jaclaz

We have an entire section dedicated to this: http://www.msfn.org/board/install-windows-usb-f157.html I actually missed the "tons" of tutorials, as the methods were developed right here and the possibility of a multi setup has been added since a lot of time. This is probably where you should start: http://www.msfn.org/board/install-usb-wins...ui-t120444.html but do check the other methods too. jaclaz

If I may, the whole problem is about "assumptions". Partition Magic "assumes" that certain limits/boundaries/settings are "wrong" Ghost "assumes" that a given filesystem "needs" to have a given cluster size System Commander probably "assumes" something yet different. XP formatting/partitioning utilities have different "assumptions" Vista/Win 7 formatting/partitioning utilities have different "assumptions" (and though inaccessible at this time, due to boot-land problems, there is a recent thread where we are trying to understand, at least partly, some of these assumptions) You won't be able to install Vista/Win 7 directly on FAT32, AFAIK: Wiping unused space is a possibility: http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/ http://eraser.heidi.ie/announcements/20091215.html http://sourceforge.net/projects/wipefreespace/ http://www.somacon.com/p336.php http://www.killdisk.com/ jaclaz

If it doesn't work on Qemu, there must be some problems. I have always used Qemu for testing 98 "lite" builds. I have no time/occasion to try this new build, but if anyone is into experimenting, can they try with Qemu Manager 6.0 version? (the Qemu version coming with it has more virtual hardware to choose among) The site seems like down right now http://qemu-forum.ipi.fi/viewtopic.php?f=5...p;sk=t&sd=a A couple of Chinese mirrors: http://wznetcom.onlinedown.net/down/setupqemuk60.zip http://smx.onlinedown.net/down/files/setupqemuk60.zip @betaluva I can understand needing a mail app, but if I get it right the build already has Opera (which is also a mail client - and a d@mn good one), and Outlook Express , and version 6 , comeon! However, I guess that it can be installed, but it would be tricky business: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307295/en-us as the system is a half 95/half 98 one. http://email.about.com/od/outlookexpresstr...einstall_oe.htm and you'll end up with Internet Explorer as well (which is the main thing that is being removed) An app that may be useful (following the spirit of the "recovery/emergency" usefulness of this build) could be a OE viewer: http://www.mitec.cz/mailview.html jaclaz

@sixcentgeorge Guess WHY the project is called grub4dos and not GRUB? Not directly, but there are ways. My guess is that 7 will work like Vista does: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...mp;#entry119093 jaclaz

It seems like they are not used anymore. Post just above yours (coloured for your convenience) have you tried with /L1043? jaclaz

I don't get it. The OP in the thread you linked to said he found what the problem was: jaclaz

I seem to remember that in BOOTMGR you need to chainload grldr.mbr and not grldr with latest grub4dos versions. jaclaz

Sure , I see exactly 69.99 reasons to try using first the other ones. jaclaz

Happy to have contributed to yet another happy bunny. jaclaz

Yep. As graphically explained in the linked page: http://www.multibooters.co.uk/multiboot.html Normal NT 4.x/5.x booting: MBR->bootsector->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NTDETECT.COM->Windows 5.x Normal NT 6.x/7 booting: MBR->bootsector->BOOTMGR->BCD->WINLOAD.EXE->Windows 6.x/7 Normal NT6.x/7 with NT 4.x/5.x dual booting: MBR->bootsector->BOOTMGR->BCD->WINLOAD.EXE->Windows 6.x/7 or: MBR->bootsector->BOOTMGR->BCD->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NTDETECT.COM->Windows 5.x The bolded part should be the link you are missing, you need an entry in BCD for booting a previous NT system. Or if you prefer BOOT.INI is read by NTLDR and not by BOOTMGR. There might be an exception, possibly a LONGHORN version, if I remember correctly. jaclaz

And which kind of magic spell are you going to use to update the BCD? Just for the record, spells involving the use of parts of dead animals have been recently banned by the 2009 Witches and Wizard Association Annual Congress. jaclaz

If you just deleted the data, you can use an undelete utility. Is this NTFS or FAT32? Suitable apps: http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?language=1 http://www.piriform.com/recuva http://www.octanesoft.com/data_recovery_free_edition.html jaclaz

I have the impression that you need to read attentively this page: http://www.multibooters.co.uk/multiboot.html to have a clearer idea of a multiboot process with NTLDR and BOOTMGR. jaclaz

Just for the record, you may be unaware of the change in FORMAT command in Vista: http://www.msfn.org/board/vista-quick-form...on-t135781.html http://www.msfn.org/board/vista-quick-form...781-page-9.html HDerase is a DOS only utility, and is the lowest possible level one (please read as fastest) as it uses internal disk commands. You can add to your CD or USB stick a DOS floppy image containing HDerase or simply use the UBCD: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ UBCD can also booted "as .iso" from grub4dos. There are tens of apps that will wipe a hard disk under a PE 1.x, though generally they are GUI, here is one: http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=14 and here one that also has a command line interface: http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/ More ideas here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21073 jaclaz

Wrong approach. hiren's boot CD is considered WAREZ. Get the real ntfs4dos from its homepage and read the docs: http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/11/avira_n...s_personal.html jaclaz

Happy to hear you made it . A PCB on modern hard disks is "tied" to it's mechanical parts. To exchange succesfully PCB boards you need to also exchange the data in some flash chips (or physically exchange the chips by de-soldering them from one PCB and re-solder it on the other). Firmware is (obviously) the same for each "family" of drives, so it doesn't make difference if you flash it with the PCB connected to one or the other drive. Most probably by exchanging the boards you somehow managed to get the board in an "error" state that allowed re-flashing the firmware and recover from error once the "right" PCB and drive were again coupled. This is however NOT, NOT recommended as there are concrete possibilities that you can end with two dead drives instead of one. jaclaz

Difficult to say. Since you are working on an image (and you can always make a new image exactly as the one you have now in your hands - or at least this is the idea), you have nothing to loose in writing the changes and use some other tool on the image. Most probably, now that you have recovered the "base directory structure" it would be possible to recover manually the pointers to their contents, but is not something that you can learn from a couple posts on a Forum (or that I can teach you quickly). Your best option as I see it, is to throw at the semi-recovered image any tool you can find. jaclaz

Another non-Rusian speaking, but apparently the issue/solution is the following: a LCD display screen has been replaced the replacement screen has a much lower brightness than the old one brightness adjustment to max is not enough Apparently inside the screen there is a programmable chip, let's call it a "flash" that holds settings. You need to read the old settings from the "old screen" and re-program them on the new one, by using a hardware flash programmer for 24S02 series chips. jaclaz

Yep, the procedure is correct. This way you have: a completely blank first FAT a second FAT in which First sector is blank and all the others remain the ones from the "old" image Now it all depends on how much of the second FAT has been overwritten by fbinst. (and also how the data was organized on the "lost" partition). TESTDISK might be able to make some sense from it: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Advanced_FA...pair_FAT_tables You can also try to leave both First and Second FAT (i.e. overwrite first 63+32 sectors only) with the ones from the freshly created image and try again TESTDISK, and then some other data recovery program. PHOTOREC is still an option, if anything at a "higher level fails", expecially if the drive wasn't much fragmented. jaclaz

Start Sector is 61432560. Now use MKimg/MBRbatch to make on a NTFS partition a new SPARSE image (it will occupy a bunch of Mb only): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=3191 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5000 Size: 61432560x512=31,453,470,720 Geometry: 255/63 Format as FAT32 LBA (0C). While the image is mounted, check with tiny hexer the FAT32 bootsector. You have in the image 63 hidden sectors+ (possibly 32) Reserved sectors + 2 x (possibly 15352) sectors per fat table. You need to extract from the new image: the hidden sectors (63) the reserved sectors (32) the sectors for first FAT table (15352) first sector of second FAT table (1) Verify the above values with the ones of the image you created, 63+32+15352+1=15,448x512=7,909,376 bytes Overwrite first 7,909,376 of the 30 Gbish image of the "formatted" hard disk with those extracted by the brand new image. Then run TESTDISK on the resulting image. It is possible that you may able to recover a number of files this way. jaclaz

It seems to me everyone is making this more complicated that needed. We are talking of a simple dual booting between XP and 98. There is no actual "need" for grub4dos or any of the other "advanced" bootloaders. NTLDR can manage the thing easily. You might need bootpart as a useful tool: http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm Read the appropriate guide here: http://thpc.info/dualboot.html here: http://thpc.info/dual/dual_xp_2k_nt.html or here: http://thpc.info/dual/dual_9xme.html jaclaz

Yes. No, it won't affect a file based recovery, as long as you can verify that what TESTDISK has found really resembles what you had before. But it is advised that you anyway image the first (missing) partition, you only need some 30 Gb (which I hope you have somewhere available. An explanation of the situation, and of the problems it caused (and their resolution) fbinst writes roughly 8 Mb of data for it's peculiar partitioning scheme. What is lost is: MBR (and Partition table) 1 sector hidden sectors (usually 62) FAT32 bootsector and hidden sectors (possibly 32) First and probably part of second FAT table. for such a volume, fat should be around 15352 for each table If my estimation is correct: 63+32+15,352+15,352=30,799*512=15,769,088 Overwriting 8 Mb should leave most of the 2nd copy of FAT "as it was". Partial recovery of a FAT table is not straightforward, but it should be possible. If you post as an attachment the MBR as it is recovered by TESTDISK (or the DATA within it), a good way is to use Tiny hexer and my PTview Structure Viewer: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8734 and save the .htm Or use HDhacker to save first sector of PhysicalDrive: http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/ and compress it in a .zip archive. I may be able to give you a couple of hints on what to do/where to look for the partial FAT. The amount of success you will have with PHOTOREC (or other file-based recovery) greatly depends on the level of fragmentation your drive had and on size of the files that were on it, and it could be an additional attempts once (and if) some files are recovered through a "fixed" FAT table. But we need to have that 30 Gb or so data imaged, as we need to change some DATA in it, and it may make things worse. jaclaz

Also: http://www.ext2fsd.com/ jaclaz

First thing: DON'T PANIC (assume the above to be written in large, friendly letters) Then, read here: http://www.msfn.org/board/usb-access-problem-t133933.html to get a "general" idea of the needed steps. Then try using TESTDISK on it. It is possible that the thing is simply dead, buit it is as well possible that it is only a partitioning/formatting problem that can be solved. IMAGE the stick with dsfo/dsfi or other app BEFORE any attempt on it. Another suitable app is this one: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7783 jaclaz

CATCH22 : Everyone can ask how to become a hacker. If you ask how you'll never be able to become one. jaclaz