Hi,

First of all I hope I will not post twice, as I tried to post and entry here last week but I don't see it published, unless
the problem was somewhere between the keyboaard and the chair.

In fact I have an issue to integrate ntfs 4 dos within ultimate boot cd v5.1.1. The ntfs 4 dos "kit" contains a readme
first file explaining how to proceed, but it relates to UBCD 5.0b5 and it seems that none of the files they are talking
about exists in 5.1.1. Can someone advise on the correct procedure to use as I am completely new to all this.

The readme file contains the following instructions:

1) Add the program archive(s) to the UBCD ISO (e.g. /ubcd/dosapps/)
2) Amend the contents of UBCD.INI to /ubcd/dosapps/UBCD.INI
3) Amend the contents of custom.cfg to /ubcd/custom.cfg
4) Have a drink
5) Repeat step 4)

FIN!

(-:

And no I didn't repeat steps 4 & 5 too often.

Thanks upfront.

Guy

Let's separate the problem into parts.

1. Are you talking about Avira's NTFS4DOS? If that's the case, I don't think the official download has any instructions related to UBCD. Additionally, it is a tool that is no longer supported by Avira and it has not been updated for several years, currently for personal use only; so if there is any kind of problem or incompatibility with NTFS4DOS, specially in volumes formatted and used under Windows 6.x (Vista / Seven), there is no way to be aware of it nor solve it. There are other NTFS drivers for DOS, JFYI.

2. The method to add NTFS4DOS would depend on what exactly you would want to add. You could add the bootable floppy image, or the bootable CD image, or you could edit the UBCD FreeDOS image so to add the driver there. For each case, the method slightly differs, and you should look at the info in the several sections of the main UBCD website (faqs, customizations, tutorials...) at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com to find out how to do it with the current version of UBCD.

The current UBCD v5.1.1 has an iso.gz image, and inside it you could find DOS apps, including also the UBCD FreeDOS floppy. The instructions in the above mentioned faqs, tutorials, etc. were updated accordingly.

3. UBCD includes a version of PartedMagic (although, not the latest one, but it can also be updated separately). Booting into UBCD -> PMagic, you should also have access to NTFS volumes. Depending on your hardware, you could even update UBCD with the latest PMagic, or download PMagic and use it independently of UBCD.

4. If you "must" use NTFS4DOS, look at the already indicated sections to find the relevant info. If you need "some" NTFS driver for DOS (for example, if the hardware can't support anything else other than DOS), search also for alternative drivers, in addition to the "faqs, customization, tutorial..." sections. If you are not really interested in the DOS part, but rather in the access to some NTFS volume / partition, then evaluate the PMagic option. If your final "real" goal has more to do with, for example, access to some NTFS volume so to recover files, then the approach can be much different, with less "customizations" steps and more directly into work.

If I wasn't clear enough, please provide more specific info and I'll try to clarify.

HTH.

Hi,

First of all thank you for the reply, as I said I am not a guru at all this. Maybe to ease the discussion I will describe
what I'd like to achieve. I have a friend who has an Acer Aspire One, without CD/DVD reader, it is crashing during the
boot and from some research work I'd like to run a CHKDSK on it before investigating further. I read that NTFS 4 DOS
contained that tool, not sure I can do the equivalent with something already included in UBCD 5.1.1

Hope that clarifies a bit my posting.

Thank you for any help/advise you could provide on that.

Regards,

Guy

Which OS is supposed to be booting in that system? Does the HDD have multiple partitions? Which filesystems those partitions are formatted with? This info is needed so to know if a DOS-based program might help you at all, or if you need something else.

(Note: Since you mentioned chkdsk under DOS and NTFS4DOS; I wouldn't trust any DOS-based program to work correctly on an NTFS partition. Yet, I'd rather know which filesystems are you trying to work with, instead of assuming. There are better options.)

About the booting problem, are you using AC power? Is the battery working? Can you try with AC power but with no battery? Which exact booting problem leads you to want to run chkdsk? Was the problem sudden? Any other problems were present before? Since you have no CD/DVD drive, are you able to boot with a USB flash drive in that system?

In addition, if you boot with UBCD -> Pmagic, can you access the HDD? Alternatively, do you have the knowledge / possibility to take out the HDD from that system and connect it to another one (so to at least back up the important data, or even run a "better" chkdsk)?

The OS I am supposed to boot is Windows XP.

Did it happen all of a sudden? I don't know, the guy the laptop belongs to is not available for the moment to check.
The battery is out of work, but I do connect the laptop through its power supply to try and boot it.
I do intercept, through the F8 key, the boot sequence so I can read the BSOD message, otherwise it loops. The
BSOD message states UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME and some ggoling tells me I "could" solve the issue by
running an CHKDSK on the drive.
Does it have multiple partitions? I think so, the one containing XP is an NTFS one and there is a 2d one for ACER,
but it doesn't seem bootable, at least it does not appear in the boot menu. I don't have the knowledge to remove the
drive from the PC.

I didn't try to use pmagic yet, to access the drive, will try that somewhere beginning of next week ... tomorrow
I will have no time. I can boot from the USB drive, I did succeed in generating UBCD 5.1.1 and it boots.

About backing up the data, don't think there is a lot of important infos on it.

Regards,

Guy

Well, you need to ask your friend if he was updating something in Windows XP, or some software. Was anything changed? Hardware change / upgrade?

The UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME may mean nothing special except some one-time "glitch" (if some change was performed), or it might mean something more problematic (including some hardware problem) if the booting problem repeats itself. Was this happening before (and your friend just went on, paying no attention to the possibly growing issue)?

Are you able to boot into Windows Safe Mode? Are you able to boot into some Windows / Acer Recovery Console? From Recovery Console you should be able to run "chkdsk /r", but be aware that you may also loose information by running it. That's why the first thing is to access the data that could be potentially lost (I mean lost by any means; whether because some hardware problem, or by chkdsk, or by anything else going on).

To boot into Windows / Acer Recovery Console, you should search for the correct specific key so to be able to select such booting mode in the specific Acer you are using, and then follow the procedure.

Again, I strongly suggest to access the data first (for example by using pmagic) and making a backup of the relevant data (documents, pictures...) over to a different drive (not just a second partition of the same HDD, but over a different HDD altogether). The less you use the problematic HDD, the better the chances to recover it, if any. If you are booting with a UFD of PMagic, you should be able to back up the info, for example into the USB disk (or on a second one). If you are unsure about how to do it, test the procedure first with other working system / working HDD, and only then go to the problematic HDD.

Note: once you finish the back up, double check that you can actually retrieve the files correctly in some other system, before performing additional actions on the original problematic HDD).

BTW, is the error message “STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME", exactly? Or is it only a similar one?

Hi,

Could spend some time again testing further ... in fact the BSOD message is something similar to the one you
showed, not all on one line but the STOP hex code is the same.

About saving the data ... don't think there is anything that should be saved, but as this is a 2d hand laptop
without OS distribution I'm trying to make it bootable again ... should you think I'm losing my time ... then I'll
stop and retunr the PC to the owner.

Regards,

Guy

I can't tell you what to do with that specific system. That's up to you and the owner. There is no way for me to know if the system is going to work or which tests / utilities are worth running.

You are not answering to the main questions (Safe Mode, other changes, one-time glitch, more problems, other changes, other upgrades, hardware problems...).

For example, if the HDD has a hardware problem, then chkdsk doesn't matter much.

My general suggestion would be to run the Windows / Acer Recovery Console, and from that point run chkdsk over the Windows partition.

In any case, if you test the hardware with the relevant tools, and it turns all OK, then use Recovery Console to run chkdsk. If then Windows still can't boot (not even in Safe Mode), run the Acer Factory Default.

If the Acer partition (for recovery / factory default) is still useful, avoid repartitioning or wiping the disk.

Probably you could find more info at Acer's website (for that specific model).

All this is just a general suggestion. The responsibility and decision are up to you and the owner, nor anyone else.