[AccessD] Horror of horrors

Tue Jan 10 19:36:06 CST 2023

LOL. All I recommend are Lenovo. But mostly their business class laptops,
not the crud you find at Best Buy.

On Tue, Jan 10, 2023 at 7:34 PM Bill Benson <bensonforums at gmail.com> wrote:

> “Prevent this going forward”
>
> How I accomplished that goal was taking my Lenovo back to Best Buy and
> never buying that brand again.
>
> On Mon, Jan 9, 2023 at 6:50 PM John Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > OK I have file history set up on drive E:  Sadly only for the last few
> > weeks.  I have no idea what is in there though.
> >
> > Once I get this all figured out I will be looking at how to prevent this
> > kinda stuff going forwards.
> >
> > The bottom line is that I can get at a command prompt via this X:Windows
> > thing that is kinda booting.  I have a usb doodad for holding a drive
> and I
> > am going to do a real drive image recovery disk on that.  And actually
> try
> > a recovery immediately afterwards so it works.
> >
> > 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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> > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> > >
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> > >
> > > --
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > John W. Colby
> > Colby Consulting
> > --
> > AccessD mailing list
> > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
> > https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
> > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> >
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