Unbootable Windows Installation - Dell Laptop
Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 03:18
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