Hard Drive MBR data corrupt under XP SP2.. Security changes??

[ArmandBanana]

Hello out there

I signed up because I'm looking to see if anyone knows anything about drives "spontaneously" corrupting under XP SP2. In my case these are all ordinary Parallel ATA drives, had the same problem with Hitachi, WD, and Maxtor.

I do a lot of freelance side work with simple installations and "refresh" a lot of seriously buggered operating systems by doing clean installs for people. Usually pretty simple work. I have had a problem twice now with two different computers where at least one previously functional "auxiliary" drive on a system suddenly becomes unreadable to Windows XP and reverts to "Logical Drive" in Explorer, or "Unknown" under XP Setup. This has only happened to me on systems already updated to SP2.

Chkdsk attempts to correct the data loss, and finds thousands or millions of "orphan" data entries, which it deletes and rewrites for hours.. sometimes fixing problems, sometimes ruining files. Basically Chkdsk seems to be rebuilding the entire file structure. I end up with some of the original data, a few directories with names like "found.001" containing hundreds of displaced folders called "dir0013.chk" etc. usually containing only some of their original contents.. and a LOT of corrupted files. THe last time was a 250 GB drive--chkdsk found about six million orphaned file entries and "fixed" them but good. A perfectly healthy 250 GB drive was "striped" with crap and about 75% of the recovered files were corrupted. Almost a total loss.

THEN I discovered something at what would have been the third time I lost a drive. Normally the secondary drives are never a problem, so once the critical data is backed up I just install the new OS on the reformatted primary drive, and it's good to go. This time I was installing a new hard drive with a fresh copy of XP on an SP2 system, and again one of the drives came up "Unknown" during setup. Since I still had the original OS backed up on another drive, INSTEAD of running disk utilities this time, I took the corrupt drive out of the computer and continued XP setup. When I'd finished setting up the brand new drive, I took it back out and put the original XP SP2 boot drive in the computer again and started it up. When I ran XP from the original drive, the "corrupted" drive was magically all better again. However the "corrupt" drive STILL will not work under the fresh installation of SP2. The system believes it's damaged and wants to "fix" it.

Old SP2 install = drive works.
Fresh SP2 install = drive corrupt.
?

Completing all the security updates didn't fix the problem. The "corrupt" drive data won't show up in any computer other than the one it was originally in, with the original XP install it ran under. These drives function fine when reformatted.

Maxtor tech support said "Windows XP SP2 puts a new kind of drive signature in the MBR, has something to do with NTFS security, sometimes that causes data corruption, (???) --it's not the hardware" I ran three different diagnostic utilities including Maxtor's and the HDD did pass 100%.

Does anyone know about this, or what changed in SP2? Do you HAVE to have an SP2 install disk from the get-go to reinstall XP after SP2? Most people don't.. I don't know how to reinstall a computer now without screwing up random hard drives if this continues.. 300 gigabytes is a LOT to back up to DVDs every time someone needs to refresh their OS..

Armand

[Roman]

Originally Posted by ArmandBanana

Hello out there

I signed up because I'm looking to see if anyone knows anything about drives "spontaneously" corrupting under XP SP2. In my case these are all ordinary Parallel ATA drives, had the same problem with Hitachi, WD, and Maxtor.

Armand

Armand,

I updated couple of weeks ago SR2 on my Sony Vaio with Maxtor hard drive and Windows Media XP. Yesterday computer froze and after restarting it I saw message: "A disk read error occured". I got a set of Win XP Professional floppies and ran it. At the end it asked me to setup windows but when I inserted disk the message about corrupted drive would come again. Formating will not be possible for the same reason.

I don't know if I can restore my files ever from this drive. I would appreciate any help on this.

Thanks.

Roman

[pow1983]

Interesting post.

I had a problem with my Old PC where my Maxtor hard drive appeared to be corrupt one day and not the next eventually it just wouldnt load windows so I reinstalled XP twice with SP2 and the same thing happened again. I ran the Maxtor harddrive utility and it found one corrupt file and said it could fix it. I then installed another Maxtor hard disk giving up on the original one and installed XP > upgraded it to SP2 and 3 weeks later with this HDD the same thing started to happen. I just thought I had a bad batch of HDD's (these were 3yr old maxtor models), since then ive upgraded to SATA and not had any problems. I was able to read the data from my old hard drives no problem.

I never suspected SP2 as the fault, mainly because I haddnt seen a similar fault out in the field.

Another note about the security change, when a computer is full of Spyware before it has SP2 and then is upgraded without removing the spyware it will fail to boot. I dont know whether there is a link there or not.

[ACES]

Originally Posted by ArmandBanana

Hello out there

I signed up because I'm looking to see if anyone knows anything about drives "spontaneously" corrupting under XP SP2. In my case these are all ordinary Parallel ATA drives, had the same problem with Hitachi, WD, and Maxtor.

I do a lot of freelance side work with simple installations and "refresh" a lot of seriously buggered operating systems by doing clean installs for people. Usually pretty simple work. I have had a problem twice now with two different computers where at least one previously functional "auxiliary" drive on a system suddenly becomes unreadable to Windows XP and reverts to "Logical Drive" in Explorer, or "Unknown" under XP Setup. This has only happened to me on systems already updated to SP2.

Chkdsk attempts to correct the data loss, and finds thousands or millions of "orphan" data entries, which it deletes and rewrites for hours.. sometimes fixing problems, sometimes ruining files. Basically Chkdsk seems to be rebuilding the entire file structure. I end up with some of the original data, a few directories with names like "found.001" containing hundreds of displaced folders called "dir0013.chk" etc. usually containing only some of their original contents.. and a LOT of corrupted files. THe last time was a 250 GB drive--chkdsk found about six million orphaned file entries and "fixed" them but good. A perfectly healthy 250 GB drive was "striped" with crap and about 75% of the recovered files were corrupted. Almost a total loss.

THEN I discovered something at what would have been the third time I lost a drive. Normally the secondary drives are never a problem, so once the critical data is backed up I just install the new OS on the reformatted primary drive, and it's good to go. This time I was installing a new hard drive with a fresh copy of XP on an SP2 system, and again one of the drives came up "Unknown" during setup. Since I still had the original OS backed up on another drive, INSTEAD of running disk utilities this time, I took the corrupt drive out of the computer and continued XP setup. When I'd finished setting up the brand new drive, I took it back out and put the original XP SP2 boot drive in the computer again and started it up. When I ran XP from the original drive, the "corrupted" drive was magically all better again. However the "corrupt" drive STILL will not work under the fresh installation of SP2. The system believes it's damaged and wants to "fix" it.

Old SP2 install = drive works.
Fresh SP2 install = drive corrupt.
?

Completing all the security updates didn't fix the problem. The "corrupt" drive data won't show up in any computer other than the one it was originally in, with the original XP install it ran under. These drives function fine when reformatted.

Maxtor tech support said "Windows XP SP2 puts a new kind of drive signature in the MBR, has something to do with NTFS security, sometimes that causes data corruption, (???) --it's not the hardware" I ran three different diagnostic utilities including Maxtor's and the HDD did pass 100%.

Does anyone know about this, or what changed in SP2? Do you HAVE to have an SP2 install disk from the get-go to reinstall XP after SP2? Most people don't.. I don't know how to reinstall a computer now without screwing up random hard drives if this continues.. 300 gigabytes is a LOT to back up to DVDs every time someone needs to refresh their OS..

Armand

Have you contacted Microsoft tech support? Reviews of SP2 indicate this type of problem is not wholly uncommon.

[ArmandBanana]

Originally Posted by ACES

Have you contacted Microsoft tech support? Reviews of SP2 indicate this type of problem is not wholly uncommon.

How does one contact microsoft tech support? I've sent e-mails before but never had more than form letters leading me back to help sites. I did e-mail about this one but nothing returned. Isn't getting live feedback from Microsoft something like arranging a private meeting with the president?

Armand

[ArmandBanana]

Originally Posted by ACES

Have you contacted Microsoft tech support? Reviews of SP2 indicate this type of problem is not wholly uncommon.

By the way do you know where any reviews mentioning it are?

[ArmandBanana]

Originally Posted by ArmandBanana

I signed up because I'm looking to see if anyone knows anything about drives "spontaneously" corrupting under XP SP2. In my case these are all ordinary Parallel ATA drives, had the same problem with Hitachi, WD, and Maxtor.

Armand

By the way anyone following this thread.. One thing I did discover in the ages of ruined data and lost faith in computers.. Windows XP SP2 will actually TURN OFF 48-bit LBA Addressing for larger hard drives. This = data corruption. The drive is now actually really damaged and will no longer format or respond to diagnostics. It was rebooting the computer frequently and still losing data, I am TOLD that this can happen when it is being addressed improperly. Apparently hard drives don't like rude operating systems.

In some weird crazy computer mystery thing, if your drive is already formatted for a larger than 128GB size from back when XP had LBA turned on, it might actually continue to report the proper capacity even after LBA is turned off, and still secretly screw up a lot anyway depending which sectors it's writing to. I don't understand all of that yet, but it may be the reason my drive went crazy. Because yes, LBA was turned off when I checked, even though the drive installation CD had initially turned it on. Installing XP pre-SP1 and updating to SP2 somehow turned it off again.

[Cache]

Have you tried a low level format yet? if not I suggest you do. Be warned though, a low level format will wipe EVERYTHING, even the MBR. You will need to re-format with your XPCD (or FDISK) after.

Dban will do this and it's free:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

[012324]

Had the same problem with two 200GB harddisks, with a c: partition and several other partitions, all full of data, most of it is lost now.

Think this is the cause:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303013

Somewhere half way through the page there is this warning:

Warning Data corruption may occur if either of the following conditions is true:
• You use this registry value to enable 48-bit LBA support in the original release version of Windows XP Home Edition or of Windows XP Professional.
• You install an earlier version of Windows on a disk partition that was previously created by a 48-bit aware operating system, such as Windows XP SP1. And that disk partition is equal to or larger than the current addressable limit of 137 GB.


After a motherboard replacement I had to reinstall XP. I did this with a clean XP without integrated service packs (note there are easy tools to create WINXP CDs with integrated SP2, look for autopatcher from neowin, and pebuilder).
By now it was too late as files were corrupted.
Installation of SP 2 did not help, other then XP trying to fix corrupt and orphaned files.
The data I had on the harddisks is corrupted to an extent I can't determine. Basically I'm considering this a full loss.

Next time I need to re-install I will disconnect any large harddrives. Then I will install XP on a 80 GB or smaller harddisk and install SP2. Or install XP with SP 2 already integrated.
And only after that is complete will I reconnect the 200GB data disks.

[Tibra]

Hi,

that all is MOST interesting. I'm fighting data losses since quite some time, under WinXP SP2 + all updates, since last year. Losses were intermittently, just a few in the beginning, most on my 2nd (data) drive, first 80GB partition (E) of a 160 GB one. But meanwhile I had losses on other partitions too. Unfortunately I ran chkdsk (Windows insisted on doing it) and lost several full folders and other data that way.

I've been talking to a lot of people, no good answers. The latest anyway was to check for high temp problems. This made me acquire HDD cooler fans (dual) for each of my new replaced drives, and I run HDTemp to get a notification when over 50 °C. Which I don't expect with the coolers.

But then I read the MS page about 48bit LBA support http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013/EN-US/ and also the one mentioning possible data corruption when recovering from hibernation or standby etc. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331958/EN-US/ .

I was aghast, but honestly couldn't fully get to grips with the explanations & advice they gave on these pages. Since I have SP2, there shouldn't be problems with the 48bit LBA thing I thought?

My mind still isn't at rest with all this, and I'm honestly expecting more corruptions to come ... [btw, where did I store away my UBuntu CD ... ?]

Seagate btw has some explanations too re. 48bit LBA etc.: http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/tp/137gb.pdf

Additionally also MS re. data losses after standby or hibernation http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331060/EN-US/#top

[esm]

Hi Guys,

I just ran across this post. I've had the same problem recently that win XP SP2 PCs ruined two perfectly good hard drives (one primary, 80GB and one secondary, 15GB) to the point that they are unreadable. On of them had even it's name in BIOS changed (MAHTOR instead of MAXTOR). Before that, that same PC ran for about 3 years without a hitch! I did have system restore turned off. After the first crash (primary drive), I installed recovery commander and when I set the first recovery point, the second crash (secondary drive) occured. Maybe someone can make sense of this.

I acquired a new Mobo, CPU, HDD and RAM and I have reinstalled win XP sp2 and so far, everything seems to be fine (knock on wood!), restore turned off!

Now I am trying to recover the backup data from the two screwed drives using something like spinrite or similar. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,

esm

[asbadoce]

Hi everyone!
Im another victim [250GB of music, piracy and backup]; besides watching for viruses [and other nocive stuff] we have to protect from M Windows XP.

things that WONT work:
Spinrite: boot disk [only good to recover from physically damaged sectors; i tried this]
EasyRecovery Professional: [a lot of options to recover from deleted files and partition but even in "raw recovery" mode uses the damaged partition table information, so: wont work.
Acronis PartitionExpert: will probably notice inconsistences in the partition table but just can't fix it.
Paragon PartitionManager v8: hasn't even options to deal with data corruption.
DataDoctorRecovery v2.x: [for Windows and NTFS] Plain waste of time and buggy-to-use program only useful for recover deleted files even when there are a lot of more-useful options instead.


things that COULD work [im currently reading a lot of manuals, guides and papers]
Powerquest PartitionMagic: A friend of mine has my installation CD. Low expectations.
AccessData Forensic Toolkit v1.5: Need to learn a lot of things before trying [http://www.acquisitiondata.com/white...phanfiles.pdf]. Good expectations.

Got a lot of work to do this week, i'll try to post my experiences later. Good luck guys!

[goitalone]

I know this is quite an old thread, but it turns out to be about the only place online I have been able to find people talking about this continuing problem we are all having here.

I have been through this same this with the corrupted, orphaned files, out of the blue "my XP WON"T boot no more!" etc, etc, etc. about what feels like a hundred times over the last several years.

My thoughts were always that is was Microsoft's "SECURITY UPDATES" doing this to prevent piracy, and this is what I still whole heartedly believe til' this day!

I know for a fact that the "malicious software removal tool" does something to DISABLE ALL MY CRACKED PROGRAMS and embed stuff into my XP that won't let me crACK THEM AGAIN unless I do a whole new reformat. I believe these XML CORE file updates and many of the other so called security updates do very similar things to your PC running XP and eventually are written to ruin your "PIRATED" installation of XP or IF you have say tons of PIRATED software and game and moives as well.

I believe these updates "seek out" and find cracks and keygen's etc. and then phone home to M$ which then sends out more updates for you to install so it can "take care of" all of your precious, pirated software, and finally a few weeks down the road, even your legal or illegal copy of XP.

I know for another fact that when I cracked Vista, and the cracks didn't work, it shut down BOTH of my operating systems TWO TIMES as Vista takes over all of your whole computers XP installation's MBR (master boot record) I then sucessfully managed to crack Vista with a time stop crack, but, not before I found out that RIGHT AFTER, that I got a notice to install a NEW "SECURITY UPDATE ", (the XML core blah, blah one) that upon installation of it, that my time stop crack had been disabled...I QUICKLY Googled around and found a way to uninstall this update, and whatta ya know, my time stop crack had counted down to about a bit less than a day, but it had STOPPED again, so I was right all along about these so called "security updates" Yes, I believe they are security updates, but only for M$ and all the other companies that are out to make you PAY for not PAYING in some fashion or another!

I DO OWN TWO COPIES of windows xp that I PAID FOR!! and I had one CD that was scratched and so I decided to mix match the two product keys with other PC's etc in my home...after that day, I have been having to REFORMAT my PC every 3-6 weeks and I am so sick of it I don't know what to do.

I wish I could get into Linux, but...I just don't like any of them at all.

I HATE you MICROSOFT!! DIE die die BURN IN HELL forever BILL!!!

[goitalone]

Oh, btw, this ALWAYS seems to happen to me RIGHT after I download crack a program like Adobe Elements for example.

Also, I always have some sort of WARNING from my anti virus that Administration privilages had been revoked er something like that.

My question to you all is this......

Do any or all of you people pirate ANY games, music, movies, programs with cracks etc? Are you all using legal copies of XP?

Thanks..LATER PEOPLE!

[goitalone]

I just realized for SURE now after seacrhing through files that I couldn't copy after another crash, that the root certificate program is one of the main things thats killing peoples PC's

I wish you could see what I am seeing right now...got digital thumb prints in these things and call homes to the companies with secured connections behind our backs and the list goes on and on.

I may very well give up computing due to this discovery...I always had the suspicion of the root certificate thing...now I believe 100% I was right.

We are all just victims being spied on and probably who knows....soon to be arrested?