[X-Newbies] Help! Total HD Meltdown

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

<deetya at cbn.net.id> wrote:
[snip]
> So, here are the questions:
> 
> 1) Can my partition be fixed? Or is it lost forever?
> 
> 2) If the partition is lost, is there any way to at least save the data?
> 
> 3) What could've caused this? A crash due to a power outage? Somebody
> (like my sister) messing around?

My first step would be to get a copy of Techtool Pro, Drive 10 or
Diskwarrior and see if any of them can recover the damaged partition. DW
especially is a fantastic utility that has saved many a corrupted disk
for me.

As to what caused this - unknown. My best bet would be a system crash or
power outage as MacOS was writing data to the partition. Or it could be
gradual corruption finally reaching the point that the OS can't deal
with it. MacOS 10.1.x doesn't have Journaling (helps recover more
smoothly from crashes by recording recent activity) and is not quite as
stable or reliable as 10.3.x or 10.4.x. If you can upgrade, I'd strongly
advise you do so.

If you're able to recover the partition's data with TT or DW, I suggest
backing up, wiping the HD clean, re-partitioning and installing 10.3.x
at the very least. Oh, and definitely buy a copy of DW for future use -
it's invaluable.

Please let us know how you get on.

HTH,
 Jamie Kahn Genet
-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.