The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

Hi everyone! I'm hoping this is a decent place to start this thread... My problem is a mixture of an installation and low-level software problem.


I just did a fresh install of Fedora Core 9 and I'm fairly new to linux. I've played around a bit before but it's been a while, and here's my problem. I have two hard drives:

1. 74GB WD SATA with a partition for Win XP (sda1), FC9 swap (sda2) and FC9 (sda3).
2. 80GB Maxtor IDE strictly for storage (hda).

I can boot into Win XP and FC9 fine. However, when I booted into Win XP, I realized I could no longer access my 2nd drive. It tells me:
D:\ is not accessible.

The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

I did a lot of Googling to no avail. I unplugged the 2nd HD to avoid any data loss until I could figure it out. As I went to boot back into Win XP, I got the following:
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
No drive found...

At that instant it dawned on me I installed the boot loader on drive 2 instead of drive 1! This leaves me where I am now. I'm sure the NTFS file system is still intact and all my files are there. However, I'm not sure how to remedy this. I'd like the boot loader back on drive 1 and drive 2 accessible again. Any help would be appreciated and thank you!

Boot up Fedora and execute this

Code:

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su -
fdisk -l

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Post output here. Post the contents of /boot/grub/grub.conf file too.

Sorry for the delay in my reply. I had to take care of a few other issues I was having with my new install first.

Here's what you asked for:

Code:

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Disk /dev/sda: 74.3 GB, 74355769344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9039 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc74fc74f

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sda1  *          1        7018    56372053+  7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            7019        7271    2032222+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4            7272        9039    14201460    5  Extended
/dev/sda5            7272        8782    12137076  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            8783        9039    2064321  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9964 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2b162b16

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sdb1  *          1        9963    80027766    7  HPFS/NTFS

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One funny thing I notice... I unplugged my 2nd drive (sdb) when I reinstalled FC9 yesterday. I just plugged it back in before posting this and it's recognizing it as a SCSI drive but it's really an IDE drive. It used to be recognized as hda before. The first drive (sda) really is a SATA drive.

Here's my grub.conf:

Code:

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#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,4)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.26.3-29.fc9.i686)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26.3-29.fc9.i686 ro root=UUID=ce4bb0a3-3e05-4c4c-b4dc-0fc80136a77c rhgb quiet
        initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.26.3-29.fc9.i686.img
title Fedora (2.6.25-14.fc9.i686)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25-14.fc9.i686 ro root=UUID=ce4bb0a3-3e05-4c4c-b4dc-0fc80136a77c rhgb quiet
        initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25-14.fc9.i686.img
title Win XP Pro
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1

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My initial intuition is to fix the MBR on the HD using the Windows FixMBR utility from the install CD. However, since this is a storage drive and doesn't have Windows installed on it, I'm not sure if the MBR of a HD with Windows installed on it is the same as a MBR just formatted with NTFS. I'm guessing it would be but I'm not sure. :confused:

I haven't gotten much response to this so I think I have a way to pose the question differently.

Does anyone know if the MBR on a primary drive with Windows installed on it is the same as a MBR on a drive with NTFS partitions on it and no Windows installed?

If it's the case that the MBRs are the same, I think I may be able to use the FixMBR utility on the Windows XP Recovery to rewrite the MBR.

I realize I'm asking Windows oriented questions in a Linux forum but Linux people are usually smart about both. ;)

Execute this

Code:

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su -
mkdir /media/sdb1
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1  /media/sdb1 -o defaults,umask=0
ls /media/sdb1

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Post exact error message here, if any.


MBR of Second Harddisk is empty because it hasn't any operating system. Fixmbr won't change any thing.
mount command will tell us exactly where problem is.

Here's the error I got:

Code:

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[root@localhost ~]# mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 -o defaults,umask=0
Record 0 has no FILE magic (0x4)
Failed to load $MFT: Input/output error
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb1': Input/output error
NTFS is either inconsistent, or you have hardware faults, or you have a
SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chkdsk /f on Windows
then reboot into Windows TWICE. The usage of the /f parameter is very
important! If you have SoftRAID/FakeRAID then first you must activate
it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g.
/dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation
for the details.

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Just as a reminder, I was able to mount this drive and see the partition before I reinstalled Linux and it started detecting it as sdb instead of hda. Windows just wouldn't see it...

Problem is with Harddisk or Partition Table only. Try force option in mount command and backup data.

Code:

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mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 -o defaults,umask=0,force

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In case it throws error again, replace ntfs-3g with ntfs in mount command.

I tried the force option and ntfs instead of ntfs-3g. No joy in either case. I just got the same error message. Just to verify, an ntfs formatted harddrive with no os installed and just data on it would have a blank mbr?

Quote:

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Just to verify, an ntfs formatted harddrive with no os installed and just data on it would have a blank mbr?

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MBR contains Boot Loader, Partition Table and Harddisk signatures. As I mentioned earlier, Boot loader are of MBR is empty in your Data Harddisk but MBR does contain Partition Table and Harddisk signatures.
I didn't mention Partition Table and signature in my last post because we were discussing boot loader only and you were asking about Fixmbr.
Fixmbr deals with Boot Loader area only and it doesn't change any thing in Partition Table.

That makes sense. I've tried reading the Wiki article on the MBR but I get a little lost in it... Perhaps I should focus on trying to get FC9 to recognize the drive as an hda instead of sdb drive. Any ideas of how I could do this?