So my computer problems eventually boiled down to having a problem with my harddrive (maxtor, 200gb, ide, 5 months old!). My NTFS partion for windows seemed to have gotten corrupted. The MBR I think is fine, because it sees that there is a partition there, and it sees the correct size, but it can't actually seem to mount it or read from it correctly.
I recently downloaded an Ultimate Boot CD iso. I read that this has a few utilities on it that can try to repair a partition. I've been playing around with it a little bit, using TestDisk right now, tried Partition Saving, and another program that came with it. I'm not quite sure how to use these tools though. I'm analyzing the cylinder of the partion right now in TestDisk.
So basically, how do I fix it if I can? Or, would it be wiser to use partition magic, as I could bring the computer to my dad's work (they own a copy of PM) in a couple weeks when I get home from college? I only have about 70-80% of my data backed up, and as Murphy's law goes, it seems like the stuff most important to me I don't have backed up.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I recently downloaded an Ultimate Boot CD iso. I read that this has a few utilities on it that can try to repair a partition. I've been playing around with it a little bit, using TestDisk right now, tried Partition Saving, and another program that came with it. I'm not quite sure how to use these tools though. I'm analyzing the cylinder of the partion right now in TestDisk.
So basically, how do I fix it if I can? Or, would it be wiser to use partition magic, as I could bring the computer to my dad's work (they own a copy of PM) in a couple weeks when I get home from college? I only have about 70-80% of my data backed up, and as Murphy's law goes, it seems like the stuff most important to me I don't have backed up.
Any help is greatly appreciated.