Hi guys, i recently had linux and windows xp running dual boot using GRUB. i removed grub, not realizing that would delete my boot sector. i have since started using another harddrive. now i have them running both at the same time, old one as slave, but because it has no boot sector when i try to get the files off in windows explorer it says it's not formatted yet.

what program am i looking for to "explore" the contents of my old drive, get the few NEEDED files off it, and then reformat it and start over.

or, in short, what is the best way to do this?

thanks

Try a live version of Linux like Knoppix. I THINK that may work.

"i removed grub" how ?? If you removed grub correctly it would not cause your error.

If the boot sector's of the partition is bad (it can indeed cause your error) try TESTDESK, there is a dos,XP and linux version. Read the How-To use first. You will need to get into Advanced-boot record recovery.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.htm...

You haven't actually deleted the boot sector, just rendered it unusable.

Boot from a windows XP CD and go to the recovery console. Type FixMbr on the faulty drive and that should re-instate the information Windows needs to use the drive.

Stuart

Stuart,

I have already tried that. Did not work. None of the MBR fixes have worked, including the one in the post above.

Is there not a program I can use from windows to fix it?

Will

I have done this, with the CG security program and 1,2,3 and 4 do not work.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu...

Did you try fixboot from the recovery console?

Rewriting the boot code in the MBR or in the partition's boot sector (Volume Boot Sector) is of no value on a non booting hdd.

Your problem is likely the values in the Bios Parameter Block are bad ,part of the Volume Boot Sector.

Testdisk does have a function to verify the primary with its backup
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Test... step #12. I do not have the current version so can not give the needed steps to take.

other programs: $$
WinHex http://www.x-ways.net/ (hard to use)
Partition Table Doctor http://www./ (nave not used)

More reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS_p...
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...

issue resolved, thanks a lot guys!

wdewind

Please post the resolution so that others looking through the threads here may also use your solution.

whoops sorry.

i used the cg security program to to rewrite the boot sector, its in the documentation on the cgsecurity website. good luck!