UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME?!

[RedSevenBlue]

What in hell does this mean???lol???

 

[No Such Agency]

Boot volume is the hard drive (or part of a partitioned hard drive) your PC boots from. Usually C drive. And \"unmountable\" means the computer can\'t recognize it

 

[RedSevenBlue]

Originally posted by No Such Agency
Boot volume is the hard drive (or part of a partitioned hard drive) your PC boots from. Usually C drive. And \"unmountable\" means the computer can\'t recognize it

\'

which is a big old wtf. Can I get an external hard drive holder and put this in there after I boot the PC its hooked to and retrieve my files?

 

[hakoMike]

Originally posted by RedSevenBlue

Originally posted by No Such Agency
Boot volume is the hard drive (or part of a partitioned hard drive) your PC boots from. Usually C drive. And \"unmountable\" means the computer can\'t recognize it

\'

which is a big old wtf. Can I get an external hard drive holder and put this in there after I boot the PC its hooked to and retrieve my files?

Most likely not, in my experience. Stick the drive giving you problems into another computer as a 2nd hard drive and see if you can read it that way (which is far cheaper than the external drive thing) but I have yet to recover files from a drive once it gets to that point.

If you really need the files, there are services that can retrieve files even from dead drives, but they cost several thousand dollars. (We had to do that on a work machine once.)

 

[RedSevenBlue]

Originally posted by hakoMike

Originally posted by RedSevenBlue

Originally posted by No Such Agency
Boot volume is the hard drive (or part of a partitioned hard drive) your PC boots from. Usually C drive. And \"unmountable\" means the computer can\'t recognize it

\'

which is a big old wtf. Can I get an external hard drive holder and put this in there after I boot the PC its hooked to and retrieve my files?

Most likely not, in my experience. Stick the drive giving you problems into another computer as a 2nd hard drive and see if you can read it that way (which is far cheaper than the external drive thing) but I have yet to recover files from a drive once it gets to that point.

If you really need the files, there are services that can retrieve files even from dead drives, but they cost several thousand dollars. (We had to do that on a work machine once.)

Yowza! Good thing I know a head Microsoft programmer! lol. My friend suggested it might be a loose wire and the PC detects it and gives me that message basically saying \"It is unsafe to boot up, now suck it up that your PC is fried.\"

 

[Ogrebane]

Put it in a second PC to see if you can recover data. You probably had some warning before this thing started to die. If you cant recover the data you may be able to get a program and plans on how to recover the data. Not sure which will turn out cheaper but I have learne dover the years to back up my data drives (Yes I have two at least a data drive and an application drive)

Heres a great learning opportunity for you.

 

[Shaetano]

You can also insert the original windows CD in the CD-ROM drive, boot from it and when you get the options for the install, choose repair in the options. Worked for me

 

[Przemas]

well, if the partitions aren`t totaly messed up you should be able to get your files back without paying the pro hundreds of $$$ for the operation.
basically ask a friend (or do it yourself ) to remove you hdd from you computer and put in a second pc. boot and see if your disk is readable. if not , try some free or trial disk recovery software (can`t recall which one I`ve used - I`ll check when I`ll be at work). note that this operation will need some space on the working (not the damaged) drive.
hope you`ll get your files back

 

[RedSevenBlue]

@Ogrebane- It\'ll give me a headstart on OS class.

@Shaetano- Don\'t have the disk no more, gonna borrow it

@Przemas- thanks!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Basically that message is saying the boot sector which controls the start of the operating system is damaged.

If you can connect it to another PC You\'ll have to ensure that the jumper switches on the damaged Hard Drive (HDD) are set to SLAVE mode. Detail should be on the HDD label.
The second PC Will need to be Windows 2000 Professional or XP Pro and should auto detect that there is a sector fault. If this happens you\'ll get your data and possibly your boot sector back.
If it can\'t auto repair but still recognises your HDD then you\'ll be able to recover your data, but forget the programs.

Attempting to run the \"Repair\" option isn\'t really a good idea with out having attempted a data recovery. The repair can recover most things, but out of experience with this the File Allocation Table (FAT) can get altered and then that\'s all your data Scragged.

 

[RedSevenBlue]

ouch. Scragged. That\'s a harsh word. Well, the SLAVE drive has XP on it, but only home, which means I\'m doomed right?

 

[Dragonsreach]

No. The PC\'s that you hook your damaged HDD up to, needs to have XP Pro.
(We\'ve never had it work with XP Home as the master operating system.)

In this manner XP Home can be repaired as XP Pro is a \'higher\' level of operating system with some diagnostic tools built in. (Not Many).

But basically I\'d recommend getting your data off the HDD and replacing it. Also start making regular backups, like what I don\'t.

 

[petey]

last time i got this it was just a loose wire my method is, when something stops working, unplug and plug in all the wires again, and give it a blow, works a treat! i hope you havent done the stuff above before checking the plugs....

 

[RedSevenBlue]

@petey- Can do, I\'ll do that with my friend tomorrow, he can help me out.

@DR- And if what petey says doesn\'t work, I could always do that while I\'m over there!

MAN! CMON members are a handy group when they aren\'t angry! lol

 

[petey]

By the way, the best way to discover answers to computer problems is to type a question regarding the problem or an error message you\'re getting into google. That\'s the way I fix all my computer problems now, works a charm.