004cc01


As for UBCD, I have booted it up but where can I run the TestDisk feature? I can't seem to find it.

Btw I managed to boot up using an Ubuntu DVD to access my HDD to copy and backup my important files, even though Windows can't find that drive or let me open it.

You have to start parted magic. It is built into that program. I'll see if I can make some screenshots of how to get there.

Sorry I just edited my post right before I saw this. I managed to find it and boot it up, and am running deeper analysis. Right now, it says "warning: incorrect number of heads/cylinder 16 (NTFS) != 255 (HD)" and under it says "warning: incorrect number of sectors per track 2 (NTFS) !=63 (HD)". At about 6000/72961.

 

[writhziden]

Sorry I just edited my post right before I saw this. I managed to find it and boot it up, and am running deeper analysis. Right now, it says "warning: incorrect number of heads/cylinder 16 (NTFS) != 255 (HD)" and under it says "warning: incorrect number of sectors per track 2 (NTFS) !=63 (HD)". At about 6000/72961.

Glad you found it. I am going to still include the step by step screenshots in case someone else stumbles across this thread and has similar issues.

 

[writhziden]

Sorry I just edited my post right before I saw this. I managed to find it and boot it up, and am running deeper analysis. Right now, it says "warning: incorrect number of heads/cylinder 16 (NTFS) != 255 (HD)" and under it says "warning: incorrect number of sectors per track 2 (NTFS) !=63 (HD)". At about 6000/72961.

I did some research on your issue. While you are receiving only warnings and they may not be a sign of anything foreboding by themselves, given the issues you have been having, I am inclined to think that your hard drive is on its way out. I would recommend looking into buying a new drive in case you are unable to salvage this one. Keep all your important files backed up onto an external drive in the meantime.

It is also possible that your hard drive was incorrectly setup from the beginning. You may need to go to the Western Digital site and download their utilities to properly configure the hard drive from a boot utility. You can find downloadable utilities at http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612&lang=en for your drive.

 

[MMKH]

Okay, this is the screen that appeared after the test, now what?

View attachment 188923

This is what appeared at the bottom of each disk when highlighted:

1. 104 MB/ 100 miB
2. same thing
3. 309 GB / 288 GiB (1st partition that was corrupted)
4. NTFS found using backup sector!, 600 GB / 558 GiB
5. 3161 KB / 3087 KiB
6. 303 MB / 289 MiB
7. 290 GB / 270 GiB (2nd partition)

Sorry I just edited my post right before I saw this. I managed to find it and boot it up, and am running deeper analysis. Right now, it says "warning: incorrect number of heads/cylinder 16 (NTFS) != 255 (HD)" and under it says "warning: incorrect number of sectors per track 2 (NTFS) !=63 (HD)". At about 6000/72961.

I did some research on your issue. While you are receiving only warnings and they may not be a sign of anything foreboding by themselves, given the issues you have been having, I am inclined to think that your hard drive is on its way out. I would recommend looking into buying a new drive in case you are unable to salvage this one. Keep all your important files backed up onto an external drive in the meantime.

It is also possible that your hard drive was incorrectly setup from the beginning. You may need to go to the Western Digital site and download their utilities to properly configure the hard drive from a boot utility. You can find downloadable utilities at http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612&lang=en for your drive.

The drive is fairly new, I bought it last year. I don't know how it could be incorrectly setup though. I thought it was as easy as using Windows to format it and set up the partition. I ran diskpart during the Windows RE and it said that the drive was "healthy", so I really doubt there is a problem with the drive physically.

 

[writhziden]

Those are all partitions that have been deleted. To find your Windows installation, type P to list the data for each one. Then recover that partition.

Edit: You may have more than one with Windows data in it, so recommend looking closely at all files for any that you know have been changed or added recently.

Edit2: You will also want to restore the Boot and System Reserved partitions.

 

[writhziden]

Don't change the layout of the partitions until I give more information. I want to make sure everything is set up right before proceeding.

 

[MMKH]

Those are all partitions that have been deleted. To find your Windows installation, type P to list the data for each one. Then recover that partition.

Edit: You may have more than one with Windows data in it, so recommend looking closely at all files for any that you know have been changed or added recently.

Edit2: You will also want to restore the Boot and System Reserved partitions.

It says that the 3rd and 4th ones have Windows directory in it, both which seem to have the same files. How do I recover them?

 

[writhziden]

Those are all partitions that have been deleted. To find your Windows installation, type P to list the data for each one. Then recover that partition.

Edit: You may have more than one with Windows data in it, so recommend looking closely at all files for any that you know have been changed or added recently.

Edit2: You will also want to restore the Boot and System Reserved partitions.

It says that the 3rd and 4th ones have Windows directory in it, both which seem to have the same files. How do I recover them?

I am going to have to burn the utility cd, restart my computer, and check the layout of my Windows 7 to answer your question. Usually, Testdisk just finds the layout for you, so I have not encountered your issue, and research has not shown anyone else who has either. Give me a half hour and I will try to have it resolved.

 

[MMKH]

Those are all partitions that have been deleted. To find your Windows installation, type P to list the data for each one. Then recover that partition.

Edit: You may have more than one with Windows data in it, so recommend looking closely at all files for any that you know have been changed or added recently.

Edit2: You will also want to restore the Boot and System Reserved partitions.

It says that the 3rd and 4th ones have Windows directory in it, both which seem to have the same files. How do I recover them?

I am going to have to burn the utility cd, restart my computer, and check the layout of my Windows 7 to answer your question. Usually, Testdisk just finds the layout for you, so I have not encountered your issue, and research has not shown anyone else who has either. Give me a half hour and I will try to have it resolved.

Thanks for the help so far, really appreciate it. BTW I have backed up my files to a secondary storage internal drive, but just in case I will try to make room on my external drive for further backups.

 

[writhziden]

Thanks for the help so far, really appreciate it. BTW I have backed up my files to a secondary storage internal drive, but just in case I will try to make room on my external drive for further backups.

I assume the drive you backed up to is not the same drive as the one giving you issues? If it is a secondary physical drive, it shouldn't be an issue, but it may be a good idea to back up to your external drive as a precautionary measure.

 

[MMKH]

Thanks for the help so far, really appreciate it. BTW I have backed up my files to a secondary storage internal drive, but just in case I will try to make room on my external drive for further backups.

I assume the drive you backed up to is not the same drive as the one giving you issues? If it is a secondary physical drive, it shouldn't be an issue, but it may be a good idea to back up to your external drive as a precautionary measure.

No it's not the same drive, I would be pretty worried if it was. I mentioned earlier that I was unable to restore an Image from the 2nd partition so I wouldn't trust putting my backups there in case I really had to re-format the whole drive. :/

 

[writhziden]

Alright, I looked into the partition table layout of Windows 7, but my desktop does not have a layout similar to yours. I am currently checking my laptop as I know it has a boot and system reserved section similar to your computer.