All NTFS boot sectors are unwriteable?

sjt269 · 3 Jun 2007 at 18:41

So, I formatted my hard drive, partioned it (30Gb for Windows and 'essential' programs, 127Gb for games and recordings) and installed Windows. Got all the software installed, everything ready for a fresh start. Then I tried to get into the 127Gb partition, but I hit a snag - it wasn't formatted. Okay, I thought, I'll click the 'Yes' option in the box asking me to format. Only it didn't format.

Went through the Windows format thing twice, with it just throwing its hands up in the air after an hour each time saying 'It can't be done'. Then I tried going through DOS and the command prompt, where I got the message:

Code:

The second NTFS boot sector is unwriteable
The first NTFS boot sector is unwriteable
All NTFS boot sectors are unwriteable. Cannot continue.
Format failed.

What's up? The hard drive has been working for a year (albeit shakily and prone to frequent suicides) now with 127Gb of it being used. The rest of the space was neglected, since at the time of installation, I didn't know about partitioning.

Any ideas would be much appreciated

Thanks
tTz

fobose · 3 Jun 2007 at 20:13

I have no idea and the MS library doesn't really help; http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/w2kmsgs/2415.asp

A long shot but try inserting your OS CD and booting from it, and then format the 127gb from there, worth a try anyway.

Drazic · 3 Jun 2007 at 22:59

You given it ago via computer mangement at all?

ByteJuggler · 4 Jun 2007 at 10:14

Well if atually accurate that message means the disk is dead as far as using as a boot drive is concerned as those blocks are required for booting. As long as the first sector on the disk (partition table) are still writeable then you should be able to still use it for data with suitable partitioning.

However that said, I would firstly try to completely wipe the disk and also test it with e.g. the manufacturers diagnostic tool to try to establish whether there is in fact something wrong with the disk or not. If there is it'd probably be better to RMA - I wouldn't probably want to ignore these errors if they are due to the disk starting to actually fail...

sjt269 · 4 Jun 2007 at 16:39

fobose said:
A long shot but try inserting your OS CD and booting from it, and then format the 127gb from there, worth a try anyway.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I hate playing about in BIOS type menus like that, I always end up screwing things up.

ByteJuggler said:
Well if atually accurate that message means the disk is dead as far as using as a boot drive is concerned as those blocks are required for booting. As long as the first sector on the disk (partition table) are still writeable then you should be able to still use it for data with suitable partitioning.

The disc is the boot drive, so I don't quite understand what you mean. I'm booting from a 30Gb partition with Windows on it, and trying to gain access to the unformatted 127Gb remaining.

Drazic said:
You given it ago via computer mangement at all?

No, I dunno what that is...could you elaborate a little?

ByteJuggler · 4 Jun 2007 at 17:25

tTz said:
The disc is the boot drive, so I don't quite understand what you mean. I'm booting from a 30Gb partition with Windows on it, and trying to gain access to the unformatted 127Gb remaining.

OK sorry I see now what you mean. Should've read your original post more carefully

Nevertheless, it sounds like there's some bad sectors on your disk, albeit fortunately not at the beginning of the disk, and that your second partition now happens to start on a bunch of them, and so its boot sectors fall on them causing the format failure. You could try repartitioning the disk so the second partition is a couple of hundred meg or whatever, and then make a third partition with the remainder of the space. Then see if the third partition formats successfully. (So doing, the second partition "covers" the bad blocks, and you avoid the format failing on the rest of the disk as a result of only a few bad sectors.)

That all said, I'd really do a diagnostic on the entire drive surface. (Note that some diagnostic tools are destructive so you may need to backup and verify your backup before performing such a test.) If the drive has lots of bad space I would recommend RMA'ing it.

sjt269 · 4 Jun 2007 at 18:45

ByteJuggler said:
If the drive has lots of bad space I would recommend RMA'ing it.

It's a year or so old, so I dunno if it's still covered by its waranty. Besides, I'll be getting a new PC in a few months (finances permitting) and there have been hints that it's a motherboard problem, and that getting a new HDD would possibly end up with a dead new HDD in a month or two. Bleh. I hate PCs sometimes.

TheCrow · 4 Jun 2007 at 23:59

try runningtestdisk

ByteJuggler · 5 Jun 2007 at 10:57

tTz said:
It's a year or so old, so I dunno if it's still covered by its waranty. Besides, I'll be getting a new PC in a few months (finances permitting) and there have been hints that it's a motherboard problem, and that getting a new HDD would possibly end up with a dead new HDD in a month or two. Bleh. I hate PCs sometimes.

Most drives have a 3 year warranty, Seagate's have 5. What brand is it? If you suspect a motherboard problem, then get the disk tested on aonther rig. Why do you suspect it's a motherboard problem and why do you expect it to kill the drive?

sjt269 · 5 Jun 2007 at 16:12

ByteJuggler said:
What brand is it?

Hitachi.

ByteJuggler said:
Why do you suspect it's a motherboard problem and why do you expect it to kill the drive?

Third time with this drive I've had serious problems, plus another two drives in this machine have met similar fates (corrupt file structure etc), though I rescued one of them eventually. Also, my DVDRW doesn't work properly in this PC (haven't tested it in another one yet) and that apparently is a strong hint that it's the motherboard.

ByteJuggler · 5 Jun 2007 at 16:47

tTz said:
Third time with this drive I've had serious problems, plus another two drives in this machine have met similar fates (corrupt file structure etc), though I rescued one of them eventually. Also, my DVDRW doesn't work properly in this PC (haven't tested it in another one yet) and that apparently is a strong hint that it's the motherboard.

OK well unless the motherboard is actually damaging the hardware, the drive is still fine even if it contains corrupt filesystem or partition structures. A full wipe/format/zeroing will sort out whatever corrupt filestructures might be on the disk at the moment. You might very well be right about your motherboard though (given the DVDRW problems.) I would run the hitachi diagnostics on the disk in another PC and RMA it if that finds a fault. If not, I'd try repartitioning on the other PC to see if that succeeds (which it should, if you've completely cleared it as part of the diagnostics or whatever.) Anyway, good luck...