JSI Tip 6721. DskProbe.exe may damage a Windows 2000 FAT32 boot sector?

NOTE: On Windows 2000, you must only use the version of DskProbe.exe that is included on the CD-ROM or the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.

NOTE: Always leave DskProbe in Byte view when dealing with FAT32 partitions.

If you used any other version to view and save a FAT32 boot sector, the associated FAT32 partition may become unreadable. Chkdsk reports that the volume contains errors but it doesn't fix them.

The DskProbe utility is not aware of FAT32 and can damage the boot sector. If you read a FAT32 boot sector, press FAT on the View menu, and save/write the boot sector, even though you made no changes,  some FAT specific static values are changed, and these are used differently on a FAT32 partition.

To fix the problem, use the backup boot sector:

01. Leave DskProbe in its' default Byte view.

02. On the Drives menu, Select Logical Drive.

03. Double-click the drive letter of the damaged FAT32 partition.

04. Clear the Read Only check box.

05. Select Set Active and press OK.

06. On the Sectors menu, press Read and the change the Default Starting Sector value from 0 to 6, leaving the Number Of Sectors=1 value as is.

07. On the Sectors menu, press Write.

08. Verify that the active handle is still the correct drive letter and change the Starting Sector to Write Data value from 6 to 0.

09. Press Write It and Yes to confirm.

10. Exit DskProbe.

11. At a CMD prompt, run:

chkdsk /f