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WHS boot corrupted - reinstall froze - new install only option presented now - what to do? RRS feed

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    My WHS started locking up shortly after boot a couple days ago.  There weren't any obvious problems (no SMART failures or O/S messages), but as I was looking into it (after a couple more days) it could no longer find any boot device.

    So I followed the steps to do a Reinstall, only to have the reinstall freeze up (no mouse, no nothing, left for 10 hours with no resolution) during the formatting of the O/S partition.

    Now the only option I am presented with by the installation CD is a New Install onto a 20GB raw partition.

    My concern is entirely about data loss - can I proceed with the New Install and have it find my existing data files?  When I reinstall, do I have to have the other drives disconnected to prevent them from being wiped?  If so, when I re-add, will the new install "find" the duplication and restore the data drive in its entirety?
    I have 4 drives, and everything on the Data partition of the physical Boot disk is still readable and has been copied off, leaving just the Boot Partition as corrupted and lost.

    Thanks.

    Wednesday, August 25, 2010 1:49 AM

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    My WHS started locking up shortly after boot a couple days ago.  There weren't any obvious problems (no SMART failures or O/S messages), but as I was looking into it (after a couple more days) it could no longer find any boot device.

    So I followed the steps to do a Reinstall, only to have the reinstall freeze up (no mouse, no nothing, left for 10 hours with no resolution) during the formatting of the O/S partition.

    Now the only option I am presented with by the installation CD is a New Install onto a 20GB raw partition.

    My concern is entirely about data loss - can I proceed with the New Install and have it find my existing data files? 

    No.

    When I reinstall, do I have to have the other drives disconnected to prevent them from being wiped?

    If you do a New Installation, yes.  If you do a Server Reinstallation, no.

    If so, when I re-add, will the new install "find" the duplication and restore the data drive in its entirety?
    I have 4 drives, and everything on the Data partition of the physical Boot disk is still readable and has been copied off, leaving just the Boot Partition as corrupted and lost.

    Thanks.

    First, I would connect that drive to a client and run chkdsk /r on your primary drive (just to make sure it's ok).  Once you've done that, try getting rid of all traces of the 20 GB OS partition by using diskpart.  Once you've done that, WHS should present you with Server Reinstallation as an option again.
    Wednesday, August 25, 2010 4:09 AM
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