Grub Blues
Posted: 01 Oct 2012, 01:49
Hi. I was using Grub for dual booting into Windows and Linux. I decided to change the Linux OS and attempted to install by just overwriting the existing Linux OS, which in most cases should work fine. Well, as luck would have it, it did not go as planned. The old Linux got hosed and the new one failed to install. I was still able to boot Windows, but I had to get Grub out of the MBR before trying to install another Linux. When I used the instructions found on some MS websites for using Windows Recovery Console in accordance with my affected version (Windows 2000 Pro), it ended up trashing the MBR and partition table. Now even Windows would not boot. All it showed me was "Invalid Partition Table." I was fit to be tied. I think I also came up with some new words too.
Of course I had a recent backup, but that would put me back to the same spot since I had in fact carefully followed all instructions already. Then I recalled seeing a comprehensive set of recovery programs and utilities called Parted Magic, which looked wonderful when I originally found it but never had occassion to use. Well, this appeared to be a good time to take another look at. Sure enough, I noticed your program called TestDisk. At first the name of it threw me off because it sounded more like a hardware test or disk surface testing thingy. But for some reason I thought to give it a closer look. When I fired it up, I could see that it was all about the same kind of problem I was facing. I was starting to feel lucky at that point.
I came to your website to see if there was additional information about it, and the example and tutorial on how to use it was just about as close to my problem as I could have wished for. I followed it and presto! Just like magic, your program got me where I wanted to be. MBR scrubbed, Windows booted and old partitions gone away! I was elated. Thanks for that.
Now I have two questions in connection with this program. Firstly, while I followed the step-by-step guide on your website, I eventually got to the part for "Partition table recovery", and it happened just as described. Even so, the next part of your guide, which is labeled as "NTFS Boot sector recovery", seemed to suggest that I would have to follow some more steps before getting to the point of having to reboot. However, I don't believe my procedure showed me a part related to the boot sector recovery, but instead it jumped right to the part about rebooting. When I then rebooted, I was absolutely delighted by the sight of Win2K logon screen, just as I had left it. (I hope never to take it for granted again.)
Secondly, now that I have recovered my system and have a good MBR, does your program have a feature that allows me to back it up and restore it in the future if need be, as well as the boot sector of the NTFS partition? Thanks.
Of course I had a recent backup, but that would put me back to the same spot since I had in fact carefully followed all instructions already. Then I recalled seeing a comprehensive set of recovery programs and utilities called Parted Magic, which looked wonderful when I originally found it but never had occassion to use. Well, this appeared to be a good time to take another look at. Sure enough, I noticed your program called TestDisk. At first the name of it threw me off because it sounded more like a hardware test or disk surface testing thingy. But for some reason I thought to give it a closer look. When I fired it up, I could see that it was all about the same kind of problem I was facing. I was starting to feel lucky at that point.
I came to your website to see if there was additional information about it, and the example and tutorial on how to use it was just about as close to my problem as I could have wished for. I followed it and presto! Just like magic, your program got me where I wanted to be. MBR scrubbed, Windows booted and old partitions gone away! I was elated. Thanks for that.
Now I have two questions in connection with this program. Firstly, while I followed the step-by-step guide on your website, I eventually got to the part for "Partition table recovery", and it happened just as described. Even so, the next part of your guide, which is labeled as "NTFS Boot sector recovery", seemed to suggest that I would have to follow some more steps before getting to the point of having to reboot. However, I don't believe my procedure showed me a part related to the boot sector recovery, but instead it jumped right to the part about rebooting. When I then rebooted, I was absolutely delighted by the sight of Win2K logon screen, just as I had left it. (I hope never to take it for granted again.)
Secondly, now that I have recovered my system and have a good MBR, does your program have a feature that allows me to back it up and restore it in the future if need be, as well as the boot sector of the NTFS partition? Thanks.