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General discussion

Windows cannot read 2nd HDD after reinstall

by mouse8b Jun 18, 2005 5:21PM PDT

If you don't want to read the full post, I made a summary at the bottom.

I have 2 hard drives in this sytem. The master is a 20GB drive, and the slave is a 180 GB drive that had 2 partitions, 1 NTFS and the other FAT32. I was using Windows XP Pro (SP2) just fine; I was booting from the 20 gig and using the 180 to store media (music, video, games, installers, an image of the 20 gig drive, backups, etc). Because the 20 was upgraded from 98SE to XP and converted to NTFS, it was using 512b clusters, and I wanted the 4kb standard for some reason, so I decided to reformat and reinstall.

After reformatting the 20 gig and doing a clean XP Pro install, I found that the 180 gig drive registered as an unpartitioned 128 gig drive. I did not format the 180 during installation, though I did notice that it registered as unformatted during installation (at the point where you choose where to install Windows) . I popped in Knoppix to see if the data was still there. Knoppix read the data just fine. How can I make Windows recognize my drive?

SUMMARY:
Was working perfectly. Reformated and reinstalled WinXP on master, slave shows up as unformatted. Linux can read slave just fine. How do I make Windows detect my drive and data?

Discussion is locked

9 Posts
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This is PROPER!! Don't Panic.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 18, 2005 10:18PM PDT

Drives over 127GB get support in SP1 or SP2. XP won't support this drive.

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Over 128 and sp2
by mouse8b Jun 19, 2005 6:10AM PDT

I have sp2, but the problem is that the drive shows as unformatted.

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It is possible you tried to repair or boot the OS before...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 19, 2005 8:04AM PDT

SP1 or SP2 was installed. Doing so will corrupt the volume. Sorry to read about your loss.

Bob

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This is how the install happened
by mouse8b Jun 19, 2005 8:21AM PDT

I had the original XP CD without the service packs. I slipstreamed sp2 into the Windows installer then burned it again. After booting from the CD I pushed "Enter" to do a clean install, as opposed to "R" for a recovery. At the point where I was to select where to install Windows, I selected the C drive, which had been newly formatted the Maxtor utility. The installation showed that I had lots of unpartitioned space on the E drive. I installed windows on the C drive, letting windows format the drive. When the install was complete, I went to My Computer and found a 128 GB drive that was unformmattted. I loaded Knoppix, which found all of my data just fine.

Is there a program out there (preferably freeware) that can recreate the file table I am assuming was deleted? or make Windows read the files on the drive?

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Bingo. "which had been newly formatted the Maxtor utility"
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 19, 2005 10:11AM PDT

You tripped up the XP installer. XP, and especially with SP2 all slipped in would not need such preparation on the hard disk.

Bob

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How does that affect not reading the other hard drive
by mouse8b Jun 19, 2005 2:39PM PDT

I don't see why this would affect windows not being able to read the untouched hard drive, unless the XP installer touched it and didn't tell anyone.

(btw, if it matters, i left out a word, it should have been: "which had been newly formatted BY the Maxtor utility")

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It alters...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 19, 2005 8:57PM PDT

How XP's drive table works.

One of the lessons you learn is to not use such tools unless required.

Bob

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Ok, i get it
by mouse8b Jun 20, 2005 5:24AM PDT

Thank you for your help. I'm going to buy another HD today and put it in an external housing for backup that does not stay connected to my computer.

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That's a copy. Not backup.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 20, 2005 5:31AM PDT

Read these forums as members look for help in how to recover files from external "backup" drives. Great copy method. Backup? Doubtful.

Bob

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