2nd drive not recognized by XP

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Two things

by Steven Haninger Nov 27, 2004 11:29AM PST

If you still have a boot disk with fdisk, you might try the /MBR switch to repair the master boot record on that drive. But, since you said you installed XP using FAT-32, and your second drive is over 32 gigs, it might not see the drive. In this case, you might try changing XP to NTFS. This can be done from the command prompt.

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Re: Two things

by Jackman Nov 27, 2004 11:19PM PST

I do have win98 fdisk and I also have the win-me fdisk which I understand does not have the size limitation as the win98 version - is this correct? Also I want to stay with fat32 until I am sure that everything is stable.

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Fdisk was updated. Link provided.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 27, 2004 11:23PM PST

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263044

The stock FDISK with Windows 98/ME and other had a 64GB issue.

Your comment about FAT32 is typical of a DOS Windows user just starting out on the newer Windows. You'll get over it soon. Let me assure you that FAT32 errors do contribute to stability if you cound such as lost clusters and such.

bob

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Re: Fdisk was updated. Link provided.

by Jackman Nov 27, 2004 11:28PM PST

Thanks for the responce Bob - do you also agree with the responce to the orgional issue - i.e. trying to save data on second drive.

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To see if that data is still there...

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 27, 2004 11:33PM PST

Boot a dos diskette. 98 or ME should not matter.

But since it's all FAT, a KNOPPIX BOOT CD could make all the recovery easy if you don't want to do DOS copies...

Read more at http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7591-0.html?forumID=26&threadID=27909&messageID=560469&tag= In that thread "PRICELESS" files were at risk.

Bob

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Re: To see if that data is still there...

by Jackman Nov 27, 2004 11:38PM PST

Where do I find KNOPPIX BOOT CD?

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Jackman, that was in the noted discussion...

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 27, 2004 11:49PM PST

Or even google.com

Please do a little research on such.

Bob

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Re: 2nd drive not recognized by XP

by Jackman Nov 28, 2004 12:38AM PST

Let me try a variation of the original question - Is it likely I can restore a drive's contents on drive 2 which was imaged by Norton Ghost 2003 when running win98se on drive 1 as OS - Have installed on drive 1 win XP Pro as OS? If so which Ghost boot diskette to use the one created under win 98 or XP? or what is best procedure to use?

I disconcerted drive 2 to protect data during XP install on drive 1 - now OS does not recognize drive 2 once re-connected.

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My first step is the DOS disk. Here's how and why.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 28, 2004 12:46AM PST

With DOS booted, the simple DIR D: or such will show if the files are "there". If they are, then XP needs a little help by rewriting the MBR. The new FDISK was noted and the command is...

FDISK /MBR

There is a space after FDISK. There is also an article describing this command and its use on Windows XP. I will leave it to others to find it.

Hopefully the drive will now show up. But will not if the DIR didn't show files.

The KNOPPIX CD gives us a way to copy files from the odd drive to the new XP drive without any command line skills. Then one can repartition and format the added drive since all the files have been recovered.

Hope this clears it up,

Bob

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Re: My first step is the DOS disk. Here's how and why.

by Jackman Nov 28, 2004 12:53AM PST

Thanks again Bob - I am downloading KNOPIX - at current speed of 26.0KB/sec I have 7 hours left to complet download.

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THE first step is the DOS disk.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 28, 2004 12:59AM PST

You must do that test. Here's why. If DOS can't see that drive content then we may be dealing with another issue.

Since you have hours to kill?

Bob

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Re: THE first step is the DOS disk.

by Jackman Nov 28, 2004 1:23AM PST

Booted to win 98 the no.2 drive did not show up using DIR :E - D; was a ram drive. Additional suggestions?

I did do a Norton Ghost image of this drive under win 98 - just before disconnesting it and installing XP on drive 1 - prehaps I should revert back to win98 using Ghost then copy data (about 20 GB) to DVD - then back to XP via ghost image just made. leave 2 drive connected this time and if data is not there copy from DVD?

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It's likely some Disk Manager software was in play

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 28, 2004 1:29AM PST

Many used EZDrive, Maxblast or other drive management software to create said drives and when this is used, trouble starts when they move the drive around.

That's a sad sign that DOS didn't see the drive contents.

Next time, supply the output of this command for more clues...

FDISK /STATUS

Unless KNOPPIX sees it and since the FDISK /MBR didn't cure it, I fear you need to work back to when and where the drive contents were visible.

Bob

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One more thought

by Steven Haninger Nov 28, 2004 12:53AM PST

Ghost I do not have but PowerQuest's Drive Image I do and am well familiar with. If I copy the entire contents from one drive to another with DI, there are some options in the copy process. One of these allows me to "hide" the original or newly created partition. By hiding, it just allows me to set or not set it active. Is there any way Ghost operates in a similar manner? Is it possible the drive you cannot see does not have it's partition set "active"? In this case, fdisk should be able to disclose and fix this.

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