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HDD trouble: error reading partition table, hangs PC on boot

topcat989

topcat989

Extremely [H]
2FA
Joined
Jan 2, 2001
Messages
38,629
Well here's the story:

I took a 300GB seagate Barracuda 7200.8 drive that's been sitting around as external storage and tried to move it's contents over to my unRAID media server. I put it into the BlacX and try to copy files over. I come back and find the operation stopped with a "cyclic redundancy error" in one movie, so I try again and highlight everything else but that one. It starts out ok. Come back an hour later and it's frozen. Unplug the HDD and try again, my system freezes. Turn off computer, hook directly to sata port, computer hangs on boot. Pull sata cable, reboot into windows, connect HDD, windows hangs. Tried seagate tools, can boot into it, but hangs. Tried SpinRite, it hangs on "searching for drives" and eventually says "0error reading partition table" over and over.

I've got tons of old school classic prawn on this drive, it must be saved:(

help?:confused:

Cliffs:

1) RTFT
 
Did you try to use it as an external and do a CHKDSK on the disk?
I had that error before on my boot drive not too long ago. I think it fixed it.
 
COOLDUDEGAMER said:
Did you try to use it as an external and do a CHKDSK on the disk?
I had that error before on my boot drive not too long ago. I think it fixed it.
Click to expand...

it hangs windos xp either connect to sata port or usb external.
 
You might be SOL there if even Spinrite can't get a read off it.
 
OK, here's what's happening:

bios sees HD, but every attempt to boot into the free dos program that the seagate tools, spinrite, and partition dr use loops on "error cannot read partition table sector0"

in otherwords, I cannot even get to spinrite, seagate tools, etc as it hangs the dos program that these tools need to run. I've tried booting with this drive as the only drive, i've booted with my good OS drive connected (but still booting off CD) and the only thing that changes is that the error reading partition table says drive 1 instead of drive 0. This is frustrating:mad::(

I'm going to try a few more things, but any help is surely appreciated.

and it pisses me off that the drive bellys up in the process of backing up the data on it:rolleyes:

I would use getdataback but I can't afford it (and all the mexican versions trip my antivirus software as loaded with malware and trojans)

UPDATE:

Win98 boot disk loads, but of course "error reading HD". Now I just have to figure out how to load the utilities I need into the win98 ISO and create another boot cd.
 
Last edited:
Most likely the drive is dead.

Do you have ahci on your motherboard?

Are you at all familiar with linux?
 
What you can try is connect to a Linux/BSD machine and write the first few sectors with zeroes. This would lead to some corruption, but allows the drive to at least function again, or so i think. I believe at least some HDDs go haywire when they cannot read their first sector.
 
Maybe a badblocks nondestructive test on the first part of the disk could trigger a sector reallocation/recovery of the partition table. However if sector 0 was totally lost I guess one could recreate it assuming that the drive had 1 partition that started on sector 63.
 
So just overwrite the first 63 sectors, which should be safe but wipe the partition table and boot code. If this works and the drive reallocates the bad sectors because you write to them, then your HDD works again and you can use recovery programs which can recover lost partitions like @Active File Recovery and many others.
 
Old Hippie said:
Why not try the trial and even see if it "reads" anything.

I'll bet not.
Click to expand...

OK, didn't realize there was a trial version

drescherjm said:
Most likely the drive is dead.

Do you have ahci on your motherboard?

Are you at all familiar with linux?
Click to expand...

1) :(

2)maybe, and what is it again? The mobo is a DFI nForce 250 lanparty mobo, socket 754

3) Not at all.

sub.mesa said:
What you can try is connect to a Linux/BSD machine and write the first few sectors with zeroes. This would lead to some corruption, but allows the drive to at least function again, or so i think. I believe at least some HDDs go haywire when they cannot read their first sector.
Click to expand...

I can set up a linux machine, but have no idea how to write over the first few sectors

drescherjm said:
Won't that kill the partition table?
Click to expand...

I think the partition table is already hosed

drescherjm said:
Maybe a badblocks nondestructive test on the first part of the disk could trigger a sector reallocation/recovery of the partition table. However if sector 0 was totally lost I guess one could recreate it assuming that the drive had 1 partition that started on sector 63.
Click to expand...

and I would do this how?

sub.mesa said:
So just overwrite the first 63 sectors, which should be safe but wipe the partition table and boot code. If this works and the drive reallocates the bad sectors because you write to them, then your HDD works again and you can use recovery programs which can recover lost partitions like @Active File Recovery and many others.
Click to expand...

I have no clue as how to just overwrite the first 63 sectors.....
 
I can set up a linux machine, but have no idea how to write over the first few sectors
Click to expand...

A live cd is all you need. Boot off the livecd. Then plug the drive in after the system is at the text prompt.

I recommend system rescue cd.
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

If you can do this I ( or others) can help with the testing.

I think the partition table is already hosed
Click to expand...
The drive may be able to recover that.

I have no clue as how to just overwrite the first 63 sectors
Click to expand...
I can help with that. If you can boot a livecd.

and I would do this how?
Click to expand...

with fdisk booted off the livecd. I can help you with that.

Did your drive only have 1 partition?
 
drescherjm said:
A live cd is all you need. Boot off the livecd. Then plug the drive in after the system is at the text prompt.

I recommend system rescue cd.
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

If you can do this I ( or others) can help with the testing.


The drive may be able to recover that.


I can help with that. If you can boot a livecd.



with fdisk booted off the livecd. I can help you with that.

Did your drive only have 1 partition?
Click to expand...

dl rescuecd now. It might be a couple of hours before I'm back AFKB. Only one partition, used the full 300gb as storage drive, no OS
 
drescherjm said:
A live cd is all you need. Boot off the livecd. Then plug the drive in after the system is at the text prompt.

I recommend system rescue cd.
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

If you can do this I ( or others) can help with the testing.


The drive may be able to recover that.


I can help with that. If you can boot a livecd.



with fdisk booted off the livecd. I can help you with that.

Did your drive only have 1 partition?
Click to expand...

OK I'm back. I have the system rescue cd and UBCD standing by......

even if I show as not logged in I'll check every 5-10 min
 
I just got home from work and I am eating dinner so I probably will check in at a similar rate..


How many drives (hard drives or ssd) do you have in your machine? Would it be a pain to pull the sata cable on all of them?
 
drescherjm said:
I just got home from work and I am eating dinner so I probably will check in at a similar rate..


How many drives (hard drives or ssd) do you have in your machine? Would it be a pain to pull the sata cable on all of them?
Click to expand...

It'll be easy, case is open, only have boot/OS drive and it's quick/easy to disconnect. Same with connecting/disconnecting the trouble child drive.

take your time, enjoy dinner:)
 
In either case please see if you can pull the sata cable on all disks and boot off the systemrescue cd. (Assuming you have some other way to connect to hardforum).
 
drescherjm said:
Do you have a second PC and are both machines hardwired to the network?
Click to expand...

no

drescherjm said:
In either case please see if you can pull the sata cable on all disks and boot off the systemrescue cd. (Assuming you have some other way to connect to hardforum).
Click to expand...

and no way to connect when this PC is down

can you type out instructions and I'll try them then come back
 
Okay. This will be a little harder but I will try.

1. Unplug all drives in the system except the cd/dvd drive.
2. Boot off the systemrescuecd -

select the default option. After about 2 to 5 minutes it should get to a prompt something like this

root@sysrescuecd %

At this prompt you can now plug in the bad drive. Yes sata hot plugging will be fine.

Then type the following at the prompt:

dmesg | tail

In the output printed it should mention sda or sdb this will be the drive you just plugged in.

You can look at the SMART data for the drive with the following command

smartctl --all /dev/sda | less

That is assuming the drive in your dmesg was sda. If it was sdb then

smartctl --all /dev/sdb | less

If this is showing up at least the drive is answering. Make a note of ID# 5 reallocated sectors. #197, #198 and #199.

An example of this command on my system is:

Code: 
jmd1 ~ # smartctl --all /dev/sda
smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [x86_64-pc-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD204UI
Serial Number:    S2HGJ1BZ836643
Firmware Version: 1AQ10001
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is:    Thu Feb  3 22:25:14 2011 EST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                                        was never started.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:                 (21060) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                        power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        ( 255) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x003f) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       24
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0026   056   056   000    Old_age   Always       -       19168
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0023   069   068   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       9615
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       57
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   252   252   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0024   252   252   015    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2683
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       72
181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1863452
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       144
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   064   055   000    Old_age   Always       -       33 (Min/Max 18/45)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   252   252   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x002a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
225 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       75

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%       138         -

Note: selective self-test log revision number (0) not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Completed [00% left] (0-65535)
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

If you get this far take a look at the partition table.

fdisk -l /dev/sda

or

fdisk -l /dev/sdb

depending on if you saw sda or sdb in your dmesg.

An example of this would be

Code: 
jmd0 ~ # fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
81 heads, 63 sectors/track, 122504 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4fe08fac

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048   625142447   312570200   83  Linux


At this point its probably be best to stop and tell me if the last command showed a partition table.
 
Thank you for taking the time, I appreciate it:)


I have dinner sitting in front of me now, so I'll take a break before starting. I printed out your post, but one thing, I do not see the key to make this charactor: |

I'm such a noob:p
 
The | or pipe symbol is
shift \

Edit:
Since its 11:30 PM here and I am exhausted I will probably be asleep when you finish this first test. I will try to answer any questions or comment on your findings in the morning. So you can just reboot after the test and put your working drive back.
 
Last edited:
drescherjm said:
The | or pipe symbol is
shift \

Edit:
Since its 11:30 PM here and I am exhausted I will probably be asleep when you finish this first test. I will try to answer any questions or comment on your findings in the morning. So you can just reboot after the test and put your working drive back.
Click to expand...

np and thx

No rush, it's not like I have to have to drive back up immediately, just by this weekend. Thanks again for your help

EDIT: OK here's what I've got.........

hdhelp005.jpg


Now whenever I try to use SpinRite or the SeaGate tools, well they use FreeDOS as the OS to run in, and here's when happens when I use the SpinRite, SeaGate tools or Partition Dr. boot CDs:

hdhelp006.jpg


and it just loops here.

This has now gone from a HD revovery to DATA RESCUE mission. IDC if the HD is destroyed, I just want to pull the data off if possible. It's not valuable enough to warrant data recovery service, but I'm willing to put some time into trying everything at home while I can......
 
Last edited:
Hi!

It seems that I have the exact same problem and I wonder if you were able to recover the data?
 
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