What has happened on my partition F

Hello, I am an old timer still using Windows XP for old games and Trainz 2004 and Classics 1&2. The computer has not been connected to the internet for many years.

The XP is FAT32, with partitions C: (for the OS),E,F on one hard drive. And H and I on a second hard drive. It has been this way for many years.

Trouble started when I installed Microsoft's Rise of Nations (from a Retail CD) onto the F partition which had the most free space left on it. (I made a restore point before installing).

The installer seemed to catch a little during the install, but the game played well, I played a couple of days, but decided I no longer liked to play that kind of game.

So I ran the uninstaller that came with the game. The uninstaller froze a couple of times, it seemed, at the end of the process. I had to control alt delete to get out of it, but the game was uninstalled.

It was then I found that the other programs in that partition. Had forgotten how to work. A publisher program seemed not to remember where photos were that I had put into pages. Reinstalling fixed it. Then Classics 1&2 failed to start up. Classics shows the splash screen.I click Start, getting the desktop and the hourglass, and then a Fatal Error Reason: Size, Failed to get file length, No call stack available.

Well that's a start. When I clicked on the properties of the Local Classics folder on F: it shows 3.67mb and size on disk as 7.54mb. That is correct, megabytes. I know darn well it should be around 7GB. I copied that folder and pasted to a memory stick and it was a very short copy, coming out in megabytes.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob P.
 
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reformat F: in disk manager. You may need to delete the partition first.

Not a nice thing to do.

Cheerio John
 
I had this problem once back when I was playing EVE Online in 2012, the game froze, wouldn't start again after force closing finding out the drive had disappeared from the list, I checked in disk manager and said unallocated, I spent months trying to find a way to recover data as it also had my whole trainz database then going to the end of 2013 I found something, a program called "Partition Recovery" https://recoverit.wondershare.net/c...MIrOCfmP-u5gIVjgsrCh3ynAwNEAAYASAAEgLL1PD_BwE

If it's the same issue I listed this should help.

Cheers.
 
First thing to do before doing anything else is check the disk for errors, it may well correct any problems without the need to mess with anything, may just be a damaged MFT. updated for Win10 How to use Check disk covers Win7 and same applies for XP https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/guide-to-using-check-disk-in-windows-vista/ If not that it may give you an insight as to what is wrong.

I'd also check the drive with something like Hard Disk Sentinel or Crystaldiskinfo to see if it is on the way out. If it is, using other tools other than to recover data may just result in the same problem happening again.
 
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Hello, When I wrote this, I was already thinking along clam1952's way of thinking, And I like the links and ideas from everyone!

So far, I am thinking about just formating the F: partition, like was said here. But there are still problems on the C drive in the registry. I tried inserting the disk to play Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds on the F: partition, and the CD failed to start the game.


In fact, there were errors even trying to uninstall the game. I ended up using a registry editor to delete all references to it. Then the install disk allowed an install to F: and the desktop icon works properly to start the game. Same thing with my musiic jukebox on F:


I used the XP disk management, and it showed all the partitions including F: as healthy.
There is also a tool when looking at the properties of F: You can do Error Checking.. "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. I didn't do this, having a little fear (let's say big fear) of losing Trainz 2004 (my favorite) and 2006 which are on E: and both work nicely.


In the Trainz 1&2 Local,there is a long list of the content files showing, but they all have zero bytes. All the game program's files are there, I am tempted to click the TC executable, or the Launcher or the Content Manager to see what happens. But not wanting bigger trouble.

I think I'm going to be moving very slow on this, maybe likely to unplug one hard drive and plug another in which will be a second backup of the Trainz 2004 World. (I know, unbelievable, but cheapskate !!!!):confused:
Good ideas from you guys! Bob P.
 
Buy an external hard drive newegg.com have WD external drives for $60-110 I'd go 5 TB but 2 TB is fine depending how large your hard disk is. Back up what you have now.

Then think about doing other things.

Cheerio John
 
I have 2 x 4TB external backups, the backup is backed up, chance of 2 backups failing at the same time is unlikely. Both contain backup OS images of each of my 3PCs and full synchronised backups of my several Trainz Installs, any problem with a Trainz install just replace with it's backup. And they are only switched on when doing the backups. I also keep another 500GB backup external with copies of the installers for all my programs.

I wouldn't trust the cloud to be free from getting hacked or vanishing.
 
I have 2 x 4TB external backups, the backup is backed up, chance of 2 backups failing at the same time is unlikely. Both contain backup OS images of each of my 3PCs and full synchronised backups of my several Trainz Installs, any problem with a Trainz install just replace with it's backup. And they are only switched on when doing the backups. I also keep another 500GB backup external with copies of the installers for all my programs.

I wouldn't trust the cloud to be free from getting hacked or vanishing.


I use a u-green enclosure that way I can power off the back up when not backing up to eliminate any chance malware encrypting the backups. I have one main back up drive but a couple of 4 Tb external drives that have the system image on them as well.

Cheerio John
 
Well Fellows, I'm going to take a break from this for a while until my nerves go back to peaceful ...

I tried a load of extra ideas, like plugging in my backup hard drive and the BIOS never got to recognize it. Tried uninstalling TC, It wouldn't do it. Tried removing all mentions of TC from the registry, (for some reason RegSeeker couldn't do it like it did with other programs on F:

I'll probably come back after a long time out and try some of your suggestions. Tried my acoustic guitar, and played some songs. That
did work !!

Best Wishes, and Thanks! Bob P.
 
Hello 1611mac !

Nope, no broken strings! there's song about guitars called "Wires and Wood".

Best Wishes to you guys and Thanks! Bob P.
 
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