[AccessD] Horror of horrors

Mon Jan 9 17:54:08 CST 2023

Hi John,
https://www.r-studio.com
is a very reputable data recovery company.
I used it successfully about 9 years ago.
Hope you will get the issue sorted out.
And if you haven’t already - get all your important stuff backed up on
external disk or in the cloud.
/borge

On Tue, 10 Jan 2023 at 09:32, John Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:

> The drive one is a samsung 1tb ssd.  Drive 2 is a hynix 1tb ssd.  Drive 1
> is formatted in two parts.  C: and D:, roughly the same size. Drive C: is
> boot, Drive d: is my programming stuff.
>
> Likewise Drive 2 is divided in two, with one partition being a music drive
> (Band In a Box and other stuff) and partition two being... some sort of
> backup I was trying to do the other day.  I need to get back into the dos
> prompt and go looking for that 4th partition to see what is there.
>
> On Mon, Jan 9, 2023 at 6:15 PM James Button via AccessD <
> accessd at databaseadvisors.com> wrote:
>
> > Also  - if the drive is a hard drive then the sectors with the data -
> NTFS
> > $MFT
> > etc. may well still be where they were
> > And simply restating the partition table entry could  make the partition
> > accessible
> > - many data recovery facilities can recover 'deleted' partitions  or
> > reset the
> > partition format type entry
> > Also - MBR mode will - hopefully have a simple 4 partition block
> > GDP has a more complicated setup with a copy of the partition definitions
> > towards the end of the drive, as well as a possibility of a BIOS type MBR
> > partition specification.
> >
> > SSD devices are far more likely to be unrecoverable as the LBA Block id
> > that
> > windows will expect to be fixed will be linked to an actual memory block
> > entry
> > within the SSD controlling data
> > And expect every write to get put onto a different block of the storage,
> > with
> > the link adjusted to point to that different block of storage.
> >
> > Also to consider - UEFI implications - although (AFAIK) most windows PC's
> > will
> > have been set to allow 'legacy' devices to be booted using MBR/BIOS type
> > setup-
> > avoiding the UEFI security
> > And there may be a system (FAT mode) partition associated with the Boot
> and
> > UEFI/OS selection entries.
> >
> > A primary question - do you have a "recovery' diskette (USB stick) - as
> > that
> > should contain the partition entries
> >
> > Additionally,
> > At startup the PC will probably be accessing partitions by port, and
> > specification location within the partition specification table(s)
> > Until actual startup of the OS  the partitions do not actually have
> > partition
> > letters, so you should try looking at the storage device partition
> > specifications and looking for use by their sizes.
> > OK - newer versions of Windows want a partition to be assigned a letter
> > and may
> > ignore that if an earlier 'mounted' partition has been assigned that
> letter
> > Also windows startup can still get confused if there are multiple
> > 'internal' or
> > at least connected at startup time drives with the same letter assigned
> to
> > partitions
> > so - having an additional partition as well as the usual OS one specified
> > to be
> > "C:"  may have the boot, or the OS startup  consider the interloper
> > partition to
> > be C, and the OS gets ignored, or assigned a different letter.
> >
> > Do you have a 'system image' backup set
> > And maybe a OS partition backup
> > Technique would be ( after trying other options)  to do the system image
> > restore, then update the OS partition with the later partition image.
> >
> > BUT - first -
> > What is the device type
> > What partitions should be on it - are they there
> > Any partition management software should report that !
> >
> > Contact the system 'supplier' and labeller  ( store you got it from) and
> > whoever
> > calls themselves the 'manufacturer' - maybe just the label glue-er
> > Backup your data from the partitions you can access.
> > Consider paying any extra to get a ('PE') restore facility that will copy
> > an
> > image to a drive on a new PC, then update that partition with drivers
> that
> > match
> > the new PC.
> >
> > Unless the problem was caused by some identifiable action on your part -
> or
> > mains problem
> > Then I would consider the storage unit to be untrustworthy
> > The problem may be with the motherboard or malware - but how will you
> know
> >
> > Sorry I cannot be more enthusiastically specific about the chances - but
> > there
> > are many options in setup, and many possible causes for the problem
> >
> > If the data on the lost partition is important then maybe contact a data
> > recovery organisation -
> > and put a cost cap on their work, with a requirement that the device be
> > returned
> > even if not recoverable,
> > so you can ask the supplier for a replacement, or restitution/recompense
> > for the
> > costs associated with the device failure
> >
> > JimB
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AccessD
> > <accessd-bounces+jamesbutton=blueyonder.co.uk at databaseadvisors.com> On
> > Behalf Of
> > Helmut Kotsch via AccessD
> > Sent: Monday, January 9, 2023 10:29 PM
> > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> > Cc: Helmut Kotsch <hkotsch at arcor.de>
> > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Horror of horrors
> >
> > You might be booting from an USB Drive / stick without knowing.
> >
> > Helmut
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: AccessD [mailto:accessd-bounces+hkotsch=
> arcor.de at databaseadvisors.com
> > ]
> > Im Auftrag von John Colby
> > Gesendet: Montag, 9. Januar 2023 23:12
> > An: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> > Betreff: [AccessD] Horror of horrors
> >
> > I tried to boot my laptop today and it went into an endless boot loop /
> > repair.  After mych stuff I got to a command prompt and discovered that
> the
> > c: drive is now a raw" disk.
> >
> > It is booting to an X: drive which is a very basic system.  It contains
> > windows but no users or anything else useful.  No idea where it (X) is
> > coming from.
> >
> > I keep all my dev off on a D: disk which I can do a dir on and see all my
> > files (whew) but my boot disk (c:) is nowhere to be found.
> >
> > So.... has anyone experienced this and more importantly figured out how
> to
> > get the c: drive back to an NTFS system?  IOW recover the boot
> > drive(partition)
> >
> > Luckily I have my old computer which is what I am using now.  The "new"
> > computer is my new Lenovo Legion Pro and I really want to get it
> recovered
> > without a format reinstall, although that would not be the end of the
> > world.  I took the boot drive from this HP Pavillion, put it on another
> > disk and used that to boot the Lenovo (to keep all of the multitude of
> > installed programs intact).  Windows 10 did an admirable job of booting
> and
> > working doing that.  I have been using the Lenovo for many many months
> > now.
> >
> > Until today.
> >
> > Can anyone help me with this?
> > --
> > John W. Colby
> > Colby Consulting
> > --
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> > https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
> > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> >
> > --
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> >
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> >
>
>
> --
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
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