Windows 7 disapears ????

[Bill Ford]

When I turn my desktop on, it get to the windows logo, then to a black screen with the pointer that can be moved around, wouldn't go any further, put the drive in a dock to check contents, windows file was gone. I did a system restore, and it ran OK, when restarted later is when this happened.It is a WD 2tb green drive,about 6 mo old.

Where,oh where did it go,and could I have did something to cause it?

[Jack Stoner]

Have you tried a "Startup Repair"?

Here is the Startup Repair instructions from the Windows Seven Forum.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/68 ... html?ltr=S

[Bill Ford]

Thanks Jack, I'll forward this to my tec....What could have caused this so I won't do it again if I somehow did it?..BF

[Wiz Feinberg]

Bill, have the drive checked for file system errors. This can be done from a safe boot, before Windows even loads. It used to be known as Chkdsk (actually still is). You have to keep pressing the F8 key during the initial boot process to get to the boot menu. One of the options will be the Startup Repair Jack mentioned.

If you experience bad shutdowns, due to crashes, or having to use the power button due to a system freeze, any files in use get scattered around the platters. Sometimes, files in use get written to adjacent sectors that already have the contents of another file, leading to problems loading those files. Chkdsk searches the disk for cross-linked files and tries to separate them into their own sequences of sectors, thus repairing that problem.

Bad shutdowns also leads to some files losing the trail of which sectors contain the various parts of those files. Chkdsk can search out bad indexes and put file information back together.

Finally, even newish hard drives can go bad. Magnetic dropouts can occur due to manufacturing defects. When the read head cannot decode the data in any given sector on the drive, the file will fail to load. This problem is known as bad sectors. Chkdsk can locate these and attempt to move salvageable data out of those sectors and into good ones.

I have a web page about Chkdsk, written about a decade ago. It is still; relevant.

[Bill Ford]

Thanks Wiz, I've sent a link to my tec, maybe he can figure something out. I think he already tried the F8 thing, didn't work. Some of the files can be seen with the drive in a dock,haven't tried to retrieve any yet, waiting on a new drive.I'll keep you posted.

BF

[Wiz Feinberg]

If the drive can be accessed from a docking station, it can be scanned with Chkdsk, from the good computer. Just connect the bad drive as a slave drive and boot normally. Once inside Windows, go to My Computer and locate the drive in the dock. If it is alive at all it will have a letter. Right-click on that drive's icon and select the bottom option, "Properties." Click on the tab labeled "Tools." Under Error Checking, press "Check Now." Accept the UAC Prompt, inputting the Administrator password. A box will pop up labeled: "Check Disk (details) (letter). Inside, check both option boxes, then press "Start."

The scan will run until it is complete. Details will be available upon completion. If there were errors or bad sectors the report will tell you so. If they were fixed, it will let you know, and vice-verse.

[Bill Ford]

Thanks Wiz...BF

[Bill Ford]

update...We think it's a bad board, just finished an all new tower, recovered all data from that HD, didn't lose anything...YAAA

Thanks..Bill

[Wiz Feinberg]

Hmmm. Maybe a cut across a solder trace, loose solder joint, bad SATA connector, or even leaking electrolytic caps