Unmountable Boot Volume

[wilf]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 & get the above message when trying to boot up. It continually reboots. I understand I need to boot from the XP disc & hit 'R' for recovery console.

Will I lose any data on the HD???

Thanks

Wilf

[Train]

No you will not and you may even need to do a repair install.

Seeing as the hdd maybe on its way out. Run the makers diagnostic tools against it.
Note any error message(s).

[wilf]

Thanks for the reply.

Am going for the recovery console.

Unfortunately I have some recent datta that hasn't been backed up.
Wilf

[SuperSparks]

I think you need to run a diagnostic utility on that hard drive. Download this and burn it to CD, it has all the hard drive diagnostic utilities plus many more besides. You don't need to boot into Windows to run them, just boot up with the CD in the drive, select the utility that you want and it will run:

Ultimate Boot CD

If you aren't sure of the make of drive that is installed use the Seagate Seatools, or Hitachi Drive Fitness Test utilities, as they will work with any make of drive. You may find these instructions helpful for burning the UBCD .iso file to disc:

How can I write (burn) ISO files to CD or DVD?

[wilf]

Supersparks


I've gone to the link but where do I download?

[Train]

In the left pane is Download UBCD
which will take you to here.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Which will list a lot of mirror sites from which you can chose.

[wilf]

Have run chkdsk /p but gets to 40% "the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems"

Any suggestions??

Thanks
Wilf

[Train]

/p

Performs an exhaustive check even if the drive is not marked for chkdsk to run. This parameter does not make any changes to the drive.

chkdsk /r would be better or if you think it really jammed up chkdsk /f /r might do the trick.
But at this point, I really suggest running a hdd diag to find its state first.

[wilf]

Train

chkdsk /f /r wasn't recognised. Am running chkdsk /r.

I'm also 50% through downloading UBCD that SuperSparks suggested.

Wilf

[wilf]

Chkdsk /r gets to 40% "the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems"

as with chkdsk /d above.

Wilf

[Train]

Pass time to run the diagnostics then.

[wilf]

results of diagnostics test:

One or more corrupted sectors found.

2 options,
1.erase disk (& data)
2.sector repair, corrupted sectors are rewritten, Data loss in the repaired sector.

What other tools are of use on UBCD?

Wilf

[Midknyte]

It would help if you said which diag you ran. Details are important.

In any case, you should really replace the drive. Even if you try one of the repair utilities, that will only be a band-aid.

[wilf]

I'll get back to you on the test.
I agree, the drive will be replaced but I need to get some data off of it, haven't backed it up forma out 4'weeks.

Wilf

[SuperSparks]

If it is only bad sectors, you should be able to get most, if not all, of your data off the drive. If necessary, install the drive in another computer and copy the files using explorer in the normal way. You will need one of these adapters to put a 2.5" IDE drive in a desktop PC:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com.../dp/B00006B8C2