*** Peter Magnusson wrote in a message to All:
PM> A friend of mine has a C 619, H 32, S 63 (= 638.9 MB)
PM> harddisk which after a Windows95 crash it is detected
PM> by BIOS setup, but consider 0% used (no partions) by
PM> FDISK.
This means the partition table got zapped; probably got overwritten.  It's 
not terribly uncommon, unfortunately.  You should investigate the possibility 
that the BIOS is not completely compatible with drives larger than 504M.
If you actually DID anything with FDISK (attempted to add or delete), you 
might as well just repartition and start from scratch... FDISK is VERY 
destructive.
If I were doing it, I'd haul out NU (Norton Utility) and look at the first 
and second tracks of the drive, particularly the first sector of each.  I'd 
especially want to be sure that the first sector of the second track looked 
ok, since that is where the partition begins.  Basically, I'd want to look to 
see for sure exactly what the problem is.
If you have a copy of NDD (Norton Disk Doctor) or Central Point's DiskFix, 
try them to see if they will restore the MBR.  If the MBR is supposedly 
restored, reboot and boot from floppy and then check the partition for errors 
after that; don't be surprised if there are errors.  If the MBR got zapped, 
then other parts of the drive could have gotten zapped also; the FAT is prone 
to this.
As an alternative, if you have Disk Manager handy, run it up, hit Alt-M to go 
to manual mode, tell it to add a partition, save, and get out.  Do NOT let it 
format.  Reboot from floppy and see if the drive is visible.  Don't attempt 
to boot from the hard drive until you're fairly certain that the hard drive 
has been repaired, since Win95 writes to the disk.  Using Disk Manager is 
fast and effective, and I think I'd recommend it over using DiskFix or NDD.
PM> We therefore seek information what to do.
PM> Can we just copy MBR, boot and partiontable from
PM> another W95 computer?
No.  Well, maybe, but if it happened to work, I'd immediately back it up and 
repartition.  This works sometimes, but usually by accident.
PM> Can INT 13h/2 read an unpartioned disk, or do I need
Yes.
--Scott.
--- timEd 1.01
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