Partiton Tables

[DodgyDave]

Hi
I did do a search for any old threads on this but didnt have much luck so Im hoping there is someone who can help.

A mate of mine bought a new maxtor 250 to back-up all his data (pron ).
He formatted it, copied all his data across so he could then do a fresh install of XP.
All seemed to go well for him till it came to copying back his data from the new 250GB.
All sits happy but disk management says no file allocation. Im guessing he has somehow lost his partition table for that drive.
Is there a free/easy way of re-building the table? Ive seen some software which says it can do it but Ive never had any experience of it.

Thanks for any help

[scorp]

If it says "no file allocation" then your partition table is ok, since the file-allocation needs to sit in a valid partition to begin with. It sounds to me like the file system itself is corrupt, if the disk management tool can't see any FAT then you can't recreate one unless you know it is still intact somewhere on the drive and know exactly which sector it lives on.

Out of interest, is the partition itself recognised ? (does it have a range defined and a filesystem type given)

>> Edited by scorp on Monday 14th November 14:39

>> Edited by scorp on Monday 14th November 14:41

[DodgyDave]

[quote=scorp]
Out of interest, is the partition itself recognised ? (does it have a range defined and a filesystem type given)
quote]

Thanks Scorp,
In Disk Manangment it says the disk is NTFS and gives the disk size as around the 240 something.

[TheExcession]

Doesn't XP require a patch to read disks of this size?

[DodgyDave]

TheExcession said:

Doesn't XP require a patch to read disks of this size?

Nah XP is fine with 250GB, I know its good for .5TB.
Besides he wouldnt have been able to backup onto it in the first place.
Thanks for your help anyway

[scorp]

OK, if the disk has been recognised as NTFS then the partition table is fine, it sounds to me like the file system itself is corrupted, and badly too if its got to the file-allocation tables. They cannot be rebuilt if they were damaged.

I'd try some utilities on it which repair such things, but i wouldn't get my hopes up.


>> Edited by scorp on Monday 14th November 17:38

[DodgyDave]

Thanks Scorp
Ne mind, Im sure they wont mind downloading updated
content
Just thought it was worth a try as its something
i dont know much about. Although Ive got a better
idea now, Thanks again
Is there such a thing as a good free downloadable
checker?

[scorp]

Try here: www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Disk_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/

[DodgyDave]

Thanks for that, will download one of them later and give it a try.
Would you want a email if it works? Just so you know if you come accross something similar in the future?