Paul wrote:

Do you think Microsoft Support phone numbers will handle a call on Win 10
corruption due to the Microsoft Update?

They might.

Today the Microsoft Support Tier 2 technician tried to "repair" the Windows
10 Pro HDD that Microsoft Windows Update bricked about a month ago.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/24/4xt104h.jpg

They failed. It took /hours/, where the 2nd tier Microsoft Technical
Support (+1-800-642-7676) stuck with me the entire time.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/24/4xt104i.jpg

Since the OS wouldn't boot, screenshots were out of the question.

So I snapped scores of new photos with the spare Moto G Android phone of
exactly the procedure Microsoft followed during the hours it took to fail,
and I transferred those photos to this computer using the "it just works"
method described in this thread.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/24/4xt104g.jpg

Are you willing to let them remote in ?

Yes. I already physically replaced the HDD that Microsoft Update bricked,
which needed Office 2007 Pro, where Microsoft Technical Support
(+1-800-360-7561) remotely installed and activated MS Office for me earlier
today.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/...ice2007_16.jpg

They remoted into my machine in order for them to manually install
Microsoft Office 2007 Pro for me earlier today, all the steps of which are
fully documented in screenshots for group tribal knowledge here.

SOLVED: How to download an ISO image for Office 2007 Pro in the year 2018
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/7ru4_AyhPCY

Some people value their privacy more than they value a "repair".

All I care about is my data, where they would be bored to tears if they
looked at it - but my data is important to me (pictures of the grandkids,
financial records, thousands of DIY photos, etc.).

I let Microsoft remote in a second time today because they needed to create
a bootable media for me on a known-good computer, we created 1709 bootable
DVD media to attempt to repair the bricked Microsoft Windows 10 Pro.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/24/6xt104j.jpg

Can you explain, succinctly, to the person on the phone,
what you did to the disk right after the incident ?

Hmmm... I'm not known to be laconic.
I explained that I hit /every/ button that the recovery console provided
/except/ the one that wipes out everything and reinstalls Windows 10 Pro.

In other words, things that might have complicated the situation.

The only thing I did that might complicate things is the DISM command you
suggested, where the 2nd tier support at Microsoft told me that they never
use DISM on a system that doesn't already boot.

I don't remember what the DISM command was that I used, but we documented
it in a prior psot so I can dig it up (they didn't seem to care since that
X:\ command prompt is the one step they never use, they told me.

You may have tried that DISM command to back out
a half-finished update. That might have been one of them.
Maybe it was "revert" something-or-other. The first command is
to back out a patch that didn't actually install. The second
one would be backing out a patch that did install.

DISM /image:c:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions
DISM /image:c:\ /remove-package /_packagename_

Yup. I ran whatever DISM you had suggested at the time, but they told me
that DISM won't do anything on a system that won't boot except to the
recovery console.

On a damaged disk, "CHKDSK" is a "repair-in-place" utility.
You *must* make a backup before using it, or possibly
forever lose access to the data. CHKDSK is *not* a utility
for casual usage.

You can't run CHKDSK if the disk won't mount.

It's perfectly safe when the disk is
healthy... and quite deadly when the disk is sick.

There's nothing wrong with the disk (AFAIK).

It's the Microsoft Update that bricked it. I suspect it's because I
customized the hell out of that system, to the point that Microsoft Updates
didn't work at all until recently. Then wham! Windows Update bricked the
system.

The tech support said it's because the HP machine I'm using doesn't have
drivers from HP for Win10 but I suspect it's just poor coding that can't
handle customizations.

Lesson learned - don't customize Windows 10 Pro too much.

It's a paradox to be resolved by creating a backup before you
use it. Even the twit on the phone should know that.

There's no way to make a backup if you can't "mount" the data.
(I see your suggestion for ddrescue below... see below for details.)

We ended up making a support appointment at the nearest Microsoft Support
Center, which, in the Silicon Valley, is open the strangest hours!
Monday = Midnight to Midnight
Tuesday = Noon to 9:30PM
Wednesday = 10am to Midnight
Thursday = 10 am to 9:30 PM
Friday = 10 am to 9:30 PM
Saturday = 10 am to 9:30 PM
Sunday = Closed

Before you allow a twit to work on that disk, you
back it up. In case my little description didn't paint
a vivid enough picture for you.

I can't imagine how to back up a disk that can't be mounted.
(I see your suggestion for ddrescue below... see below for details.)

As you know, I plugged it into an SATA/IDE/PATA adapter but a known good
Windows 10 computer wouldn't mount it.
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/...sb_adapter.jpg

Even when you take a computer to the computer store or
to Geek Squad for repair, you back it up first!!!

How do you back up a terabyte HDD that won't mount?
(I see your suggestion for ddrescue below... see below for details.)

No exceptions. You can use ddrescue for this, if you cannot
find anything else to use.

Googling for "ddrescue" canonical site, it looks like it's dead:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ddrescueview/

Maybe the GNU link is the canonical site?
http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/

It's a gunzipped tarball, so I'll deal with that.

Seems to have some associated utilities but they don't work on Windows.
DDRescue-GUI - A simple GUI (Graphical User Interface) for ddrescue.
http://www.hamishmb.altervista.org/h...e=ddrescue-gui

And they're dead links anyway:
Ddrescueview - A graphical viewer for GNU ddrescue log files.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ddrescueview/

Ddrutility - A set of tools designed to work with ddrescue to aid with data
recovery.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ddrutility/

I'll read up s'more on ddrescue. Thanks. We should probably take this out
of the r.p.d ng because it's off topic so I'll post a separate thread.