Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:49:07 -0800 (PST) From: David Chien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] Serious boot problem - Help needed!
Problem here is that the FAT tables are messed up. Okay, you've got two FAT tables, one primary, the other as backup. They're supposed to be updated the same at all times, but if something goes wrong, they can get out of sync. Here, the problem is you have no idea which FAT table is okay, or if both are damaged. In this case, it's best to restore from a working backup, if you have one, after pulling off all important files. However, if you really want to attempt recovery, there's a few ways. 1) always start by backing up your computer. 2) You can simply run scandisk on the drive to let DOS auto-fix itself, but I can't say which fat table entry it'll pick for each file. you may just wind up with a mess. 3) you can try something like Norton Utilities to see if you can fix the drive entires (you'll have to setup another small windows partition and run the check on the damaged partition, and this may take time). No guarantees here either 4) you can use a file recovery program like ontrack easy recovery to try and recover lost files, but this won't necessary fix the fat tables - just get the important stuff off. 5) you can try a manual winhex/hex editor fix of the whole thing. you'll have to follow each fat file entry along both fat tables to see which, if any, will create a working file, then copy that fat entry over to the second one. This will take =forever= to do, and you will have to understand how fat tables, file links, etc. work, but it is the only boringly, real way to recover a messed up windows fat system w/o damaging whatever else is there. think only if life depends on it you'll try it. 6) ontrack recovery service can help you recover anything important you can't recovery yourself. $300+, but they can usually pull out everything. 7) Have fun! (make backups often!) 8) Yes, life sucks! Make backups often! ===== adorable toshiba libretto The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner. http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ - Archives -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
