Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Maxtor stole my Seagate!

Jan 15, 2007 3:11PM PST

Hi,
I sure hope someone can save me. I have a second 120gb hard drive, a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (cable select jumper setting) alone on a secondary channel - file system NTFS. I recently attached a very old 1.5gb Maxtor 71260AT as a slave - file system FAT32 (there was no jumper to set) of a relatives in order to retrieve some information, which I was able to do without difficulty. However I was unable to access my Seagate nor could my computer "see" it while the Maxtor was connected. After removing the old Maxtor my computer identified my Seagate as the old Maxtor even to the point of displaying the folder structure from the Maxtor. I connected the Seagate to my other computer and it also read it as a 1.5gb HD with the Maxtor drive folder structure. My data recovery software, GetDataBack for NTFS read it the same way. Apparently the Maxtor drive imprinted itself onto the Seagate somehow. I am desperate to get my 120gb Seagate HD back since it was full of very important material.
The specs are as follows:
windows XP SP2, Pentium 4 1.6, 1gb ddr memory, don't know the motherboard but the computer is a vpr Matrix 1620.
I hope this is enough info for a solution to be found. Thanks for any help that can be provided.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
error-checking
Jan 15, 2007 4:37PM PST

Jumper 120GB as MA.
Install it on secondary channel at the end of the 80-wire Ultra ATA cable (not the old 40 wire cable).

Open DISK MANAGEMENT.
Rt-click on the HD and click Properties.
Click Tools tab.
Run the Error-Checking tools on that HD.

- Collapse -
thanks, but been there, tried that
Jan 17, 2007 11:50AM PST

okay, I had already tried setting to master, but a got an automatic disk scan which I stopped because the last time that happened all the data on the drive (another drive) got mixed up. I also did as you suggested, but don't remember if I did so while it was set at master or cable select. anyway, this time, after setting to master the auto disk scan started and I just let it continued. however, it took more than four hours and I had to go to sleep before it finished. afterward it still read as the 1.5gb maxtor so I did the scandisk from the disk management window. it was finished in less than a minute (consistent, I guess, with the 1.5gb read size.) I also tried defrag, but to no effect. Thanks for the help anyway, but I am still desperate - every day I find I need something on that drive. thank god for carpel tunnel or I'd have no hair left.

- Collapse -
further developments
Jan 23, 2007 3:28PM PST

okay, I've been away for a few days.

When I rechecked the drive with Disk Management, I saw this time that there are now two partitions on it. The 1.5 maxtor clone is a fat32 "active" partition, with the remainder (110gb) being "unallocated" (used to be ntfs) - all my files are on the unallocated part, of course.
If I delete the "active" partition what happens to the unallocated part?
Does it become the active partition, or will I have to reallocate it?
If so, will it do any damage to the files on it?
After deleting, will I be able to recover the 1.5gb partiton without formatting the whole drive?

I hope somebody can tell me how to proceed.

Thanks in advance.

- Collapse -
Is there more to this story?
Jan 23, 2007 7:28PM PST

Clone? Did you use cloning software at any point? This could be a free utility from a drive manufacturer. Is it possible that you ran software such as MaxBlast or DiskWizard. Is there more to this story?

If you want to have a chance of getting your files back, don't do anything to any of the partitions on that drive.

Is the Seagate 120GB connected to the motherboard or a PCI hard dive controller card? Try reinstalling the motherboard drivers--especially the chipset drivers. If a PCI card controller, reinstall the driver from the card maker's website--don't let Windows install what it thinks is the best driver.

- Collapse -
no more to the story, but greater clarity, I hope
Jan 26, 2007 5:45AM PST

Hi, thanks for your interest.
The drive is installed on the secondary channel on the motherboard - I have no controller card installed in this computer.
The use of the term "clone" referred to the Maxtor drive being imprinted (size and folder structure, but not the actual files) onto the Seagate somehow. No cloning software was used in any way.
As described above, what apparently happened is that Windows copied the Maxtor information to the Seagate as a new partition and made it the "active" partition, relegation the remainder to "unallocated" status.
What I need to know is how to retrieve the original partition (now unallocated) containing all my data, and getting rid of the "Maxtor" partition - all without having to reformat my drive if possible.
I am already fairly confident that I can salvage my data using "GetDataBack for NTFS", but don't have the free space to copy it all.

Thanks again and hope this info helps you to help me.