TeraByte Unlimited

CyberSimian wrote in viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2257&start=40#p12395:
>
> When Windows boots, it checks the "clean/dirty" flag for every NTFS
> partition that it can see; it is not limited to the partition that is booting. So
> after you added the lost partition to the boot item, on next boot Windows would have
> seen that lost partition and checked its "clean/dirty" flag, and run CHKDSK
> if necessary. From the images you posted, it is not possible to tell from which
> partition the error messages originate, but I would guess that it is the
> "lost" partition, and not the partition that you restored from backup.
>

Again on this one, which didn't let me rest: For data recovery purposes I have to avoid the system's writing to the partition to be restored because this would reduce the chances of recovering a maximum of the lost data. That means that as soon as I fill the lost partition in the MBR details of a functioning Windows partition from where I want to restore, I should avoid any restart before having run the data recovery tool. Otherwise I would risk that chkdsk unintentionally wrote to the lost partition. I would not have thought of such a possibility and I was lucky that in my case chkdsk obviously rather repaired than deteriorated the lost partition. That shows me again how important a backup of the lost partition is prior to including it in a functioning Windows' boot item.

sigi wrote:
> That shows me again how important a backup of the lost partition is prior to
> including it in a functioning Windows' boot item.

One point that I forgot to mention: when you create a partition image, BIBM usually copies only the used sectors on the disk; this speeds up creation of the image. But in your case, you probably ought to create an exact image of the partition (because the file system may be corrupt). So I think that you need to specify the following options (depending on which tool you use):

(1) For creation of an image file on another disk using "Image for DOS (GUI)":
On the "Options" panel:

-- Deselect "Omit page file data"
-- Deselect "Omit hibernation data"
-- Select "Backup unused sectors"

(2) For creation of a partition copy on another disk using BIBM "Partition Work":
On the "Copy" panel:

-- Deselect "Data only"

Note: I have never needed to use BIBM/Image-for-DOS to create partition copies/images of partitions that may be corrupt, so I am not sure how this will turn out. If it does not seem to be working properly, there are other tools that can create exact images, such as "HDD Raw Copy" (which I have used):

http://www.hddguru.com/software/HDD-Raw-Copy-Tool/

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Again a very useful contribution. I am not sure I would have thought of that although Paul Purviance had already stressed the importance of backing up unused sectors for a full backup of a hard drive (or a partitition) in viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2257&hilit=Paul&start=10#p11974
By the way, he advised me in this posting to create a backup image of the disk (partittion) instead of copying it.

When taking a look at the pertinent page of the Image for DOS Manual I found out that the "Copy Unused Sectors" option "causes Image for DOS to ignore the Omit Page File Data and Omit Hibernation Data options."

So I think that it is easiest for me to use Image for DOS to fully backup my two non-bootable Win7 partitions as IFD is incorporated within BIBM. If IFD does not detect my external USB hard drive I will change over to IFW, which is known to detect it.

As concerns "HDD Raw Copy", this is certainly an interesting piece of software. But I think I will stick to Terabyte products since each new software requires a new learning process whereas Terabyte products give me a certain degree of familiararity (although not always based on sound knowledge) and I can always rely on competent help from this forum.

After having created full backups of my lost Win7 and my currently functioning Win7_2014, I applied KB 492 (BCD Edit Feature) on the lost Win7 without any problems and then carried out KB 327 (bootrec /fixboot in WinRE command prompt) after the WinRE Repair option had successfully found the lost partition.

The result of the repair can be found in Attachments 1 and 2. The message at the endpoint of the boot process of the lost Win7 is shown in Attachment 3.

The faulty msisadrv.sys is lacking certain properties that I found for it in my only functioning Win7 (restored from 2014 image). My next step will be to copy this version over to the lost Win7. I will report on the outcome.

sigi wrote:
>
> The faulty msisadrv.sys is lacking certain properties that I found for it
> in my only functioning Win7 (restored from 2014 image). My next step will
> be to copy this version over to the lost Win7. I will report on the
> outcome.

As announced above, I copied msisadrv.sys from Win7_2014 to Win7_lost and started again the latter with TBWinRE. This time the summary of the system repair function reported another faulty driver (msisadrv.sys). Again I replaced it by its Win7_2014 version and repeated TBWinRE. However, the objection to this driver persisted. So I decided to rename the entire Win7_lost driver folder to "driverbak" and copied the whole driver folder from Win7_2014 over to Win7_lost.

Having become a little bit optimistic, I let BIBM boot Win7_lost. The result was the same as in the Attachment titled "Endpoint of boot process of Win7_lost.jpg" (download/file.php?id=408) of my previous post. But when I pressed "Enter", a Troubleshooting Window (I do not know the correct translation into English) popped up (Attachment 1) with the two options "Start Help (recommended)" and "Start Windows normally". The first option resulted again in the above Attachment "Endpoint of boot process of Win7_lost" of my previous post. The second option started Win7 showing the Windows start screen for about 3 seconds (Attachment 2), after which the black screen of the Attachment "Endpoint of boot process of Win7_lost" of my previous post reappeared.

The appearance of the Windows start screen corresponds to the line of text "Problemsignatur 07: NoBootFailure", which is shown in the Attachment titled "Result of WinRE Repair to be sent to MS.jpg" (download/file.php?id=409) of my previous post.

So, there is no longer an error in the boot file but the BCD store file contains some invalid information and the associated Windows Boot Loader entry may not be available until the problem is rectified as the black screen puts it.

I would highly welcome any advice on how to track down the invalid BCD store information that prevents the Windows Boot Loader to take over.

not sure what you're trying to do, but if you recovered data from
overwritten partition, then save those data files some place, reinstall
windows fresh, copy those files back.


"sigi" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

sigi wrote:

Are you suggesting that this partition cannot be revived or are you just stressing the well-known principle that it is more expedient to setup a fresh Windows installation than try to cure a degraded system?

I am keen on reviving my six years old Win7 and I have the feeling that my attempts are just short of their successful conclusion. Am I mistaken? Isn't it possible that there exist already logfiles of the interrupted start attempts of Win7_lost?

If I wanted a fresh installation I could try to render Win7_Koy bootable (the one I tried to upgrade to Win10, which brought about the mess). This installation is perhaps two months old. Or I could stay with my presently operational Win7_2014, which has almost all of the cusomization that my Win7_lost had and it can see and use the files of Win7_lost if I include the latter in the boot details of Win7_2014. But even so, I would like to get Win7_lost back as a bootable partition if at all possible. Can you or any other member help me with this?

I'm saying your wasting a lot of time and in the end you still don't know if
you'll have a stable system. At least do an in place upgrade type of
install over it instead of messing around file by file.


"sigi" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

Are you suggesting that this partition cannot be revived or are you just
stressing the well-known principle that it is more expedient to setup a
fresh Windows installation than try to cure a degraded system?

TeraByte Support wrote:
>
> At least do an in place upgrade type of
> install over it instead of messing around file by file.
>


QUESTION 1

Doesn't an Inplace Upgrade work in a started Win7? It is my problem that I cannot start it, though.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TeraByte Support wrote:
>
> I'm saying your wasting a lot of time
>
You are completely right. From a productivity standpoint it is folly to carry on. But before giving up I woud like to go one (final) step further in order to satisfy my academic interest, which I would also attribute to many BIBM forum members and to readers of this thread.

Since Win7_lost starts booting but breaks off after about three seconds it came to my mind whether it was perhaps looking in vain for SATA drivers that may have been corrupted by the 100 MiB System partition created by the Win10 Updater of my Win7_Koy.

I have had a look at some of your KB articles dealing with SATA/IDE problems and I came across the following very instructive link: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/253 ... drive-bios, which showed me how tricky the subsequent installation of SATA drivers can be in order for Windows to detect or completely disregard them.
My PC contains some pertinent BIOS Settings and so does BIBM. I picked some combinations of these Settings, but these did not change anything in the startup behaviour described in my previous post. I also added within TBWinRE System Recovery options the SATA drivers from my GIGABYTE DVD that came with my PC, to no avail.


QUESTION 2

Could corrupted SATA drivers be at the root of my problem and if so, could you try to help me with this or is it too complicated?

I would guess it's going to be a lot more than the sata drivers.

What you could try is to install without formatting, save a copy of your
registries (\windows\system32\config) before installing, then when done, you
could try putting back those registries (at least the software side).



"sigi" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

TeraByte Support wrote:
>
> At least do an in place upgrade type of
> install over it instead of messing around file by file.
>


QUESTION 1

Doesn't an Inplace Upgrade work in a started Win7? It is my problem that I
cannot start it, though.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TeraByte Support wrote:
>
> I'm saying your wasting a lot of time
>
You are completely right. From a productivity standpoint it is folly to
carry on. But before giving up I woud like to go one (final) step further in
order to satisfy my academic interest, which I would also attribute to many
BIBM forum members and to readers of this thread.

Since Win7_lost starts booting but breaks off after about three seconds it
came to my mind whether it was perhaps looking in vain for SATA drivers that
may have been corrupted by the 100 MiB System partition created by the Win10
Updater of my Win7_Koy.

I have had a look at some of your KB articles dealing with SATA/IDE problems
and I came across the following very instructive link:

[
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/253 ... drive-bios
](http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/253552-32-turn-sata-drive-bios)

, which showed me how tricky the subsequent installation of SATA drivers can
be in order for Windows to detect or completely disregard them.
My PC contains some pertinent BIOS Settings and so does BIBM. I picked some
combinations of these Settings, but these did not change anything in the
startup behaviour described in my previous post. I also added within TBWinRE
System Recovery options the SATA drivers from my GIGABYTE DVD that came with
my PC, to no avail.


QUESTION 2

Could corrupted SATA drivers be at the root of my problem and if so, could
you try to help me with this or is it too complicated?