Inaccessible Disk - None Partition: 0xE (Fat16 LBA) error message.

[CMP]

One of my disks used for storage, it contains only store documents and not the operating system or any programs, has become inaccessible.

It flags Pri, Act with type description FS: None Partition: 0xE (Fat16 LBA).

The disk was originally formatted with NTFS using Windows XP SP2 and has been working without any problem until this happened.

It displays the correct amount of space used for data, displayed as Primary and free space is reported as Unallocated.

Under properties it reports: File system error: Invalid format. Signature and Blocks is OK.

Do I use the tool Recover Partition or Change Type? Convert Partition is unavailable.

Edit I do not dear to use, since I do not have the knowledge to tamper with this type of settings.

Any respond – much appreciated.

[Brian K]

CMP,

Have you had a look at the partition table with ptedit?

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/ptedit.zip

[CMP]

Thank you for the respond.

Partition Table Editor reports this information for my ST3500641AS:

60802 Cyl, 255 Heads, 63 Sectors per track.

Type 7, Boot 80, Starting Cyl 0, Starting Head 1, Starting Sector 1, Ending Cyl 1023, Ending Head 254, Ending Sector 63, Sectors Before 63, Sectors Total 976784067.

Is that correct?

[Brian K]

Those numbers are correct.

Type 7 is NTFS. Yet DDS reports something different. Why the confusion?

Have you looked at the HD with a Partition Magic boot disk? Worth a try as PM often offers to correct a partition error. CHKDSK /F should be considered but can be risky with partition errors.

[MudCrab]

CMP,

What version and build of DD are you using?
DD 10, build 2,160 is the latest.

From what OS are you running DD?
XP, Vista, etc.?

Does DD see the partition the same way (with the error) when booted to the DD cd? Any difference in Full mode or Safe mode?

Can you post a screenshot of the partition table as shown by DD?

[CMP]

Brian, I do not have Partition Magic. I used a floppy (DOS) to boot up the system, and then I run the ptedit you recommended for the information I posted above. Maybe the information retrieved is from the healthy C: drive, shown as RAID.

When I use Recover Partition a list of five partitions appears.

One of them I have recovered and is listed as Unallocated (7,049 GB) and Seagate ( I: ) (1,535 MB)

MudCrab, I am using DD 10 build 2,089 running under WinXP sp2. DD see the partition the same way when booting from the CD. No difference in Full or Safe Mode.

Unable to post the screenshot. Can mail it thou.

Many thanks to you both. I really do appreciate the effort both of you put in to solving my problem.

[Brian K]

-{ Quote: "Maybe the information retrieved is from the healthy C: drive, shown as RAID.
" }-
Maybe. With ptedit there is a drop down menu at the top left for "Hard Disk". Make sure you choose the correct HD.

[CMP]

You are right. I disconnected all drives except the one that has the problem and it won’t show in PTEDIT at all.

The partition information is from the Boot Raid system comprising of two 250 GB HD and not the single 500 GB HD.

[Brian K]

With all HDs connected, do you have a 500 GB Drive 2 in ptedit?

[CMP]

No. There is no 500 GB drive in the drop down menu in ptedit.

It does show correct in Disk Management under WinXP and in Disc Director and reports correct amount of used and free space.

[Brian K]

CMP,

I'd try SeaTools. The drive sounds suspect.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

[CMP]

Brian,

I have managed to undelete one small partition by using the DD’s Recover Partitions Tool. There are four more deleted partitions that DD detected. Done nothing to them yet.

I have downloaded Sea Tools. The windows version did not detect the drive.

The DOS version, using a floppy, did detect the drive and I ran a short and a long test and it passed both.

LBA reported after read test (long test) is 976728064, Max LBA 976773168.

It still flags the drive as Pri, Act and reports the drive as Type; FS: None Partition: 0xE(Fat16LBA)

[Brian K]

CMP,

Would you like to try Partition Table Doctor? It may lead somewhere. There is a trial version.

http://www.ptdd.com/

[CMP]

After using Partition Table Doctor 3.5 Rebuild tools, as you suggested, the drive came back on line. PTDD reported some other error after the first reboot that it recommended the use of Fixboot to correct. And I did. The HDD is now in full operation again.

PTDD is very easy to use, just a couple of mouse click and all errors were fixed. Now I own two great HD tools.

Brian - Thank you so much for your patience and the will to help me out step by step.

[Brian K]

I'm pleased too.