Partition Problems

By TheD
in Hardware Hangout

 Share

Recommended Posts

Mentor

Karl L.

Posted
Posted

Why did you run testdisk? It is designed to recover your partition table. By virtue of the fact that Ubuntu still boots from the same hard disk, the partition table is probably OK. Even if it wasn't, you should NEVER use testdisk to modify the partition table on your system disk! Can you elaborate on why Vista is not booting? It might be more productive if we started this discussion from there.

Grand Master

Hum

Posted
Posted

Might run Fix BOOT from Vista command prompt:

http://www.proposeds...covery-console/

Nevermind , that's gone from Vista -- probably need to do a Repair install of Vista.

Save, back-up important personal files first.

In order to start the Windows Recovery Environment you must boot your computer off of the Windows Vista DVD that you purchased or that came with your computer. To start this process, insert the Vista DVD into your DVD drive and turn your computer on. Your computer will start and you should see your BIOS listing your hardware and other information.

http://www.bleepingc...startup-repair/

Proficient

lars77

Posted
Posted

The Windows Vista disc can fix a lot of startup issues. Though honestly it's not clear what the problem is on your end, you haven't mentioned any errors, or even what happens when you attempt to start Windows on your computer.

The Testdisk output seems to indicate that all your partitions are there, but like xorangekiller mentioned you probably don't need Testdisk unless you specifically have an issue with your partitions(s) or need to recover data off the hard drive.

Neowinian

TheD

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I ran Testdisk because I thought there might be a problem with the Windows partition on the hard disk (I'm a novice). I get different behavior when I try to boot Vista. Sometimes I'm forced into a chkdsk that never finishes. Other times, the desktop loads, but if I click anything, the machine just hangs. I have to force shutdown with the power button.

Vista came already installed on the computer and I don't have a repair disk.

Grand Master

Hum

Posted
Posted

Not much you can do then.

I think it's clear that your Vista partition is messed up.

Maybe you can borrow a Vista dvd from someone to repair it.

I don't know if something like Partition Magic would help.

Example:

http://www.partition-tool.com/

Mentor

Karl L.

Posted
Posted

It sounds like your hard drive may be developing problems. Is Ubuntu installed on the same hard drive or a different one? If its on the same one, is it slow to boot or does it report any disk I/O errors?

In Ubuntu, open Disk Utility, select your hard disk, and click "SMART Data". That should tell you whether the hard drive is physically having problems (most likely developing bad sectors by your description), or the issue lies elsewhere. Particularly pay attention to the "Read Error Rate", "Reallocated Sector Count", "Seek Error Rate", and "Current Pending Sector Count". Those are the most likely attributes to indicate a problem. DON'T GO BY THE OVERALL ASSESSMENT! It will often say "Disk is Healthy" unless your disk is in VERY bad shape.

Also, testdisk is an expert tool. You definitely shouldn't be using it if you're not sure EXACTLY what you're doing. While it can be used to recover from complex failures, it can also very easily be used to cause damage that is difficult to repair.

Mentor

Karl L.

Posted
Posted

You're right Hum; I forgot the OP said it is a laptop. He may have two hard disks in his laptop, but its very unlikely. I should have assumed that Ubuntu is installed on the same disk as Vista. Consider my previous post amended accordingly. (I can't edit it anymore.) My main point and instructions are still valid, though. In context, its a fairly trivial detail.

Mentor

Karl L.

Posted
Posted

Bad sectors are "reparable" in some cases. Your hard disk has a reserved area where a very small number of sectors can be remapped. However, if a sector cannot be remapped, either because the reserved space is full or for some other reason, then its time to backup your data and get a new hard drive.

Try running HDAT2 to repair the bad sector. After it completes, reboot back into Ubuntu and check the "Current Pending Sector Count" in Disk Utility again. If it has dropped to zero, make sure there are no other errors reported by SMART, and try starting Vista again. Even if all the bad sectors have been repaired, its likely you will have to run chkdsk on your Windows partition before it will boot.

Proficient

lars77

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your help! Here's the result of Disk Utility...looks like bad sectors. Is this the end for my laptop? Will the Ubuntu side die eventually too?

You should really back up your data ASAP. The more you use the laptop the more bad sectors you're going to get.

Back up the data onto a USB drive or something similar. Ubuntu & everything else on the hard drive will eventually be unreadable.

The laptop itself is fine, you'll just need to have a new hard drive installed & then re-install Windows/Ubuntu from scratch.

Mentor

Karl L.

Posted
Posted

It is definitely a good idea to backup your important data - which you should be doing regularly anyway - but a couple of bad sectors does not automatically mean the end of your hard disk. It is sometimes possible to remap bad sectors and for the disk to be completely usable for years after. However, the fact that your disk somehow developed bad sectors does make it more likely that you will get more, even if the ones you have can be remapped. If this is your primary computer, I would recommend preemptively ordering a new hard drive for it. Otherwise if you don't rely on it every day, I would wait to see if the sectors can be remapped before ordering a new disk.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Should Microsoft be forced to stop promoting Edge over other browsers?

      By +virtorio · Posted

      I'm fine with a little reasonable promotion of Edge, but the degree which they do it right now I consider extremely unreasonable. 
    • Microsoft AI boss no longer believes that AI will replace human workers

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      Microsoft AI boss no longer believes that AI will replace human workers by David Uzondu Mustafa Suleyman, the head of Microsoft AI, recently took back his statements concerning white-collar jobs that he gave to the Financial Times in an interview made back in February, where he claimed that AI would replace office workers within 12 to 18 months. On Monday's episode of The Verge's Decoder, Suleyman recast the technology as more like a helpmate than a tool designed to take over your job. He explained that smaller office duties will "increasingly become digitized, automated" as people generate more digital materials. During the discussion, Suleyman emphasized a "very important distinction" between "tasks" and "jobs" to clarify his previous claims. He argued that his earlier comments only referred to individual actions that people perform at their desks. Suleyman used to work for DeepMind, the research lab he co-founded in 2010 alongside Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg, before he left in 2022 to establish Inflection AI and build an empathetic digital assistant. Microsoft hired him in March 2024 to lead its newly formed "Microsoft AI" division, placing him in charge of consumer products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge. His February comments also detailed plans for Microsoft to achieve self-sufficiency with a $140 billion infrastructure budget to train frontier models, predicting that creating a customized AI will soon feel like creating a podcast or a new blog: The 41-year-old is not the only AI executive who's softened his "AI will replace you" stance. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, last month used X to push back against employment panic by arguing that his startup builds tools to assist humans rather than build replacements. He had previously garnered backlash by suggesting that many modern office roles that AI might replace did not qualify as "real work" in the first place, at least when you compare desk jobs to physical, historical labor like farming.
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2026.001.21662

      By Copernic · Posted

      Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2026.001.21662 by Razvan Serea Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software is the free, trusted standard for viewing, printing, signing, and annotating PDFs. Its the only PDF viewer that can open and interact with all types of PDF content – including forms and multimedia. It’s connected to Adobe Document Cloud – so you can work with PDFs on computers and mobile devices. Adobe Document Cloud is a revolutionary, modern and efficient way to get work done with documents in the office, at home or on-the-go. At the heart of Document Cloud is the all-new Adobe Acrobat DC, which will take e-signatures mainstream by delivering free e-signing with every individual subscription. Document Cloud includes a set of integrated services that use a consistent online profile and personal document hub. With Adobe Document Cloud, people will be able to create, review, approve, sign and track documents whether on a desktop or mobile device. Businesses will be able to take advantage of Document Cloud for enterprise which provides enterprise-class document services that integrate into systems of record such as CRM, HCM, CLM, and CMS, adding speed, efficiency and transparency to getting business done with documents. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC new feature highlights: Work with PDFs from anywhere with the new, free Acrobat DC mobile app for Android or iOS. Select functionality is also available on Windows Phone. Use the new Fill & Sign tool in your desktop software to complete PDF forms fast with smart autofill. Download the free Adobe Fill & Sign mobile app to add the same option to your iPad or Android tablet device. Save money on ink and toner when printing from your Windows PC. Store and access files in Adobe Document Cloud with 5GB of free storage. Get instant access to recent files across desktop, web, and mobile devices with Mobile Link. Sync your Fill & Sign autofill collection across desktop, web, and iPad devices. Adobe PDF Pack premium features includes: Convert documents and images to PDF files. Use your mobile device camera to take a picture of a paper document or form and convert it to PDF. Turn PDFs into editable Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or RTF files. Combine multiple files into a single PDF (web only). Get signatures from others with a complete e-signature service. Send, track, and confirm delivery of documents electronically instead of using fax or overnight services (tracking not available on mobile). Store and access files online with 20GB of storage. Download: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 64-bit | 719.0 MB (Freeware) Link: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Home Page | Release Notes | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Meta will now use data from outside businesses to personalize AI responses

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      Meta will now use data from outside businesses to personalize AI responses by David Uzondu In an update that's rolling out globally (except in a handful of countries), Meta will use your data from outside businesses to personalize your AI responses and your primary feeds. Meta already utilizes your shopping activity to target ads, but the company now plans to expand this tracking to personalize other "parts of your experience" like feed algorithms and AI assistant chats. The company is replacing the two settings ("Your activity off Meta technologies" and "Activity from other businesses") that currently let you disconnect off-platform activity with a single, renamed setting called Activity from other businesses. If you don't want Meta to manipulate your feed and AI responses using your outside history, you can just turn the Activity from other businesses setting off in your account settings. This toggle resides within your Accounts Center, applying your choice to every connected profile. Turning this off will not stop companies from sending your data to Meta. The company will still collect your web interactions, but it only uses them to train products, while still accessing external accounts you connect. When The Verge spoke to Meta spokesperson, Emil Vazquez, the representative said that this update will exclude several locations at launch including the European region, the UK, Brazil, Thailand, South Africa, Turkey, South Korea, Ecuador, Nigeria, and Kenya. The new update comes at a time when the social media giant is recovering from a major PR disaster involving generative AI. Last week, there was a huge security issue on Instagram where attackers figured out a way to exploit a prompt injection vulnerability. Hackers managed to trick Meta AI into handing over account ownership (even if the victim had 2FA enabled). Some of the affected accounts include the dormant Obama White House profile, cosmetics brand Sephora, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, and security researcher Jane Manchun Wong. Internally, the company also had to scale back plans on its Model Capability Initiative (MCI), an employee-monitoring program designed to train corporate AI models by recording worker keystrokes and screen activity, after employees raised privacy concerns and complained about severe battery life drain.
    • JetBrains is working to cut false positives in RustRover 2026.2

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      JetBrains is working to cut false positives in RustRover 2026.2 by David Uzondu Recently, JetBrains released the fifth EAP build of its dedicated IDE, RustRover 2026.2, bringing improvements like a Run gutter icon for criterion_main! macro benchmarking and a feature that alerts you when there are unused traits in your current scope. Now, the company is out with a blog post addressing one of the "most common" complaints from users: false positives. In RustRover, a false positive occurs when the editor incorrectly highlights something as an error even though the project compiles and runs successfully. This mismatch flags a gap between the IDE's internal intelligence and the actual compiler. When the editor flashes red warnings over perfectly valid code, developers lose trust in the tool, which stalls momentum. Traditionally, RustRover runs cargo check to detect compiler errors and warnings, but it also relies on its own code analysis engine to power real-time features. To provide quick feedback, this engine parses your source code into a syntax tree while inferring types and resolving names as you type. Because this engine must work on broken, half-written code and react instantly, its logic sometimes diverges from the compiler's, producing false positives that do not exist in the compiler's eyes. JetBrains said that it has a "dedicated task force" focused specifically on identifying and fixing false positives by analyzing user reports and examining large-scale open-source projects. To speed up this process, the team built an internal system modeled after Crater, the famous Rust project that compiles and runs tests for every single crate published on crates.io. This automated pipeline compares the diagnostics from RustRover's analysis with actual compiler output to catch discrepancies before they reach users, ensuring smoother workflows. RustRover, for those who're unaware, is a dedicated IDE designed specifically for Rust developers. It's been around for a couple of years now, providing features like built-in debugging via LLDB, seamless cargo integration, advanced macro expansion, and HTML support. JetBrains distributes the app under two licensing models: a paid commercial subscription and a free option for non-commercial use.

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Year In
      Primer1st earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Experienced
      JayZJay went up a rank
      Experienced
    • Reacting Well
      Sir_Timbit earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      rubentuben8 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      ARaclen earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      229
    3. 3
      Edouard
      134
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      87
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      80
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!