Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
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When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
Some context of things I have attempted: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... d5341fdc47
When entering the Advanced menu, my only option is Image Creation for all of the volumes except 1, which is a Basic data partition for the OS. It is a Primary, MS Data partition.
Checking the Boot menu yields an OK Boot sector and matching Backup boot sector. I can also access files on the drive just fine.
Entering Analyze, I have 6 total partitions.
Under the first partition, it says No FAT, NTFS, ext2, JFS, Reiser, cramfs or XFS marker. That first partition is an EFI system partition.
There are 2 partitions labeled partition 2 with identical sizes and overlapping start/end positions, they are MS Reserved partitions.
Then there is the Basic data partition and 2 Recovery environment partitions.
The Quick Search completes just fine and it returns an EFI System Partition, and 5X MS Data partitions, one marked with OS and another marked Image.
Strangely, the 2 MS Reserved partitions shown before now have completely different starting positions, end positions and size. They now appear to be copies of the Recovery environment partitions, but their start positions have changed and now overlap with other partitions. When I try to list their files, I am told "Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damage."
However during the Deeper scan Testdisk got stuck on a Read Error at a particular address: 0/98/34 (lba=6207), 3884/121600 (03%). It always completely stops at this point, and hangs for a while if I try and Stop the scan.
Interestingly, while I'm scanning there are 2 Mac HFS partitions that appear, and I'm not sure why that is, there shouldn't be any Mac partitions on this PC, though in the Testdisk Recovery Examples they mention that Dell computers have a DellUtility partition, which I haven't yet seen.
Based on other threads in here, I'm also ready to run smartmontools to check my disk health, though when I used -h my disk seemed to pass fine. Though I may have run it wrong, the result was pretty instantaneous. The drive is in the database.
I've also been able to run chkdsk fine.
And that's where I'm at, trying to figure out what I should do next.
Analyze
1 EFI 2048-1026047 1024000
2X2 MS Reserved 1026048-1288191 262144
3 MS Data 1288192-1926456815 1925168624
4 WinRe 1926457344-1927538687 1081344
5 WinRe 1927538688-1953523711 25985024
QuickSearch
EFI 2048-1026047 1024000 ESP
MS Data 1288192-1926456815 1925168624
MS Data 1901553665-1927538688 25985024 <- Duplicate with damaged file system
MS Data 1925376001-1926457344 1081344 <- Duplicate with damaged file system
MS Data 1926457344-1927538687 1081344
MS Data 1927538688-1953523711 25985024
Deeper Search
EFI System 2048-1026047 1024000 ESP
EFI System 2048-1026047 1024000 ESP NONAME
MS DATA 2054-1026053 1024000 NONAME
MS Data 1288192-1926456815 1925168624 OS
Mac HFS 6324452-530612709 524288258
Mac HFS 21270206-344231871 322961666
When entering the Advanced menu, my only option is Image Creation for all of the volumes except 1, which is a Basic data partition for the OS. It is a Primary, MS Data partition.
Checking the Boot menu yields an OK Boot sector and matching Backup boot sector. I can also access files on the drive just fine.
Entering Analyze, I have 6 total partitions.
Under the first partition, it says No FAT, NTFS, ext2, JFS, Reiser, cramfs or XFS marker. That first partition is an EFI system partition.
There are 2 partitions labeled partition 2 with identical sizes and overlapping start/end positions, they are MS Reserved partitions.
Then there is the Basic data partition and 2 Recovery environment partitions.
The Quick Search completes just fine and it returns an EFI System Partition, and 5X MS Data partitions, one marked with OS and another marked Image.
Strangely, the 2 MS Reserved partitions shown before now have completely different starting positions, end positions and size. They now appear to be copies of the Recovery environment partitions, but their start positions have changed and now overlap with other partitions. When I try to list their files, I am told "Can't open filesystem. Filesystem seems damage."
However during the Deeper scan Testdisk got stuck on a Read Error at a particular address: 0/98/34 (lba=6207), 3884/121600 (03%). It always completely stops at this point, and hangs for a while if I try and Stop the scan.
Interestingly, while I'm scanning there are 2 Mac HFS partitions that appear, and I'm not sure why that is, there shouldn't be any Mac partitions on this PC, though in the Testdisk Recovery Examples they mention that Dell computers have a DellUtility partition, which I haven't yet seen.
Based on other threads in here, I'm also ready to run smartmontools to check my disk health, though when I used -h my disk seemed to pass fine. Though I may have run it wrong, the result was pretty instantaneous. The drive is in the database.
I've also been able to run chkdsk fine.
And that's where I'm at, trying to figure out what I should do next.
Analyze
1 EFI 2048-1026047 1024000
2X2 MS Reserved 1026048-1288191 262144
3 MS Data 1288192-1926456815 1925168624
4 WinRe 1926457344-1927538687 1081344
5 WinRe 1927538688-1953523711 25985024
QuickSearch
EFI 2048-1026047 1024000 ESP
MS Data 1288192-1926456815 1925168624
MS Data 1901553665-1927538688 25985024 <- Duplicate with damaged file system
MS Data 1925376001-1926457344 1081344 <- Duplicate with damaged file system
MS Data 1926457344-1927538687 1081344
MS Data 1927538688-1953523711 25985024
Deeper Search
EFI System 2048-1026047 1024000 ESP
EFI System 2048-1026047 1024000 ESP NONAME
MS DATA 2054-1026053 1024000 NONAME
MS Data 1288192-1926456815 1925168624 OS
Mac HFS 6324452-530612709 524288258
Mac HFS 21270206-344231871 322961666
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Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
You have at least one, probable multiple unreadable sectors.
Duplicate your drive using ddrescue as described in the manual - you have at least one broken sector, keep the ddrescue log file.
For quick drive diagnostics you can post SMART parameters using smartmontools. Search the forum for "smartctl". Post the log file here.
Duplicate your drive using ddrescue as described in the manual - you have at least one broken sector, keep the ddrescue log file.
For quick drive diagnostics you can post SMART parameters using smartmontools. Search the forum for "smartctl". Post the log file here.
Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
You don't believe Testdisk can repair any of the issues? Even when chkdsk has run fine?
What would be done with the disk duplicate? Recopied onto the drive after I format it to deal with the unreadable sectors?
I suppose ddrescue won't be able to read those sectors anyway so they will be lost regardless.
How can I post the log file here, I see no attachment option for posting.
https://pastebin.com/v4JL20nH
What would be done with the disk duplicate? Recopied onto the drive after I format it to deal with the unreadable sectors?
I suppose ddrescue won't be able to read those sectors anyway so they will be lost regardless.
How can I post the log file here, I see no attachment option for posting.
https://pastebin.com/v4JL20nH
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Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
Please refrain from allegations.
chdsk is not a tool to measure disk health.Even when chkdsk has run fine?
The best thing would to be to duplicate it again and work on the second duplicate.What would be done with the disk duplicate?
Not at all. You would put the broken disc aside. Working with a broken disk is malpractice.Recopied onto the drive after I format it to deal with the unreadable sectors?
This is correct but that does not matter anyway.I suppose ddrescue won't be able to read those sectors anyway so they will be lost regardless.
You might paste it into a block likeHow can I post the log file here, I see no attachment option for posting.
https://pastebin.com/v4JL20nH
Code: Select all
Testdisk has not been programmed to cope with broken sectors.
Working on a duplicate eradicates any interferences with unreadable sectors.
Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
Alright, the disk has been cloned.
In the end, it seems there was 89600 B of bad sector, 5 bad areas, out of a 1TB drive. Not even 1MB of bad sectors... 'causing all these issues =\
smartctl -H still says PASSED, despite Debian's Disk manager telling me it failed its self-test.
How should I now proceed with Testdisk? Should I go through gddrescue's fill mode before I continue?
In the end, it seems there was 89600 B of bad sector, 5 bad areas, out of a 1TB drive. Not even 1MB of bad sectors... 'causing all these issues =\
smartctl -H still says PASSED, despite Debian's Disk manager telling me it failed its self-test.
How should I now proceed with Testdisk? Should I go through gddrescue's fill mode before I continue?
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Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10792 Point 2
of bad sector, 5 bad areas, out of a 1TB drive. Not even 1MB of bad sectors... 'causing all these issues =\
smartctl -H still says PASSED, despite Debian's Disk manager telling me it failed its self-test.
How should I now proceed with Testdisk? Should I go through gddrescue's fill mode before I continue?
Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
Point 2 being acronyms and gamer talk?
Neither things which I used?
Disk cloning is what gddrescue does... 1:1 copy of a disk, this is a common term for backing up the contents of a disk.
Or can I not say B, TB and MB because those are acronyms. So I must say bytes, terabytes and megabytes.
Neither things which I used?
Disk cloning is what gddrescue does... 1:1 copy of a disk, this is a common term for backing up the contents of a disk.
Or can I not say B, TB and MB because those are acronyms. So I must say bytes, terabytes and megabytes.
Donerecuperation wrote: ↑20 Feb 2021, 08:50 Duplicate your drive using ddrescue as described in the manual - you have at least one broken sector, keep the ddrescue log file.
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Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
TB and MB are common computer terms. "B" is not.Cormy1 wrote: ↑23 Feb 2021, 23:34 Point 2 being acronyms and gamer talk?
Neither things which I used?
Disk cloning is what gddrescue does... 1:1 copy of a disk, this is a common term for backing up the contents of a disk.
Or can I not say B, TB and MB because those are acronyms. So I must say bytes, terabytes and megabytes.
Furthermore, the ddrescue log file describe sector ranges with letters. Not caring about avoiding confusion is not a smart idea.
You can apply Testdisk to the duplicate now.
Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
ddrescue prints "bad-sector: 89600 B", I am only repeating.
The sector ranges all start with 0x followed by 8 digits, nothing like 89600 B.
The byte is the base unit represented by B; kilo, mega and tera are just prefixes to shorten values, they aren't needed.
Only ipos and opos are in kB, because those values are too large to fit the display format.
There seems to be many duplicate partitions, many identified as non supported Mac HFS filesystem.
There was still a read error but this time Testdisk didn't hang on it endlessly.
I received many head/cylinder and sector per track mismatches.
Full log: https://pastebin.com/KBt9Wufb
Initial terminal prints:
Total Partitions after Deep Search finished:
Do you have any additional advice for me based on these results?
I will try my best to work with this but it seems there's an awful lot wrong with the filesystem on this drive, I have no idea how the partitions could've ended up this messy.
The sector ranges all start with 0x followed by 8 digits, nothing like 89600 B.
The byte is the base unit represented by B; kilo, mega and tera are just prefixes to shorten values, they aren't needed.
Code: Select all
Current status
ipos: 4222 kB, non-trimmed: 0 B, current rate: 0 B/s
opos: 4222 kB, non-scraped: 0 B, average rate: 0 B/s
non-tried: 0 B, bad-sector: 89600 B, error rate: 3584 B/s
There seems to be many duplicate partitions, many identified as non supported Mac HFS filesystem.
There was still a read error but this time Testdisk didn't hang on it endlessly.
I received many head/cylinder and sector per track mismatches.
Full log: https://pastebin.com/KBt9Wufb
Initial terminal prints:
Code: Select all
Disk /dev/sdb - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121601 255 63
The harddisk (1000 GB / 931 GiB) seems too small! (< 2051 GB / 1911 GiB)
Check the harddisk size: HD jumpers settings, BIOS detection...
Read error at 51207/143/28 (lba=822649491)
The following partitions can't be recovered:
Partition Start End Size in sectors
Mac HFS 119966216 2267417097 2147450882 [k@]
Mac HFS 148910952 4007671401 3858760450
MS Data 172854560 2098023183 1925168624
Mac HFS 186030384 2333481265 2147450882 [k@]
MS Data 194930400 2120099023 1925168624
Mac HFS 220453136 2367904017 2147450882 [k@]
MS Data 223605024 2148773647 1925168624
Mac HFS 260765872 2408216753 2147450882 [k@]
Mac HFS 337096272 2484547153 2147450882 [k@]
MS Data 49861430
Mac HFS 591927453 2290620830 1698693378
Mac HFS 609078343 2164041746 1554963404
MS Data 701852320 2627020943 1925168624
Mac HFS 964273168 3111724049 2147450882 [k@]
MS Data 965832000 2891160895 1925328896
MS Data 989846464 2915175359 1925328896
MS Data 990643968 2915972863 1925328896
MS Data 991524160 2916853055 1925328896
MS Data 991935776 2917264671 1925328896
MS Data 1926456815 3851625438 1925168624
MS Data 1953523711 1979508734 25985024
Code: Select all
D MS Data 2048 1026047 1024000 [ESP]
D MS Data 2054 1026053 1024000 [NO NAME]
D MS Data 1288192 1926456815 1925168624
D Mac HFS 6324452 530612709 524288258
D Mac HFS 21270206 344231871 322961666
D MS Data 155869424 155872303 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 157772592 157775471 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 158920496 158923375 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 159411376 159414255 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D Mac HFS 159729754 692812928 533083175
D MS Data 167011616 167014495 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 180093475 180099648 6174
D MS Data 180099648 180105821 6174 [Boot]
D MS Data 186969083 186975256 6174
D MS Data 186975256 186981429 6174 [Boot]
D MS Data 187183547 187189720 6174
D MS Data 187189720 187195893 6174 [Boot]
D Mac HFS 192216740 716504997 524288258
D MS Data 225779896 225782775 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 240935808 240938687 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 240938688 240941567 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D Mac HFS 337468804 861757061 524288258
D MS Data 378454235 378460408 6174
D MS Data 378460408 378466581 6174 [Boot]
D MS Data 412239931 412246104 6174
D MS Data 412246104 412252277 6174
D MS Data 412351512 412354391 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 478540096 478542975 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 572653843 572660016 6174
D MS Data 572660016 572666189 6174 [Boot]
D Mac HFS 692812925 1225896099 533083175
D MS Data 985947219 985953392 6174
D MS Data 985947283 985953456 6174
D MS Data 985953392 985959565 6174
D MS Data 985953456 985959629 6174
D MS Data 986369504 986372383 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 997534552 997537431 2880 [EFISECTOR]
D MS Data 1004875579 1004881752 6174
D MS Data 1004881752 1004887925 6174
D MS Data 1901553665 1927538688 25985024
D MS Data 1925376001 1926457344 1081344
D MS Data 1926457344 1927538687 1081344
D MS Data 1926759579 1926765752 6174
D MS Data 1926765752 1926771925 6174 [Boot]
D MS Data 1926867331 1926873504 6174
D MS Data 1926873504 1926879677 6174 [Boot]
D MS Data 1927538687 1928620030 1081344
D MS Data 1927538688 1953523711 25985024
I will try my best to work with this but it seems there's an awful lot wrong with the filesystem on this drive, I have no idea how the partitions could've ended up this messy.
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Re: Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
Use the "p"-key ("list files") to check each partition for content your are searching for. When found using the built-in copy functions of Testdisk to recover stuff to another healthy drive.
If that fails use Photorec or any commercial software.
If that fails use Photorec or any commercial software.