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We have an HD with 3 partitions, 2 are correctly identified but the third one is being reported as "unrecognized file system" by the WindowsXP Recovery Console.

This third partition was used to install the operating system. and by trying to enumerate the partition's files I get an error which indicates that the directory structure index is corrupted. unfortunately the partition also contained valuable data (we all love our bosses)

So, is there away to-rebuild the directory structure? can I use some sort of "live CD" to boot and run a utility to fix the problem?

p.s. All 3 partitions where NTFS. and the problem occurred after a power failure.

Thanks, Eden

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You might take an image of the Data first since I cannot guarantee that this won't screw things up badly. Even though I am pretty sure it won't.

You might be using ntsfix from the ntfsprogs package to try to correct some errors which might be the cause of this.

ntfsfix is included in many linux distributions i.e. Knoppix

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  • +1 - taking a backup of the partition as it currently is before attempting any further repair is attempted is highly recommended.
    – David Spillett
    Dec 1, 2010 at 8:20
  • You think it will work even if the partition is unrecognized?
    – Eden
    Dec 1, 2010 at 9:38
  • Had the same issue with a notebook 4 weeks ago. In my case it worked, but there is no guarantee this will work. This is also the reason why I asked you to take a backup first.
    – pacey
    Dec 1, 2010 at 9:49

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