[SOLVED] Recover a NTFS partition

[bugrush]

Hi, everybody

I've got a little problem here.

I have a 250gb hard drive which had 2 ntfs partitions on it. One 80gb for Windows and programs and other 170gb partition for all my documents and other data.

So I wanted to install Debian as 2nd OS on my computer. I resized my 170gb partition to 148gb and created 2gb swap and 20gb ext3 partition for linux and installed Debian on it and grub boot loader on the master boot record. Everything is working ok.

Then I started to mess with my ATI drivers, got black screens, searched stuff on google, reinstalled linux, etc... 3-4 times or so. Each time I deleted and recreated linux partitions in the partition manager while installing Debian. Maybe touched something else there too. I used latest Debian netinstall, but I did one install using my older Debian4 DVD from 2007.

Then at one point I had 5 entries on the grub boot loader(win, 2 pairs of linux boot options[normal and single user modes with different Z version numbers]). So I started messing around with grub and its command options - tried to delete 2 extra boot options. I think, I messed something up here.

Now I reinstalled Debian and grub for the last time and the installer didn't add my Windows entry for grub anymore. So I added Windows entry manually, but I was still unable boot to Windows. Then I tried to mount that NTFS partition under linux and see what's on there.
I got this error:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

I was only able to mount my other 148gb NTFS partition.
ntfsfix gave me this error:

Mounting volume... Failed to startup volume : Invalid argument
FAILED
Attempting to correct errors... FAILED
Failed to startup volume : Invalid argument
Volume is corrupt. You should run chkdsk.

And when I tried chkdsk on Windows, I got instantly:

Volume appears to have one or more unrecoverable problems

What can I do? Is it possible to fix it somehow? I had some really valueable stuff on my Windows desktop that really need to be recovered.

[rokytnji]

This tutorial I have found is the easiest to use by recovering data from Windows Boxes. Uses Knoppix live cd to do it though.

Geek to Live: Rescue files with a boot CD

[bugrush]

Thanks for the reply, but I don\t have problems with booting. I have debian installed just one of my NTFS partitions is corrupt. I can\t mount it on any linux.

This is the error that I get when trying to mount my corrupt partition from desktop:

Could not mount device.
The reported error was:
Bootsector checksum failed.
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda1' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong device? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? Or the other way around

[rokytnji]

I had some really valueable stuff on my Windows desktop that really need to be recovered.

This is what I was going by when I made my suggestion. As far as fixing a corrupted NTFS partition, that is beyond me.

Bootsector checksum failed.
Failed to startup volume: Invalid argument
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda1' doesn't have a valid NTFS.

In my link you will be using Knoppix to just recover Windows files you wish to keep to usb. You are going to have to delete that corrupt partition anyway, I was just giving you a way to save anything you wish to keep. I know you can boot into Debian, but Most recovery of Windows files are done with either Knoppix, Kantoix, or Ubuntu Live Cds and USB sticks. I am not familiar enough in Debian to know why you can't access your data using Debian. Sorry.

[bugrush]

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rokytnji: I tried Knoppix and Slax Live-CD's and I still wasn't able to mount my corrupt partition.
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OK, I fixed the NTFS bootsector using FIXBOOT in Windows Recovery Console. Everything is good now.

Thank you!