[loonyless]

I installed the Ubuntu Operating system on my computer by mistake.

Foolish. But that's what happened.

I thought I was installing the Ubuntu that is used for storage purposes.

When I tried to restart my computer it would not restart.
I inserted the "Repair disc Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit" and eventually I got my computer to startup.

So I am still able to use my computer normally.

But my computer now seems to be totally corrupted because all drives are labeled incorrectly and Data1 and Data2 are completely missing.
This is what the Windows 7 Repair disc showed when I ran it.

The Repair disc labeled the Operating System that it finally found as "Recovered". But it was a corrupt Operating System.

But I am able see and browse all my drives and files whenever I turn on my computer.
How can that be?
The Windows 7 Repair disc says everything is corrupt.
But my computer looks perfectly normal when I turn it on.
Is my computer corrupt or not?

I tried to create an image backup of my computer using Acronis.
It gave me the below error message:
Backup failed. No reason given as to why.

Anyway I tried to fix the corruption by trying:

I tried using sfc /f
It didn't find any problems.

I ran a repair install of windows 7 from a windows 7 cd.
It didn't find any problems.

I tried to do a system restore to an earlier point in time.
None of the system restore options worked. All failed to restore to an earlier point in time.

It seems that I am stuck with a corrupt computer.

Do I have ANY options that will fix my computer?

Please help me!!!

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Welcome to Geeks to Go
There is absolutely no need to use Acronis

Windows 7 ultimate has its own backup including a system image

The only absolutely certain guaranteed method is to start again with a reinstall of Windows of course, although you may easily secure your personal datta by way of docs music video etc, you will I am sure know that prorgams unless incluxded in an image as against a mere backup will be lost, unless you have the reinstallation media

Before really maningful advice can be given we need to know the make and full model if branded

Is Ubuntu installed on the same drive as Windows and which system did you use to install Ubuntu eg, how did you proceed with the partition management for the install

Do you now have a dual boot, so that it boots to grub and you select from there.

Please provide all relevant information


This as a last resort before you even consider starting again is worth a try
https://help.ubuntu..../OS-Uninstaller

I would NOT try it without a backup and if you consider it important a complete image - as of course an image is a backup but a backup is not necessarily an image

[Macboatmaster]

Welcome to Geeks to Go
There is absolutely no need to use Acronis

Windows 7 ultimate has its own backup including a system image

The only absolutely certain guaranteed method is to start again with a reinstall of Windows of course, although you may easily secure your personal datta by way of docs music video etc, you will I am sure know that prorgams unless incluxded in an image as against a mere backup will be lost, unless you have the reinstallation media

Before really maningful advice can be given we need to know the make and full model if branded

Is Ubuntu installed on the same drive as Windows and which system did you use to install Ubuntu eg, how did you proceed with the partition management for the install

Do you now have a dual boot, so that it boots to grub and you select from there.

Please provide all relevant information


This as a last resort before you even consider starting again is worth a try
https://help.ubuntu..../OS-Uninstaller

I would NOT try it without a backup and if you consider it important a complete image - as of course an image is a backup but a backup is not necessarily an image

[loonyless]

Hello Macboatmaster

I installed Ubuntu using a file called wubi.exe.
I downloaded this file from the internet.
I thought I was installing Ubuntu One which is a free online storage service. But I was actually installing the Ubuntu OS.

Regarding Windows 7 ultimate having its own backup option including a backup with a system image.

That was very useful info. I didn't know that.
I will consider using that option.

I answered your questions below:

Is Ubuntu installed on the same drive as Windows?
Answer: Yes I think so.

Which system did you use to install Ubuntu eg, how did you proceed with the partition management for the install.

Answer: I did no partition management of any kind. I have Windows 7 and I simply clicked on wubi.exe.

Do you now have a dual boot, so that it boots to grub and you select from there.

Answer: I did not have at any time a dual boot or any other kind of boots options for that matter. My computer simply refused to start-up.

[loonyless]

Hi everyone,

I finally got a better understanding of what is going on.

I have a custom computer with a Ultra Durable 3 Motherboard.

In order to repair my computer I have to load the 3ware drivers which in turn load the Ultra Durable 3 Motherboard.

All of my Drive and Partition corruption shows up only if I don't load the 3ware drivers.

If I load the 3ware drivers then there is no Drive or Partition corruption.

[Macboatmaster]

On the link I sent you on my post 2 is

Important: if you want to uninstall Wubi (Ubuntu installed INSIDE Windows), please follow this guide.

explore that and follow the instructions please.

It is with respect a little difficult to tell what you have done now

You certainly should NOT do anything until you know, that if it goes pear shaped (all goes wrong) you have the means to recover without formatting and starting afresh OR indeed using any recovery partition.

[loonyless]

Hello Macboatmaster,

I ran EasyBCD. and I got the below:

------------------------------------------------------
There is one entry in the Windows bootloader.

Default: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
Timeout: 30 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: F:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
------------------------------------------------------

What does it mean?

[GryphonGuy]

I think it might be useful to everyone trying to help if you could screencap or manually list the output of the Disk Management Console. Whether you did it knowingly or not, you DID instruct Wubi to edit your partition table. The Windows Repair Disc almost certainly reported drives as corrupted because of the lack of drivers, which I suspect are behind some kind of software RAID you haven't told us about. The drivers also probably account for why you didn't end up with a working system after Wubi finished. GRUB probably was installed on a software RAID volume, and therefore came out unintelligible without the drivers, which probably aren't available for Linux.

Is there any actual problem with the usability of the computer aside from drives not having the names you want them to? If no, you can fix that in Disk Management and be on your merry way. Finally, I'll have to advise you to give up on system imaging, and just use something like Microsoft SyncToy to manually backup your data files in their raw form instead of trapped inside a system image file which may or may not be restorable. If the OS goes sideways, just reinstall the old fashioned way.

[loonyless]

Hello GryphonGuy,

Attached is the screen capture you asked for.

Question:
Is there any actual problem with the usability of the computer aside from drives not having the names you want them to?

Answer:
No, aside from drives named improperly my computer is running normally.

And the drives named improperly only show up when I first run the Windows Repair Disk and before I load the 3ware drivers for the Ultra Durable 3 Motherboard.

You are saying I can fix that in Disk Management. Right?

You are saying that I have to give up on System Imaging. Right?

You are saying to use something like Microsoft Synch Toy. Right?

I'm not sure I understand why I have to give up on System Imaging. If I use Disk Management to fix everything then shouldn't I be able to create a workable System Image?

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[GryphonGuy]

I notice you skillfully dodged the RAID question. Did you buy your computer in it's present hardware configuration, or did you add disks at some point?

If a drive letter is wrong, right click on the volume, and there'll be an option to change the drive letter. If you don't like "Data1" "Data2" etc, right-click and choose Properties. By the way, you should probably take the drive letter away from the HP recovery partition. Doing that will reduce the chances of accidentally messing it up. Same for "System Reserved." Nothing there you should be messing with.

It might still be possible to use system imaging, but it looks like it's going to be a problem, and it's only a convenience tool anyway. You can spend hours or days on a problem you may never solve, or in the event you do have to reinstall, you can spend an extra one or two hours reinstalling your programs manually. I've seen lots of reasons that imaging programs won't work. I can't use the Windows one because my configuration doesn't fit with it's expectations. Many antivirus programs will interfere. In your case, I'd say it has to do with the need for 3rd party drivers to access your filesystems, which does not exist in standard installations of Windows. If you feel you MUST image, use a CloneZilla LiveCD, but you'd better be sure, because it's easy to screw up and burn your data once and for all if you don't know which disk is which. It gets past those problems by lowering expectations-- it just reads whatever bits are there, doesn't care about file systems, drivers, spanned volumes or anything. But it probably won't work unless you can restore the image onto more or less identical hardware.

Sync Toy is free, really easy to use, and, for the most part, quite efficient. You'll be able to access your backed up files individually and from any computer, without having to unpack an entire image. The main benefit over copy paste is that it can check to see if files have been changed, added, or deleted, and work with a minimum of unnecessary transfer. (and therefore time)

Finally, if your install goes down the tube, it'll probably be better to start from scratch anyway. Skip all the programs and other garbage you don't use anymore.

Oh-- re: the restore point, you might want to check how much space you have allocated for restore points. Just something good to look at.

Let me know if you've added disks or anything funny since purchase.

[GryphonGuy]

Wait a second-- if this is custom, why do you have an "HP Recovery" Partition at all? Stick in a drive from an old dead computer?

Also, if you have any doubts at all about renaming anything, or how much data you might possibly have lost, post root directory lists for each drive. I.E. C: contains Users, Windows, Program files, et cetera. In particular, I'm curious to know where Ubuntu ended up.

Edited by GryphonGuy, 17 September 2012 - 12:42 AM.

[Macboatmaster]

Good advice from my colleague Gryphone Guy

I would however caution you against changing the drive letter

If a drive letter is wrong, right click on the volume, and there'll be an option to change the drive letter

• Many MS‑DOS and Windows programs make references to specific drive letters. If you change a drive letter, some programs that you have installed on your hard disk might not work correctly.
• You cannot change a drive letter if the drive is either a system partition or a boot partition. If you get an error, the partition or drive you are trying to change might be in use. Close any program or window that is using the partition or drive and try again.

Indeed if you change the drive letter of the system reserved partition, even if you are allowed to - Windows will not load.

Also this point my colleague makes

Wait a second-- if this is custom, why do you have an "HP Recovery" Partition at all? Stick in a drive from an old dead computer?

raises some concern in my mind as to exactly which Windows 7 Ultimate is being used on this computer. Would you please confirm the source of the installation of the O/S
by that I mean, is it from an HP computer, etc.

I personally think that you have been rather fortunate, and my own advice is, although you may of course decide yourself, that if it is running and everything is working, I would tend to leave well alone.

This is what should have happened with the installation of Ubuntu WUBI - Windows based ubuntu installer
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wubi

and here as well
http://www.ubuntu.co...tu-with-windows

[loonyless]

Hi GryphoneGuy,

I read all of your comments carefully. Thank you.

Regarding your Raid question:
I bought my computer in it's present hardware configuration.
I did not add disks at some point.


Regarding your question:
why do you have an "HP Recovery" Partition at all?
I don't know why. I bought this custom computer from a man who runs a "computer networking" business. He sets up networking for local businesses. I guess I could ask him.

Regarding your request:
Post root directory lists for each drive. I.E. C: contains Users, Windows, Program files, et cetera.
All root directories look normal.
But with one major difference.

My Go Flex external hard drive (used for backup) used to be drive H.
Now drive H is assigned to system reserved.
In "Disk Management" My Go Flex external hard drive shows up as drive O.
So there have been some changes made to drive names.

Regarding your question:
In particular, I'm curious to know where Ubuntu ended up?
I don't know how to answer this question.
Guessing, I would say that it got uninstalled and is no longer located anywhere.

If I overlooked one of your questions please ask it again.

[loonyless]

Hello Macboatmaster,

I read all of your comments carefully. Thank you.

Regarding your question:
Would you please confirm the source of the installation of the O/S?
by that I mean, is it from an HP computer, etc.
I don't think it is from an HP computer. I think it is a custom creation. I bought this custom computer from a man who runs a "computer networking" business. He sets up networking for local businesses. I guess I could ask him.

If I overlooked one of your questions please ask it again.

[Macboatmaster]

AND looking at the link I sent you is the guide to the WUBI what you saw and waht you ended up with and indeed which did you select when you installed it

You would not have had the grub boot screen as that does not apply to WUBI

The grub boot is when Ubuntu - not WUBI is installed as a second operating system or indeed as the only system and the grub boot takes over from the boot configuration of Windows 7.

I am still of the same opinion leave it alone until you find, if you do, that there are problems.

If the free agent go flex drive is used for backup, depending on how, now the drive letter has changed, you may have problems using the backup restore, but it will not effect of course the simple copy backup of personal data.

If it was used for Windows backup and you were going to use a system restore point from Windows that was restore from backup (system image) you most certainly would be likely to encounter problems, as the restore point would be looking for a backup (System image) on the PREVIOUS drive letter.

[loonyless]

Hello Macboatmaster,

Regarding your question:

AND looking at the link I sent you is the guide to the WUBI what you saw and what you ended up with and indeed which did you select when you installed it?
I never had an opportunity to select anything. After running wubi.exe I rebooted my computer and my computer would not startup. I never had an opportunity to select anything.

Thanks for your comments about system image backup problems. I may need that info.

I'm thinking to backup all my important files the simple way (no image) and then try to restore an Acronis image I created in April of this year. Acronis has the ability to browse to the Go Flex Drive O. And then browse to the actual image file. That implies that the image restore might actually work.
Does that sound like a good idea?

If the image doesn't work and I lose everything I can still reinstall Windows 7 from scratch and then put back my important files.
This seems to be my best option.

Or simply do nothing. Just keep on using my computer as is.
I will just create a system restore point for any future problems that might occur.
Creating an image would be a bad idea because it probably would be a corrupt image.

What are your thoughts?