PartitionMagic-Init failed: Error 117, Partition's drive letter cannot be determined

[radski]

Hi all,

the other day I switched off the XP restore function after seeing my total drive capacity was out my 2gb. I went into Computer Management > Disk Management and found there was a partition 'unknown health partition'. I downloaded PartitionMagic to merge that partition with the main partition and everything seemed to have worked fine. Now trying to open PartitonMagic again, I get the following error, Init failed: Error 117, Partition's drive letter cannot be determined.
An error also pops up if I attempt to defragment the drive, 'Drive C might be corrupted, run chkdsk /f'. I've done that, no problems found, but I still keep getting the error. Any ideas how to fix this thing?

Thanks

 

[kimsland]

From here (archived) http://www.reference.com/browse/Symantec+norton+partition+magic&

Compatibility issues
PartitionMagic is compatible with Windows NT, 98, ME, 2000, and XP desktop editions. However, it is not compatible with Windows NT, 2000, or .NET server editions. It crashes if a Windows Vista partition is present, even if it is run from a different operating system, with the error "Init failed: Error 117. Partition's drive letter cannot be identified". However this error can be avoided if the Windows Vista partition is configured using Windows XP instead of creating the partition using Windows Vista or its installation disk. To fix this, all partitions on the hard drive need to be deleted and formatted into new partitions using the Windows XP installation disk, allowing for a working partition for Windows Vista to be created. The same error occurs in some conditions under Windows

Normally it's best to use the bootup option (Dos) to access PM, sometimes within Windows it cannot find the drive letter correctly

 

[radski]

So I have to reformat the hard drive?

 

[kimsland]

No re-partition the HardDrive (which is even more detructive)

Were you using PM from bootup? (preferred)

 

[radski]

PM from bootup? I don't understand. I tried to use DOS but apparently XP doesn't have a DOS environment. I used PM just like I would any other program in normal windows mode.

 

[kimsland]

You are not accessing the filesystem NTFS (or Fat32, or even DOS)
You are accessing the Partition

That can be seen by, really anything!

Especially Partition Magic

Try creating the bootable PM disc. This will help you in future as well
To create it, you will need to licence it too

By the way Windows Xp has DOS, 5.1
Well if you include NT Virtual DOS Machine (NTVDM), as DOS (but slightly modified)

 

[radski]

Okay, I've created the disk, now what?

 

[kimsland]

You can repair the Partition from using the bootable Partition Magic GUI (Graphical User Interface) Basically within the Partition Magic program

Although I have safely done this, and also because you were speaking of merging the Partitions, it would be best to backup any personal data (in Windows ideally) first.

 

[radski]

The thing is, I can't access PM in XP as I would a normal program because everytime I open it, I get the following, "Init failed: Error 117, Partition's drive letter cannot be determined."

P.S. Would should be on the bootup disk? I've got a 'readme' that says PartionMagic-BootMagic version 8, is that it?

 

[radski]

bumpety bump.

 

[kimsland]

Usually you can create the full Partition Magic bootable disc, from one of the Partition Magic's menus, or program links

This is what I'm waiting on you to do
To run Partition Magic's boot CD (not try to fix the issue in Windows)

 

[radski]

I've got a floopy disk that was created through PM. It's got a bunch of files, with a 'readme' that says, "PartionMagic-BootMagic version 8" is that what you're talking about?

Also, if that is the boot disk, once I boot with it, what should I do?

 

[kimsland]

Install the full version of Partition Magic on another computer
Then in Windows create the full PM bootable disc

 

[radski]

Okay, done that, now what?

 

[kimsland]

You are finally able to merge the Partitions
To do this, your 'unknown health partition' (as you said), can be deleted
Once it is removed, you can then grab the seperator (line) at the end of your main partition and drag it to the end (over the deleted partition space)
This will create one big partition (taking up the entire drive)
Then apply and exit allowing the changes

Restart back into Partition magic, this time right click on your partition (being the only one!) and then select check for problems (can't remember the exact wording)
Fix any errors found
Then apply and exit allowing the changes

At last boot to Windows, and check your new found space on C drive
You will then need to do a defrag on the drive
All done

 

[radski]

As my first post mentioned, I've done all that. The problem is, now that I go to defrag or open PM I get the following messages, 'Drive C might be corrupted, run chkdsk /f', and with PM, 'Init failed: Error 117, Partition's drive letter cannot be determined'.

 

[kimsland]

Can be signs of a faulty internal HardDrive (make sure that you always complete all backups)

Please try this:

Manual steps to run Chkdsk from My Computer or Windows Explorer

• Open My Computer, and then right-click the hard disk that you want to check.
• Click Properties, and then click Tools.
• Under Error-checking, click Check Now. A dialog box that shows the Check disk options is displayed

Use one of the following procedures:

• • To run Chkdsk in read-only mode, click Start.
• • (tick) To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, select the Automatically fix file system errors check box.
• • To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.

Note If one or more of the files on the hard disk are open, you will receive the following message:

The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be accessed by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule the disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?

Click Yes to schedule the disk check, and then restart your computer to start the disk check.

Wait until Chkdsk finishes Checking / Repairing any faults
Windows will then either restart your computer or continue loading Normally.

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After that, you could do a Drive Diagnostics too