Notice I said "The machine wont boot I take it". Master Boot Record is very neat, it sits above the 'Boot Record", and the Boot Record sits above the File Allocation Table (FAT). Then you have your data area that sites under the FAT. The problem with FAT is it stores things without much care as to how many parts it ends up in and the clusters are very large. If to many clusters are physically damaged the disk stops working. I have set of Hard Disk platters that had a head crash happen to the top platter, it has a groove where the head made contact with the platter. Really Cool! I've installed Linux on a drive, deleted the partition, formated it FAT with the "/s" switch to place the DOS system on it, and Lilo starts the boot process. Until, I use the command from a floppy disk, fdisk /mbr. Then, the machine starts DOS just fine, I did it yesterday for a guy, Linux was just to much for him. If it isn't the master boot record a fat partition is toast without recovery software or call Ontrack. Google for "Recover FAT Table" you will have many choices of software. Ontrack will cost much more then the software. Depending on what the guy had on his computer it may be easier to just start over. But down load and run some utilities form the hard disk manufacturer to check the disk first. If the disk is really scrambled get a new one. Sam. John Hoffoss wrote: >The MBR is different than the FAT, so running fdisk /mbr may not do >anything. Unless of course it's the MBR that is hosed and not the FAT. > > > >>-----Original Message----- >>From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org >>[mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Samuel MacDonald >>Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 12:24 >>To: TCLUG Mailing List >>Subject: Re: [TCLUG] Recover FAT ? >> >> >>I've done that for NTFS and FAT but not using Linux, using >>NT, W98, and DOS. >> >>The machine wont boot I take it, try booting with the W98 >>boot diskette, >>then run, fdisk /mbr, this will put the master boot record back in >>place, turn the machine off and on to see if it boots from hard disk. >> >>Several virus's will put the screws to the master boot >>record. The ones >>I know of get carried by diskette a lot When booted from a >>diskette by >>accedent. It doesen't even need to be a boot disk. If you get the >>machine running scan it for viruses and scan every diskette >>in the guys >>house. Tell him _not_ to leave diskette in the drive EVER. >> >>Sam. >> >>Johnny Fulcrum wrote: >> >> >> >>>Hi all- >>> >>>My neighbor's win98 machine (which I built out of spare >>> >>> >>parts) took a >> >> >>>dump - initial triage seems to indicate that the FAT table >>> >>> >>was wiped >> >> >>>out ... >>> >>>I brought the box home to my shop and was about to install the "bad" >>>drive in my linux box to see if I can see or repair the FAT table - >>>anyone ever do something like this? Use linux to recover and save >>>Windows' bacon? >>> >>> >>> >>>_______________________________________________ >>>TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>>http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>>https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>> >>> >>> >>_______________________________________________ >>TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> >> >http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org >https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > >_______________________________________________ >TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org >https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list