Disk Partition Weirdness

[teach1st]

I was doing a backup with Compaq software when a power failure hit (and my cheap UPS proved how cheap ain't good).

Anyway, apparently Compaq backs up to a partition (E drive) on the startup disc (C drive).[nbsp][nbsp]It was resizing the partition during the failure. (I also have a second, huge disc for my data and media, which is the D drive.) The operating system is Windows ME.

The only real damage is I lost 3 gigs on the the main disc! Almost all system utilities, file managers, etc. report a size 3 gigs less than what it should be - the loss comes from the C partition, with the E partition's reported size being the same as always. However, MS info reports the E partition has aquired those extra gigs. I just can't access the space. (Scandisk and the like report no errors)

Prexisting data on the E partition was scrambled, so I reformated the partition and replaced the data (Compaq backup stuff). Data seems intact on C.

What are my options here? I really want to avoid reformatting and partitioning the entire disc.

Thanks for any help.

PS - I got the Compaq for less than a song, but after a few months I wish I had spent two songs and gotten a real computer. It's been nothing but trouble, proving again that cheap ain't always good. One day I'll learn![nbsp][nbsp]:)


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fred

[teach1st]

FYI: Here's details, both from Microsoft System Information:

First, what is I'm sure the correct sizes, as report in Disks:

Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]GENERIC IDE[nbsp][nbsp]DISK TYPE01
Manufacturer[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp](Standard disk drives)
Model[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]IDE[nbsp][nbsp]DISK TYPE01
Media Loaded[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Yes
Media Type[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Fixed hard disk media
Partitions[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]2
Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]13.99 GB (15,020,457,984 bytes)
Partition[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]8.77 GB (9,421,300,224 bytes)
Partition[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Disk #0, Partition #1
Partition Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]5.21 GB (5,597,061,120 bytes)

Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]GENERIC IDE[nbsp][nbsp]DISK TYPE02
Manufacturer[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp](Standard disk drives)
Model[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]IDE[nbsp][nbsp]DISK TYPE02
Media Loaded[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Yes
Media Type[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Fixed hard disk media
Partitions[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]1
Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]41.93 GB (45,020,602,368 bytes)
Partition[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]41.92 GB (45,016,441,344 bytes)

Second, the incorrect info as report in Drives:

Drive[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]A:
Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]3 1/2 Inch Floppy Drive

Drive[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]C:
Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Local Fixed Disk
Compressed[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]No
Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]8.77 GB (9,412,083,712 bytes)
Free Space[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]2.48 GB (2,662,318,080 bytes)

Drive[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]D:
Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Local Fixed Disk
Compressed[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]No
Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]41.91 GB (45,005,406,208 bytes)
Free Space[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]8.52 GB (9,152,724,992 bytes)

Drive[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]E:
Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Local Fixed Disk
Compressed[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]No
Size[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]2.73 GB (2,928,234,496 bytes)
Free Space[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]1.59 GB (1,704,390,656 bytes)

Drive[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]F:
Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]CD-ROM Disc

Drive[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]G:
Description[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]CD-ROM Disc

[Arthur]

Take a look at PartitionMagic from Powerquest (http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/). It lets you partition disks without destroying data. It may be able to restore your drives.

Arthur
(not affiliated with Powerquest..etc..etc)

[sheila]

PowerQuest also has a utility called Lost and Found, which recovers data from disks. See me rave about it here:
http://www.aota.net/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000149-1.html

We did recover about 95% of the files from that hard drive crash.

As far as Compaqs: We got a whole bunch of them donated to our school a little over a year ago (about 60+) and they have been nothing but a pain in the rear. Turns out, we find out later, they were all computers that had been purchased, the consumer had taken delivery, and then had returned them to the place of purchase. Our poor tech support ladies (two of them) are going bonkers over these heaps of rubbish all the time. :(

[teach1st]

Arthur, I stopped being so cheap, and purchased and downloaded Partition Magic. It fixed the corrupted partion like... well, like magic! Thanks for the tip.

I can sleep finally, now that I have the missing space back. Remember when two or three gigs of drive space seemed like eternity!

Sheila, what sort of problems are those Compaqs giving at your school? My problems are mostly with how Compaq sets up the OS and imposes their in-house software junk on me. Combine that with the pre-loaded Win ME,and my many attempts at tweaking often bring frustration. The hardware seems OK, except I don't like that the sound card is not a separate entity. It's intergrated somewhere in the hardware and I was told I can't upgrade it. On the plus side, putting in a second disc and adding memory both were a complete snap for me.

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fred

[This message has been edited by teach1st (edited 12-21-00@05:55 am)]

[frankc]

Fred, someone donated five Compaqs to our church, and they've been a test of our...well...everything.[nbsp][nbsp]They find CD roms drives that don't exist, hang at a whim, crash frequently, and have been a pox for the Tech Ministry Team I'm part of.[nbsp][nbsp]We've done all sorts of troubleshooting using StartUp Cop, RegClean, System Information, etc. to no avail.[nbsp][nbsp]I have never seen such problematic PCs.[nbsp][nbsp]Dunno how they stayed in biz if they made more than the five we got.

Quoth Frank:[nbsp][nbsp]"Nevermore!"

[nbsp][nbsp]Frank

[sheila]

The problems with the Compaq's at our school seem to be mostly software and configuration related. I don' t work with many of those machines myself, so I couldn't say exactly what it is. Ours run Win98/95 (they predate ME). I have three of the Compaqs in the lab where I teach. We run a security software called "Fortress" that is supposed to prevent the students from having access to certain things. Because I teach programming and we need to compile programs, I have to configure the compiler as "priveleged app", meaning that it can execute without any restrictions being placed on it by Fortress.

I have had no trouble getting Fortress installed and getting my compiler working on any of the 25 machines, except for one of the Compaqs. Since I have more machines in that lab than students in the programming class I teach, I haven't really devoted much energy to trying to solve this problem.

The teacher in the lab nextdoor has 28 of these Compaqs. It was a "new" lab for her this year. All the older, slower machines taken out. She is having so many headaches with things that won't run and such... She told me I'm lucky to be teaching in a lab with mostly older machines.

My husband and I went out shopping for a new computer for our kids for this Xmas. We were looking at prices. I told him "no Compaqs". He said, "Really?" No way I would buy one. We bought a Gateway.

[teach1st]

Yow! I couldn't handle trying to tame 28 of these rascals. To summarize my Compaq experience, solving one configuration problem almost always leads to a newer, usually more serious configuration problem. Oh, well, it gives me something to do on my break![nbsp][nbsp]:(

Sound not working> Fixed > Networking not working
Networking fixed> Disk thrashing >
Disk thrashing fixed > CD-r not working
And a partition on a corrupt tree...
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fred

[sheila]

Yeah, well fred, in your case, who knows...
are the problems because it is a Compaq?
or is it because of ME?

(I've heard plenty of rotten things about ME on the verizon local newsgroups. When we just purchased the new Gateway, they were showing us a "personal" computer. It came with ME. Yuck. We went with a business system, that came standard with Win98 and upgraded it to Win2000. Now, what does this tell you:
Gateway ships their current "personal" computers with ME standard.
Gateway ships their current "business" computers with Win98 standard.
??? )

[teach1st]

Are the problems because it is a Compaq?
or is it because of ME?
Good question. ME has some good points, but nothing[nbsp][nbsp]I haven't been able to easier with Win98. I imagine it's good for casual computer users. Some of ME is maddening - why, for example, buy a computer with a more powerful chip when the new Help format takes forever to load? ME is definitely more difficult to tweak. PartionMagic came with BootMagic, so eventually I'm going to tru a dual boot with Win98. I've thought about simply getting rid of ME, but the Compaq configuration would probably freak out.

Of course there's a problem. As far as I can tell, Windows ME (or the Compaq stuff) won't let me install another version of Windows (98 or 95), not even in DOS mode (and one can't get to DOS easily with ME), not even on a different hard drive. I'm going to have to go back to school to grab the old Win 3.1 diskettes, see if they'll somehow work and then upgrade from there. I don't know much about this stuff, so if anybody knows a way to do this, please let me know.

If that doesn't work, I'll probably dump all the Windows ME and Compaq stuff, reformat, and start fresh with Windows 98.


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fred