When in recovery console Drill down to C:\Windows\System32 and try running the above mentioned commands from there, i have a feeling that it will give you a access denied error when changing to Windows folder after seeing those screens...
If that happens try to copy the Autochk.exe and CHKDSK.exe from the CDROM to the root of C Drive or any other drive, you will find both of this files in the i386 folders in the installation disk.
1. To copy Autochk.exe to c: Type CD i:\I386 followed by Copy Autochk.exe c:
2. To copy chkdsk.exe CD I:\I386 followed by Expand chkdsk.ex_ C:
Note: I: or I Drive is assumed as the CDROM which hold the installation disc.
After copying the above two files from CDROM to C: go to C: and type CHKDSK h: /f /i or CHKDSK h: /r /i
@Andrews: So far: Jumbo5 has installed Windows on H: and not C: according to his earlier posts. Also he is using a pendrive to boot & repair windows (to get to the recovery console). Since H: - the root directory is unavailable as the partition has got corrupt he can't boot into windows. There might be an issue with his cd-drive hence he is using a pendrive.
@Jumbo5: Can you confirm the above scenario and if there are any changes mention them. Running a data/partition recovery tool on another machine with your harddisk as the secondary harddisk to recover data is the only way (50/50 chance) you can recover data as far as I can see.
Meanwhile theres 1 more solution provided to me , i've not tried it yet but lets see.what is your opinion on this. -
You can try booting from ultimate boot CD (you can create a usb boot disk with tools also) Ultimate Boot CD - Overview
It has lots of partition,boot manager tools.
It looks like your partition info is corrupted and recovering that using some of these tools may fix it.
In similar cases,its found that the partition info becomes kind of hidden (shown in other partition manager tools).
So changing it back from hidden NTFS to NTFS will resolve the issue. You can use testdisk program on the above CD for fixing partition information.
As a precaution,its better to remove one of your drive, before trying out all the options,so that u won't mess with the other disk.
Testdisk seems to be a good make or break tool. I strongly suggest that you read up on how to use it here: TestDisk - CGSecurity
You can also just download and use that tool instead of a bunch of tools.
I don't think you should waste your time trying to run chkdsk anymore because it can't fix the problem at hand. Also, ever since the problem has occured your Hdd is virtually untouched as the commands are not working. Messing around further to run these commands might just make things worse.
I booted through ultimateboot cd,ran the test disk.I think it is not detecting h: as u can see.
tHERE R SO MANY OPTIONS IN THIS cd THAT I'M CONFUSED.
THERE IS 1 active partion recovery but i guess its a demo version .
which other options should i try out of all these??
it may have happened that the data is still there but the partion is not getting detected.
Is there a possibility that when i'm booting with the XP usb pendrive for XP setup , i attach another formatted pendrive and install XP on that pendrive & boot the system?
I think it has to be run from within the OS. Since an OS is missing you can try this: Damaged Hard Disk - CGSecurity
After booting with Knoppix you can use the above tutorial.
Else you can simply select TestDisk from Ultimatebootdisk and try the tutorial. I think it is placed under disk management tools.
Why don't you just copy the autochk.exe and chkdsk.exe from a working windows xp machine on the bootable recovery pen drive and run the CHKDSK h: /f /i command.
there is c: prior to me giving chkdsk command, so it does give an error as it is sayinh h: invalid.anyway, i ran a live cd, n its showing bootsector errors.tomm i'll b running a win xp live cd black edition sept 2009.
lets see.