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Thread ID: 23290 2002-08-12 10:18:00 Lost FAT theutmost (1402) Press F1
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70429 2002-08-12 10:18:00 Hi all.
Anyone with ideas on how to get back a lost FAT?
I exited from a WIN2K setup (on a Win98 drive) , and when I came out - the FAT was gone.
FDISK /mbr was suggested, but that didn't help.
Under FDISK, the partition is displayed as "unkown" file system.
ANyone know of useful utilities for recreating a FAT?
WHat do forensics do?

Cheers,
TU
theutmost (1402)
70430 2002-08-12 10:47:00 a friend had same problem and used "lost and found"

worked well cost lots :-)
robsonde (120)
70431 2002-08-12 10:55:00 lost+found you always try a trail prog if they have one(do they???) njonez (1460)
70432 2002-08-12 11:00:00 Lost & Found is now a discontinued product.

I really think that you are in for an expensive time to recover the data, any FAT recreation is going to be complex, examining all files on the drive, deciding start and end locations and assigning a "name" that will not bear any resemblence to the original filename (as that was lost in the FAT) in my understanding....but I hope I am wrong.
I can see a format and re-install looming.
godfather (25)
70433 2002-08-12 11:16:00 well my experience with FAT is not good at all i've lost the fat and now i have linux but i still have 10 GB in that dreaded FAT and i've had to do complete formating+reinstall of Win98 a couple of times cos it wouldn't boot up. if FAT comes back i reacokon that's the end of Microsoft(lol).

All i can say while your at it(formating etc)might be good idea to lose the FAT completely and get NTFS(can't access through standard DOS)


godfather - dosn't the filename prob only happen if the allocation table is mucked up???
njonez (1460)
70434 2002-08-12 11:20:00 Yes

FAT = File Allocation Table

Thats what I thought was "mucked up" here
godfather (25)
70435 2002-08-12 11:24:00 And windows 98 does not read NTFS and cannot boot from NTFS godfather (25)
70436 2002-08-12 11:25:00 It probably won't work but...

Go to work and create a system disk for Win 2K. Bring it home and boot with that. Also try scandisk off a floppy.

If that doesn't work my next (probably non-working) suggestion would be to try installing Win 2K again and install it into a new directory such as "win2k"
Heather P (163)
70437 2002-08-12 11:32:00 opps! sorry forgot to add windows to my comment that's what i actully meant. you could buy partion magic(couple of hundred+) or go back to win 2000 :( njonez (1460)
70438 2002-08-12 23:16:00 Thanks folks for your help :)

Godfather - Yeah, a format/reinstall is looking likely. I wanted some of the files off the drive first though... The FAT is not so much mucked up here as "missing". There is no valid FAT of ANY type. FAT32 or NTFS.

Njonez - yeah, I may well go to WIn2K, but I wanted to first:
1) Recover a few files.
2) Format the HDD to remove the messy WIn98 registry (I like to do it once every 6 months or so)
3) THEN reinstall WIndows - possibly 2K.

Heather P - I don't think the Win2K sys disk will be able to help me. Since there is no valid FAT of any type, I need a low level tool that can recreate it. I think the first thing the Win2K installer will do if I run it again, is tell me that there is no valid file system, and merrily go and format my HDD. Then my files really WILL be gone.

I have found a couple of tools on the web which I will try.
I will let you guys know how I get on after tonight.
Cheers,

tU
theutmost (1402)
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