Hard Drive - Fixable?

DaveyD · 24 Jan 2008 at 15:54

Hi there,

One of my machines has died, and both Hard Drives appear to have become corrupt in some way or another.

It appears they have both become corrupt by means unkown to me, probably a virus or something similar. Basically Windows Server 2003 tries to boot and then a bluescreen is displayed mentioning UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME.

I have started up a Windows 2003 disc and gone in to the recovery console, but using chkdsk /r and fixboot do not fix the problem.

In the recovery console, I can browse the file and directory structure okay, but I don't know how I can get to the files properly.

When I plug the HDD in to another PC, Windows detects and installs it, but I can not see of browse it in My Computer.

Are there any programs I can use easily on another PC to get to the files or fix the file system on the Hard Drives?

Cheers,

Dave

agw_01 · 24 Jan 2008 at 16:00

When you put the drive into another computer, go into Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management and try allocating a drive letter.

Should make it visible in My Computer.

Have you also tried fixmbr in the recovery console?

DaveyD · 24 Jan 2008 at 17:24

I will have a go at fixmbr first, then will attemp to stick it back in a PC.

If it was a virus that has caused this, is there a way to virus check it at all?

RobH · 24 Jan 2008 at 17:29

My External USB drive that is formatted with NTFS became corrupted and I couldn't see it on my computer at all, however I could see it connected in Disk Management (See agw_01's post for how to do this). The partition had become marked as "hidden" for some reason, I right clicked it and selected "unhide partition" and it seemed to fix it.

Senture · 24 Jan 2008 at 17:59

DaveyD said:
a bluescreen is displayed mentioning UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME.

I've had that BSOD happen due to a defective DVD drive.

DaveyD · 25 Jan 2008 at 11:31

I've managed to get one of the HDDs on my PC and it's been able to read the data fine, however my other boot HDD is not.

The boot HDD on my PC shows up on my computer. The computer appears to think the HDD needs formatting, and thus is not allowing me to access anything on the drive.

What's my best option? There any software solutions that could fix it? I've tried fixmbr, fixboot and chkdsk /r on recovery console.

Cheers.