[AccessD] Horror of horrors

[John Colby]

I found the disk that came out of the HP Pavillion which I had used to
create a new boot drive for the lenovo.  It is in an interface container
and p;ugs in via type C.  I can plug this into the lenovo and tell it to
boot from this and it does.  However the drivers are all wrong (of course)
which prevents me from just using the wireless to connect to the internet.
Of course I am in my truck doing all this over my phone wifi hotspot.

Anyway, I plugged the adapter back into the HP Pavillion and am now
downloading all of the drivers for the lenovo into a directory on the usb
adapter.  I will plug that back into the Lenovo and tell it to look in that
directory for the drivers.  Or just execute them (they are exes).

So I should have the Lenovo booting off the adapter with all the drivers
updated to the Lenovo versions.  After which I should be able to get on the
internet and find rescue software.

What I don't have is a thumb drive I can just download a windows image to
for doing a new install.  There was a day when I had half dozen thumb
drives hanging out in my computer bag but not any more.

On Mon, Jan 9, 2023 at 6:54 PM Borge Hansen <pcs.accessd at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > John W. Colby
> > Colby Consulting
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> > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> >
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-- 
John W. Colby
Colby Consulting