Boot failure from Partition Magic

[RogerR]

Short version:
Wife's computer crashed.
Wife's computer would not boot.
Booting from Partition Magic boot disk;

trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs
rootfs image is not initramfs (no cpio magic); looks like an initrd

Guessing this is Partition Magic failing to open a Linux kernel to boot the system, but can anyone decode further to give me a clue on what to do next?

 

[Anshad Edavana]

"Partition Magic" is an old product from "Win 98" era and it's boot disc is based on DOS. You can use "Partition Wizard" free edition boot disc as an alternative.

Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to manage partition directly with partition manager bootable CD.

Short version:
Wife's computer crashed.
Wife's computer would not boot.

Please explain in detail. What kind of boot failure you are talking about ? ( ie , Blue screen, restarting , hanging , black screen with or without a message etc ). How the issue started ? ( after installing a new software/hardware or totally random ).

 

[RogerR]

Please explain in detail. What kind of boot failure you are talking about ? ( ie , Blue screen, restarting , hanging , black screen with or without a message etc ). How the issue started ? ( after installing a new software/hardware or totally random ).

My bad. Partition Wizard 7. I finally got it to boot through and it appears the primary hdd has failed (all partitions lost). This disk contains the OS and programs (though not data or backups).

Anyone have any favorites for trying to resuscitate the drive for long enough to clone?

 

[Anshad Edavana]

I finally got it to boot through and it appears the primary hdd has failed (all partitions lost). This disk contains the OS and programs (though not data or backups).

Is it a traditional HDD or a solid state drive ?. If it is a mechanical hard drive, you should first test the disk using manufacturer's diagnostic tool before any other step. I would suggest running a "Long Test" with "Seagate Seatool" ( even if your HDD is a WD or Hitachi one ).

SeaTools for DOS | Seagate

If the HDD passes the long test or the disk is a SSD, please try partition recovery using "Partition Wizard".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd8Yv0OODfw