How Can I fix a corrupt boot sector on a hard drive
 

Hi

I have an acer aspire desktop with windows vista since 2007.

Yesterday it wouldn't boot. There is a error like S.M.A.R.T status BAD on the hard drive.

I tried testdisk and ntfsfix to repair the boot sector to no avail. I also tried windows repair disk.

I was able to retrieve my files with photorec which was a good thing.

I don't want to give up, but if anyone knows how to fix a corrupted boot sector, I would appreciate the help. Thanks

I remember from reading other threads here members explained that in order to fix a corrupt boot sector you have to know the exact sector that needs repaired.

I've never done it so I can't advise you. I wish you the best of luck.

Try this tutorial:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootSectorFix

Vista is the only o/s on this machine ?.
I (and almost everyone else apparently) found Vista was terrible. I haven't had to use it for a while, but I did have to recover it a couple of times. Never worked the first time - I always had to repeat the (Windows) recovery, even from the install disk.
On one occasion I even had to download an iso M$oft had available and use that. Eventually got it working.

Of course if a critical section of the disk (like say the MBR) is truly broken, nothing you can do to make it bootable. You could always replace the disk. But for Vista ?. Why bother.

This article might help. http://www.pcworld.com/article/31135...ricked-pc.html

However, there is a distinct possibility that this is a hardware problem and that the drive is toast. Computers have gotten so reliable that we sometimes forget that stuff does indeed wear out . . . .

If you still have the Windows Vista disk's you should be able to repair with them.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...r+window+vista

Hi

I tried all suggestions from the links you guys have in your posts.

Testdisk and the windows repair utilities didn't work. They would have work if the hard drive had some life to it.

I come to the conclusion that my hard drive is dead and gone. At least I was able to retrieve my files with photorec. I added a screenshot of the error messages I get with the windows repair utilities of bootrec and bcdedit.

Thanks again

Sorry your HDD went south.
Glad to hear you were able to get all of your files.

It's happened to me and when it did I just picked up a new 500 GB WD and installed it and was up and running again in no time.

Don't forget to mark your thread SOLVED.

Member response
 

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Good reason to make backups for valued data and positive retrieval/restore from that backup. You should backup any valuable data no real need to backup system data since that OS media should be available unless you wish to restore from the error without reinstall of the OS. Making a image of the storage media will help to save all of the system.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!
:hattip:

Thanks to all for the replies. I'll probably opt for a SSD since the prices have come down quite a bit.

Also, I will make linux my primary OS because I don't want to use windows 10 because of the reputation I read and heard about it. When you shop for a new computer today, windows 10 is the only option available. As for Macs, they're too expensive.

You're Welcome.:)

That's why I don't buy a computer with an os installed anymore. I build my own and that way there is no such thing as Windows installed on it.

Have you considered building your own?

It's not that hard once you get the mobo installed.

Distrowatch is a great place to go to find out all the top Linux distributions.

I did a couple of bare bones kits from tigerdirect back in the mid 90's. The mobo and ram was already installed. All I needed to install myself was the hard drive and PCI cards and an operating system.

I have a few linux distros on rader to try. Mint, Ubuntu and PClinuxOS. Thanks

Mint is Ubuntu done right so I think you will like Mint.

Good luck and let us know how the new SSD goes before marking your thread SOLVED:-

This is good information if you want to read it. It's about bad sectors.

https://www.howtogeek.com/173463/bad...n-do-about-it/

I marked it SOLVED even though it wasn't solved for me. But there are good links here that could help other people fix the boot sector of their hard drives if their boot sectors are not extremely severe like in my case.

@ Ztcoracat
After reading the howtogeek article, I learn a little more about hard drive failure types. Which is why
when I get a new hard drive I will use a tool called gsmartcontrol to monitor SMART enabled hard drives. I want to avoid repeating this if possible.

Anyway, that hard drive last for ten years, That's the longest I've used that hard drive.

You guys rock!!!

If you got 10 years out of it's not only great but you got your moneys worth.

What brand was it?