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DD11 corrupted my drive while resizing

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I am running DD11 on a Windows 7 Pro (64 Bit) systems.
I wanted to enlarge my system partition by deleting the laptops pre-installed recovery partition (which I don't intend to use) and then resizing the system partition to include the recovered space. The deletion of the second partition went ok. When I then resized the system partition things at first seemed to go well, too, but at the very end there was suddenly a red alert stating that there was an error and that the drive contains errors and may now be corrupted. $#@&^$%! Terrific!

And indeed - when I now check the disk's size - things seem to have become inconsistet: Explorer (Computer => Hard Disk Drives) as well as cmd.exe still report the old disk size (and very little free space left), while DD11 (when restarted) but also Window's own Disk Management (Control Panel => Computer Management => Storage => Disk Management) show the partition's new, enlarged size (and list considerable more free space).

So - on a lower level the drive seems to have become properly resized, but Window's Explorer seems to not have noticed any change...

I have rebootet the system a few times since (and things seem to be OK so far) and I also ran chkdsk with the /F(ix) option during boot, but that also reported "no problems".

So, how can I make Explorer become aware of that new, changed disk size?

Michael

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What brand is the laptop, IBM by any chance?

It's a Lenovo Thinkpad X201t (Thinkpads were indeed formerly IBM, but IBM's PC division got sold to Lenovo about 5 years ago).

Why do you ask?

Michael

Some models of IBM/Lenovo have a non standard disk geometry which causes the problem you describe.

Lenovo use a 240 head geometry instead of the standard 255.

This might be what is causing your problem, how to fix it though requires some thinking.

First thought: if that's a known issue: couldn't DD detect that situation *before* applying any changes and warn re. possible consequences?

How can I find out, whether the new drive actually uses such a "240 head geometry" as you mentioned?

And even more important to me: can one fix this in some reasonably simple manner (e.g. by correcting some disk size entry in the directory or such)? If so: how and where? I am familiar with disk editors, but would need to know what to patch.

Or would one have to fix some cluster chaining or similar which is only reasonably feasible in a programmatic way?

Michael

PS: The new harddisk is a 500 GB model (the label reads: Hitachi/7200rm/16383 cyl./16 heads/63 sec/track) which I used to replace the default 320 GB model (from Western Digital/5400rpm/16383 cyl./16 heads/63 sectors).
What I find odd, is that both drives list the same number of cylinders, heads and sectors. Wouldn't that yield the same capacity (at least assuming sectors had the same size)? I guess there has to be some logical => physical mapping taking place here, right?

I posted a question re. this issue in another forum and got as part of the response the following remark:

BTW win 7 (not lenovo) uses the 240 head trick to align the partitions correctly on the SDDs and advanced format HDDs, and does it even if the HDD is an old style one.

So, it appears that the problem is actually, that DD11 is not fully Windows 7 ready. The DD website had claimed the contrary and that recently made me update from DD10 to DD11 for that very reason, namely to avoid exactly this type of problems in case Windows 7 came with new features that an HD partitioner had to be aware of. I guess, I'll have to request a refund!

Michael

Michael:

The reply that you received in another forum is incorrect. Windows 7 does not use a "240 head trick". The number of heads is a function of the PC BIOS, so it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Lenovo, Compaq and a few others have their BIOS report the disk geometry as having 240 heads instead of the more common value of 255 heads.

This disk geometry issue and the number of cylinders, heads, and sectors (CHS) is a holdover from the past when hard disk sizes were much smaller. Windows ignores the CHS values and instead uses Logical Block Addressing (LBA) when it is up and running. The CHS values are used by the BIOS when the PC is just starting up, before control is taken over by Windows.

That being said, your problem is unusual and I don't think that it has anything to do with disk geometry. The fact that you can boot the PC is an indication that the correct CHS values are being used during the boot process. Something else is wrong here. My first suspicion is that the partition was set up incorrectly by DD 11 when you saw the error message during resizing.

If you have a copy of TrueImage (version 2010 or 2011) I would use it to create an image of your SSD. Save the image on an external USB disk or another PC on your network. After you have validated the image, use Disk Director (run it from the recovery CD) to delete all of the partitions on the disk. Then create a new partition that fills the disk. Make sure that you set the "Disk Layout" value to "Bootable Media" so that the partition is created to the new 1 MB offset value so that your SSD will be properly aligned. You could also use the Windows 7 DVD instead of Disk Director to clean the disk and then create an aligned partition. After the aligned partition is in place, restore your TI image.

OK - I have to take your word for it then. Sorry for my (premature?) remarks re. DD11's Win7 compatibility.
On the other hand: if this 240 heads workaround is not so uncommon: why does DD11 then not issue a warning or refuse to apply any change to such devices?

I assume, your detailed description, how to save away all data and then recreate the partitions and copy all data back indicates, that there is no easier way to fix this, right?

Cheers,
Michael

Michael:

I have a Lenovo X61 Tablet with 240-head geometry and I don't have the problem that you experienced. The program should pick up the settings for the disk geometry and use them correctly. You can have a quick look to see if it is picking up the settings for the number of heads as follows:

1. Start DD 11
2. Right-click on the Windows C partition and choose "Edit"
3. When the disk editor opens, change to "As NTFS Boot Sector" on the "View" menu
4. Examine the list of properties and verify that you see the "Number of Heads" as 240.

Here is an example of what you will see, but my example is from a Dell PC with the standard 255-head geometry:

I wish that I could offer a better explanation of what went wrong with your resizing but right now it isn't apparent. There must have been a glitch or some other obscure error that caused this. My suggestion of re-creating the partition and then copying the image file back is based on a conjecture that there is something wrong with the way that the partition was modified. However, it's just a conjecture. It could also be something in Windows that allows Disk Management to see the proper size of the partition but prevents Windows Explorer from seeing the correct size; I just don't know for sure. Maybe someone else could offer a different hypothesis.

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Have you tried using Disk Management to Shrink the partition just a bit? It may fix the problem or report a different error. If it works, you could resize it back to full size. I recommend having a backup image of the partition before trying this.

Good suggestion, Paul. Thanks for jumping in.

I tried to resize the partition a bit as suggested and again had the same "Disk is now corrupted error".

I then bought me a copy of Paragon Partition Manager 11 (which was another suggestionin that other forum I mentioned) and that did the job without the slightest problem! Guess, I have a new champion in my admin toolkit now...

Michael

Michael:

Did you resize with Windows Disk Management and get the error?

> ...
> You can have a quick look to see if it is picking up the settings for the number of heads as follows:
> ...

Strange - that number of heads field in the Disk Editor actually reads 255 heads. So that whole 240 vs. 255 heads discussion was a false track.

Michael

> Did you resize with Windows Disk Management and get the error?

Nope - I had tried with DD11 again. Does changing with Disk Management also preserve the data? I recall that - at least earlier versions of Window's Disk Management - would not allow for non-destructive partition changes. That's why I didn't even give that a try.

But now the issue is resolved anyway...

Michael

Michael:

Correct - not all Lenovo models use the 240 head geometry. DD 11 was probably at fault then.

MudCrab's suggestion to resize the partition with Windows Disk Management was made because the version of Disk Management that is used in Vista and Windows 7 allows for non-destructive partition changes, and it even works for resizing the Windows partition while Windows is running - a function that is problematic in a lot of partitioning software.

can you help me with this acronis software:in order to increase the size of my c drive..i partitioned other logical drive which is of 100gb to 70 & 30 gb and deleted the 30 gb drive to make it the unallocated space to add the c drive,,nothing went wrong with the partition but while resizing i got an error message and after the reboot my c drive space is the same as before but in disk management it shows the c drive space has increased ,,and some of the applications are showing an error message ..i have used chkdsk but it s the same

sarat,

What was the error message you got?

Did you do this from the Windows based DD11 or from the CD?

I take it by Disk Management you are talking about Windows Disk Management utility, what does Windows Explorer report on the size of your partitions?

Could you post a screen shot of what DD11 shows your drive sizes to be?

yes i did that from the windows based dd11..the windows explorer reports the same old c drives size..sorry i didnt save the dd11 event log

here is the event log..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Entry Details
---------------
Type: Error
Date and time: 12/28/2011 8:15:51 AM
Code: 3,539,345(0x360191)
Module: 54
Owner: Xp
Message:
Runlist corrupted
Additional info:
--------------------
Error code: 401
Module: 54
LineInfo: B8927DFC4B593CDC
Message: Failed to execute the command in the environment.
--------------------
Error code: 402
Module: 54
LineInfo: 490DC54208ACB930
Message: Fdisk operation has failed.
--------------------
Error code: 703
Module: 54
LineInfo: 90921B07B1F5C0F9
Message: Corrupted file system.
--------------------
Error code: 12310
Module: 16
LineInfo: 007AFFF41AEF4EAD
Message: Failed to resize the volume.
--------------------
Error code: 1036
Module: 16
LineInfo: C57F4C2FE4F70A6A
Message: Corrupted file system.
--------------------
Error code: 28
Module: 7
LineInfo: 89D94B01B483DCD9
Message: Runlist corrupted
--------------------

Acronis Knowledge Base: http://kb.acronis.com/errorcode/

Event code: 0x00360191+0x00360192+0x003602BF+0x00103016+0x0010040C+0x0007001C

------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone,

sarat, it appears the operation fails because of errors on the hard drive you are trying to resize.

Please check your file system for errors, you can take a look at this KB article for additional information.

Let me know if you have additional questions please.

Thank you.