TI - Restore Track 0 & MBR should fix Partition error?

I had taken a complete backup of my C drive last month. Today I used PartitionMagic to resize my partition(s), but upon rebooting (as demanded by PM) it gave me an error : 'Bad Partition...'

So I hoped that by restoring the Acronis Image with the 'Track 0 & MBR' option should help me get to the earlier (working) position, but while the restore completed successfully, it still does not reboot, giving me the same 'partition error' as before.

Could anybody help me with this please?

 

radhak,

What partitions do you have on the HD?

I suggest you delete the "Bad" partition in Partition Magic and then create a formatted primary partition in the Unallocated Space. It shouldn't say "Bad" anymore. Now restore your image to this partition. Any luck?

 

Thanks Brian.

Problem is, I am unable to get into the machine at all now - it just hangs at the boot screen with the error message (seems to be a PartitionMagic error). and it just says bad partition, but does not give the partition name.

I had divided the single 120 GB hard-drive into C, D, E and a linux partition (not used at all, have not got around to installing linux on it).

I finally managed to install a 2nd OS - Win 2K on the E drive just now, with which I am able to boot into the machine. Will that help?
I am able to see all the drives and the data within.

 

radhak,

Perhaps I misunderstood about the Bad partition. I assumed you partitioned from the PM boot discs and that one of your partitions was marked Bad in the graphic. These are coloured Yellow in the graphic. Usually you have to delete the partition although I recall I fixed one using PTEdit.

So the "Bad" message is showing when you try to boot Windows?

What do you see now from the PM boot discs?

 

An update. First of all, the good news - i finally managed to get into my XP installation, and am able to see my programs et al as before. No re-install or wipe-and-redo.

Details - Somehow found out (while in Win2000's dual boot) that PM was using a program XMNT2001.exe; renamed it, and now PM tries to run it, does not find it, says 'XMNT2001 not found. Skipping Autochk', and lo - XP is up!

Problem is, I still don't know what is the 'Partition Table Error' it talked about. PM does not give me anything even when I run it again, nor does another program somebody recommended - GParted. Would DiskDirector help in this?

Also, just to avoid another such hassle, want to replace the HDD - just mulling over WD's Caviar and Seagate Barracuda 7200.10. Anybody has an opinion on either?

Also, can True Image help in such situations? Would a Harddisk Clone help in restoring the whole drive as-is?

Brian, thanks for your concern and help. Do you think PTEdit can help fix my partitions?