1TB HDD turned RAW into Xbox XFAT?

Using TestDisk to repair the filesystem
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ISAK
Posts: 1
Joined: 15 Jan 2022, 23:09

1TB HDD turned RAW into Xbox XFAT?

#1 Post by ISAK »

So basically I have a 1TB HDD here that went thru CHKDSK on bootup to Windows 11 right after I had installed it and then when I logged in the drive was RAW. Shows up in Explorer and Disk Manager as RAW. However shows up as NTFS in Minitool Partition Wizard. After alot of research into how HDDs are structured I opened up WinHex and opened the drive. WinHex cant "explore" the contents of the drive even tho at 0000100000 the word "NTFS" is shown meaning it still has the NTFS filesystem. The only thing is, the first 2048 sectors of the drive marked "Start sectors" in WinHex now belong to the exact same layout as an OG Xbox HDD. The words "XBOX SHELL" "XBOX DATA" "XBOX GAME SWAP 1" aswell as 2 and 3 and "XBOX F" "XBOX G" are located at the start of the drive pretty much. Further down "BRFR" and eventually where the FATX partition is supposed to start it says "FATX".
It does make sense because this 1TB drive was in my OG Xbox before I put it into my PC to use as storage. How the first megabyte (2048 sectors) have somehow reverted to this makes no sense to me. In TestDisk it ofc shows up as a Xbox Partition so I selected that, then it showed 4 broken FATX filesystems but I continued doing Quick Search and it has now been doing that for about 5 hours approximetaly, its at 40000 out of 121600 cylinders right now (32%) and so far it shows "FATX" and three "Unknown" partitions.
My question then is, cant I just rebuild the MBR of this drive and get rid of the Xbox nonsense? I mean I even found $MFT and other filesystem files using WinHex further proving that its all still there it just cant be read.
Im using Windows 11 rn if that makes any difference but I can use any Linux distro if needed.

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: 1TB HDD turned RAW into Xbox XFAT?

#2 Post by recuperation »

ISAK wrote: 15 Jan 2022, 23:49 So basically I have a 1TB HDD here that went thru CHKDSK on bootup to Windows 11 right after I had installed it and then when I logged in the drive was RAW. Shows up in Explorer and Disk Manager as RAW. However shows up as NTFS in Minitool Partition Wizard. After alot of research into how HDDs are structured I opened up WinHex and opened the drive. WinHex cant "explore" the contents of the drive even tho at 0000100000 the word "NTFS" is shown meaning it still has the NTFS filesystem. The only thing is, the first 2048 sectors of the drive marked "Start sectors" in WinHex now belong to the exact same layout as an OG Xbox HDD. The words "XBOX SHELL" "XBOX DATA" "XBOX GAME SWAP 1" aswell as 2 and 3 and "XBOX F" "XBOX G" are located at the start of the drive pretty much. Further down "BRFR" and eventually where the FATX partition is supposed to start it says "FATX".
I should rather ignore this posting because it is outright bad. I will drop some comment for you readers why I think so.

This is a really good example how not to post. Do not describe a picture, post it!
52.37°N, 9.73°E is a location. Sector 2048, offset 16 is a location as well.
"At the start of the drive" or "further down" are no locations!!!!
It does make sense because this 1TB drive was in my OG Xbox before I put it into my PC to use as storage. How the first megabyte (2048 sectors) have somehow reverted to this makes no sense to me. In TestDisk it ofc
Those damned abbreviations will kill me some day. This is shitty gamer speech. No time to write complete words?
Check the header of my postings. I am from Germany and that is located in Europe. It is probably a different continent for you. We speak a lot of different languages here in Europe. German is my mother langue. I speak English and French but not well enough to understand your gamer codes and I refuse to search the web just to understand you.
shows up
I can't see what shows up in your Testdisk!
as a Xbox Partition so I selected that, then it showed 4 broken FATX filesystems
Too lazy to upload a picture? Cheers.
but I continued doing Quick Search and it has now been doing that for about 5 hours approximetaly, its at 40000 out of 121600 cylinders right now (32%) and so far it shows "FATX" and three "Unknown" partitions.
Congratulations. How long did the Windows 11 installation take compared to those 5 hours?
My question then is, cant I just rebuild the MBR of this drive and get rid of the Xbox nonsense?
I do not support repairing installations. There are too many traps, I never used Windows 11 and based on low quality postings I can't diagnose anything. It's a simple waste of time.
My preferred computer journal has lots of articles that only refer to installation mess that can occur.
I mean I even found $MFT and other filesystem files using WinHex further proving that its all still there it just cant be read.
The pure existence of an $MFT entry is not sufficient for a usable NTFS file system.


Im using Windows 11 rn if that makes any difference but I can use any Linux distro if needed.
There is no interest in using my ressources for a failed Windows 11 installation that you can simply redo.
I doubt Microsoft wrote your XBOX strings on your drive. Erase that drive completely because that will delete your legacy partitioning information as well.

If you want to play around as you did before use the Windows 11 repair installation feature that I assume to exist.

Feel free to tell me that I am rude and impolite - I don't care.

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