[NexusPerplexus]

Hello,

I'm having a problem with XP reporting apparently conflicting information about disk capacity.

I have a 60GB hard drive on my laptop, with XP installed on single partition, and about 25GB of free space. My problems began when I attempted to install Ubuntu Linux on the same drive; using the partition utility included with the install program, I created a 10GB partition for Linux (leaving XP on the remaining 47GB or so partition). The installer froze when it was about 50% finished; when I rebooted, I received a "no operating system found" message. Yikes! Fortunately, after rerunning the partition utility on the install disk, I was able to recombine the two partitions, reforming the ~57GB single partition. I was then able to restart XP, which loaded with no problems. The system appeared to be in its original state.

I noticed, however, that XP no longer reported the disk size to be around 60GB under the disk properties; instead, it reports 46.5 GB. Baffled, I invoked the XP Disk Management utilty, then ran CHKDSK, and finally installed Partition Magic, but I can't make sense of the results.

The tools appear to be reporting 57GB for the partition, while others show 46GB. The difference appears to be rougly equal to the 10GB I set aside for the Linux partition, so I'm assuming that the failed install attempt is the source of my problem. For the record, I have a ~500MB swap file, 5% maximum space allotted to the Recycle Bin (Norton recycle bin manager is *not* installed), and a virtual CD drive managed by Alcohol 120%.

Here's some of the info I've gathered. XP's Disk Management reports a 46.6 GB partition on a 56GB disk.



Partition Magic shows a 57GB partition, but says there is 35GB used and 12.6GB unused. Something isn't adding up...



Partition Magic's Partition Properties dialog clearly shows a 47GB partition. I haven't yet bothered to look up how the sector math works out.



I seem to be getting inconsistent information like this everywhere. Is there any way to get to the bottom of this? Is there a chance for a fix, or did I screw it up with my failed Linux install? Or is the system okay, and I'm simply not understanding the mechanics of it?

I appreciate any suggestions, questions, or advice that you can offer. Thanks!

Edited by NexusPerplexus, 23 February 2006 - 03:32 AM.

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I would use a bootable Knoppix Cd to see if you can format the lost disk space. What probably has happened it the partition was made but not formatted by ubuntu. I tried ubuntu but liked knoppix and mepis much better. Heres a webpage on knoppix.

http://www.shockfami...cedric/knoppix/

SRX660

[SRX660]

I would use a bootable Knoppix Cd to see if you can format the lost disk space. What probably has happened it the partition was made but not formatted by ubuntu. I tried ubuntu but liked knoppix and mepis much better. Heres a webpage on knoppix.

http://www.shockfami...cedric/knoppix/

SRX660

[gerryf]

I would probably start with a chkdsk /r

If the problem persists, drop into the recovery console and type

fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

NOTE: THIS IS A SINGLE DRIVE SYSTEM, correct? Just making sure that you did not cut something off the bottom of disk manager window

IF fixmbr gives you a warning, STOP, do not continue, but report back first

[NexusPerplexus]

Yes, this is a single-drive system. I have already run chkdsk /r from the recovery console; it reports that "errors were found", but doesn't mention anything about having fixed them.

[gerryf]

Right click MY COMPUTER, choose MANAGE, go to EVENT VIEWER, APPLICATION, look for WINLOGON

copy and paste using the copy/paste button the results here

[NexusPerplexus]

There are 11 entries for Winlogon; 5 have Event ID 1001; the rest have event ID 1002 ("The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted.")

The first 1001 entry is from prior to the failed installation; the second one is from the date of the failed installation and the last one is from today. Here are the first two:

Event Type:	Information
Event Source:	Winlogon
Event Category:	None
Event ID:	1001
Date:		1/17/2006
Time:		11:49:34 AM
User:		N/A
Computer:	AETHER_STORM
Description:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Hard Disk.


One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You
may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended
that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.						 
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 180 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 180 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 180 unused security descriptors.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

  58597056 KB total disk space.
  34485540 KB in 114389 files.
	 40588 KB in 13411 indexes.
		 0 KB in bad sectors.
	135184 KB in use by the system.
	  4096 KB occupied by the log file.
  23935744 KB available on disk.

	  4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
  14649264 total allocation units on disk.
   5983936 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
d0 f6 01 00 43 f3 01 00 18 dc 02 00 00 00 00 00  ....C...........
68 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 02 00 00 00 00 00 00  h...............
38 23 b0 03 00 00 00 00 ea 44 92 7a 00 00 00 00  8#.......D.z....
a2 10 43 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..C.............
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b8 96 fd 8a 00 00 00 00  ................
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 80 38 07 00 d5 be 01 00  ..6......8......
00 00 00 00 00 90 d4 38 08 00 00 00 63 34 00 00  .......8....c4..

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type:	Information
Event Source:	Winlogon
Event Category:	None
Event ID:	1001
Date:		2/8/2006
Time:		8:27:20 AM
User:		N/A
Computer:	AETHER_STORM
Description:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Hard Disk.


One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You
may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended
that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.						 
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 14 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 14 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 14 unused security descriptors.

  48828120 KB total disk space.
  35245200 KB in 116413 files.
	 41312 KB in 13529 indexes.
		 0 KB in bad sectors.
	136512 KB in use by the system.
	  4096 KB occupied by the log file.
  13405096 KB available on disk.

	  4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
  12207030 total allocation units on disk.
   3351274 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
30 fd 01 00 a1 fb 01 00 fc e7 02 00 00 00 00 00  0...............
fd 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 69 01 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........i.......
ec e7 b4 03 00 00 00 00 2e 58 f1 7d 00 00 00 00  .........X.}....
98 2a bb 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  .*..............
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 a4 51 81 8d 00 00 00 00  .........Q......
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 80 38 07 00 bd c6 01 00  ..6......8......
00 00 00 00 00 40 32 67 08 00 00 00 d9 34 00 00  [email protected]..

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

The last three look like the second one (48828120 KB total disk space, etc.), with 21, 2, and 3 unused index entries, respectively.

I tried running fixmbr from the recovery console, and received the warning that I believe you were anticipating: "This disk has a non-standard or invalid master boot record...".

Yikes

Edited by NexusPerplexus, 23 February 2006 - 01:09 PM.

[gerryf]

can i see your boot.ini

start run
notepad c:\boot.ini
<enter>

[NexusPerplexus]

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[gerryf]

Well, I'm of the opinion that you go ahead and run the
fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

BUT...any chance you can create a disk image first?

Here's what I'm wondering....I am worried that ubuntu resized your disk and created a partition IN FRONT of your active partition, then hid it. I am not familir with that distro or what it uses to create a dual boot.

I don't think it did that, but it may have

As long as it created it behind, you should be OK

If it created it before, you might need to run

fixboot c:
from the recovery console to get back into windows

If I had the machine in front of me, I would image it first. try the above.

Any chance you've got an extra drive laying around for that?

[NexusPerplexus]

This is a laptop, so no, unfortunately, I don't have a drive with which to make a backup image.

Just to clarify: you're saying to try fixmbr, and if I'm unable to boot to Windows afterward, run "fixboot c:" from the recovery console? From what you can tell, is fixboot very likely, somewhat likely, or questionably likely to undo any damage that might be done by fixmbr? In other words, do should I hold my breath when doing this?

I realize that there's always a risk when mucking with a system--I'm not looking to shift the blame to you if something goes wrong. I'm just making sure that I know what I'm getting myself into

Edited by NexusPerplexus, 23 February 2006 - 02:10 PM.

[gerryf]

don't blame you

Here's how this whole thing works in vastly simplified terms

PC starts and the hardware check begins

hardware check finishes, then access harddrive master boot record

master boot record says, ok, the active partition here over HERE, point to partition boot record--go there

boot record says, OK, well, let's start this ppuppy up and takes a look at the boot.ini file, then passes control of the boot process to windows

---------

I think that, well, know that, your MBR is messed up...it is reporting your drive as smaller than it is, because grub or lilo or whatever with the linux distro rewrote the Master boot record

What I do not know is what ELSE it did when it rewrote the master boot record---it resized your partition smaller, created a second partition, or started to. If it put that second partition at the end of the first, which makes sense, then this should be failry straight forward.

Rewriting the MBR should make everything fine and the boot record (which is not the same as the master boot record) should be fine

You will still have an unpartitioned space on the drive, but Partition Magic should allow you to enlarge your partition.

Do I think you will be OK without the disk image....yes, pretty much...I like to be careful.

Things that can go wrong

Fixmbr repairs the mbr, but the partition that was created is no longer the first one


fixboot c:
or
fixboot d:

might get you up and running


If that fails, a win98 booddsik with the

fdisk /mbr command might work

In systems where I have seen the mbr get corrupted, sometimes this requires copying some added system files ntldr back onto the drive, or rewriting boot.ini so it points to the correct place.

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

It should be noted that fixing the mbr or boot sector should not harm your data unless something else is drastically wrong.

Do you have a windows xp CD?

[NexusPerplexus]

Thanks a bunch for the info. Yes, I have an XP cd. I'll try fixmbr and let you know what happens.

[gerryf]

If it fails, you should be able to run a repair windows install

http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

If that were to fail, I would buy a 2.5 drive enclosure, pull the drive to grab the data from this laptop, then simply reinstall after deleting all partitions.

[NexusPerplexus]

I ran fixmbr without problems, but it didn't fix the problem. I need to run off for a bit; I'll try the repair installation when I return. Thanks again for your help

[gerryf]

A repair will not fix the capaciity being misreported--it would only have fixed the lack of windows starting


If you run fixmbr again, do you still get the error message?