Drive compression recovery

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wsam29@hotmail.com - 09 Mar 2004 11:07 GMT

Is it possible to have data recovered froma drive that has
been compressed?

Having not fully read the do's and don't from my own
ignorance, I had a virus mess up my c: and now I cannot
access my 500MB storage drive.

Also unrealted to FAT32, but the virus tha messed up my c:
changed all the directories and erased some important boot
files.

Is that problem also fixable? I tried using an antivirus
to scan the bug, but it only read 1 file, there are many
more than that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I spent all night trying to get this computer working
properely.

Many Thanks

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Jeff Richards - 09 Mar 2004 20:18 GMT

What happens when you try to mount the compressed volume? Is there an error
message?

You haven't mentioned the virus or described how things are messed up, but
most things are fixable. Boot files can be restored, and other files can be
replaced from backup copies. Is the virus now removed?

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP W95/W98

> Is it possible to have data recovered froma drive that has
> been compressed?
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Many Thanks

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anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com - 09 Mar 2004 21:46 GMT

Thanks for the reply Jeff

But this is what happened.

I went to boot the computer and the system on the inital
boot started to give me messages like this file does not
exists and is required to run windows and other
applications.

I got like 5-10 of those messages and then the system gave
me the "invalid system disk" message, replace and reboot.

when i checked the c:. I noticed that all the directories
have been changed, ie "windows" directory reads "wineows"

I ran a trail version antivirus to see if I can pick up
the bug and clean it but when it read the c: it only
reported it read 1 file.

I did call around some computer shops and they said they
would take a look at it, but for them to take a look and
not be able to fix it is a waste if you ask me.

But, it is the data on the compressed drive I am more
concerned about.

>-----Original Message-----
>What happens when you try to mount the compressed volume? Is there an error
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>
>.

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Jeff Richards - 09 Mar 2004 22:01 GMT

This is not typical of a virus, but would seem to be a hard disk drive or
drive controller problem. It could even be a simple drive cable or connector
problem. A change from windows to wineows is a single bit error in the
directory information read from disk. I would start by finding some hard
disk drive diagnostics at the www site of the disk drive manufacturer and
running a comprehensive disk test. If there are disk drive errors then any
other checking (eg, virus checking) is pointless - you must confirm that the
disk drive is working OK before moving on to further checks.

If the compressed volume can be successfully read from the disk then it can
be copied to any other system and mounted there.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP W95/W98

> Thanks for the reply Jeff
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> But, it is the data on the compressed drive I am more
> concerned about.

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anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com - 10 Mar 2004 19:21 GMT

OK, that makes sense, so about the compressed volume.

When I dheck the dirve from dos-prompt, it shows no
directories, but is does read the drive is full. If I am
not mistaken, you're saying I can copy that drive to
another drive and still be able to read the data on the
newly copied drive?

I am not concerned about the data on the drive that got
messed up but rather the data on the compressed drive.

But I will give that a shot when i get my computer back
from a friend who is looking at it. I'll pass that
suggestion on to him.

Thanks very much Jeff.

>-----Original Message-----
>This is not typical of a virus, but would seem to be a hard disk drive or
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
>
>.

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Jeff Richards - 10 Mar 2004 20:32 GMT

The compressed volume is a single very large file. If you can find and copy
that file then you can access it from another drive. You need to be sure the
original drive is working properly so that the copy will be accurate. So the
drive must be mechanically OK, and the file system must be OK so that the
compressed volume file can be found and copied.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP W95/W98

> OK, that makes sense, so about the compressed volume.
>
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> >
> >.

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