Lost my HardDrive

[Keller]

I have two HD - one Western Digital(c:\) the other Maxtor.[nbsp][nbsp]Since Win98 was not working I decided to do a clean install.[nbsp][nbsp]So I formated c: and reinstalled win98.[nbsp][nbsp]Now It seems as though the Maxtor drive is gone![nbsp][nbsp]In windows explorer it does not show the drives (d:\,e:\ etc.), same situation under DOS.[nbsp][nbsp]I don't want to use FDISK, because then all the files will be lost.
If anyone has any idea how this can be solved, it is much appreciated.

Thanks!

If I don't reply, I'm probably lost in the darkness of DOS...
[This message has been edited by Keller (edited 04-30-01@6:19 pm)]

[Dunx]

I don't want to use FDISK, because then all the files will be lost.
You can use FDISK to see whether there are any partitions on the other disc, though. That would be useful information.

I think it's option 4 to print the partition table.


------------------
--
Dunx

[Justin]

Lost my HardDrive I haven't seen it, but I'll be sure to keep my eye out. I would recommend retracing your steps... :)

But seriously, I have a theory. Feel free to stop reading if this isn't the case:

- You have installed the MaxBlast software when you originally installed the Maxtor drive.
- You did not install the MaxBlast software on the WD drive when you reformatted.

MaxBlast (based on EZ-BIOS) is only needed on a very old machine that won't see the full size of the drive. If this *is* the case, you have to install the software on your C: drive (more correctly, it has to be on your boot drive so it loads before the OS does). Otherwise, drives formatted with EZ-BIOS won't be seen, since it's low level driver isn't loaded.

You should be able to simply boot with the MaxBlast disk, and install it to your C: drive -- be sure to read the help of course to be sure you won't lose data on C:, but I'm pretty sure this can be done.

Or, you could get rid of the Western Digital drive just because it's a Western Digital. Nothing brightens up a PC like the absence of Western Digital hard drives :)

------------------
Justin Nelson
SFE Software (http://www.sfesoftware.com)

[Keller]

Thanks Dunx and Justin!
At first FDISK really didn't see the drive, got my brother to help out, and using EZDRIVE he solved it.
Justin, thanks for the MaxBlast tip, your right about the WD drive, but it IS another 9GB, so I think I'll keep it.

Glad I got this solved so quickly!

[YFS200]

Yo, Justin. Very old machine is not the "key" word here. Guess it depends on your def of "old"

I just put in a Maxtor 80GB drive for storage of other computer HDD images. Quick backup and restore over the network.[nbsp][nbsp]I dropped it in a lowend Pent 300 running NT that is used as the file server.

The the computer would not see the drive. Auto detect would just lock up. Found out that the drive was too large for the old 1999 BOIS.(Has a 20GB in it now) I could move the jumper (J4?) on the drive and get it to detect it. But doing that required using the MaxBlast software. Accoring to the manual, MaxBlast will not work with NT, but it might according to the web site. :) Love how this work.
All your IP are belong to us.

I gave up on the MaxBlast software and flashed the motherboard with the latest BIOS. Bingo, hard drive found, PQMagic did it's work, and it's up and running. 20GB used so far. :)

YFS200[nbsp]

[Justin]

Usually when I say "very old PC", I follow it with "and/or an ungodly huge hard drive". Most BIOS made in the last 5 years will see up to 38 gigs, and most people don't have anything larger than that. Only MP3 freaks, TiVo hackers, and the like have them (though my largest is 40, also Maxtor). My appologies for not making that distinction.

The "Cylinder Override Jumper" simply tells the BIOS that the drive is smaller than it is. This way the BIOS will finish the POST, and pass off to the operating system. MaxBlast is, as far as BIOS is concerned, the OS.

DOS and Windows will take whatever BIOS says as gold. BIOS says it's 9 GB? Okay, so be it. But the MaxBlast software knows what's up, and reads the drive itself (rather than the BIOS). It then updates the area of RAM that holds this information (I forget what it's called). This is a very small area of RAM where the BIOS stores info about the hardware, so that the OS can read it. Then it passes control on to DOS/Windows.

Note that Linux can and will see the entire drive regardless of what BIOS says. The entire WinTel architecture is so out-dated it's pathetic. When your PIII @ 1000 MHz first boots, it behaves as the original 8086/8088 IBM PC did. It then goes through a series of heavily backward-compatible patches... and if your BIOS doesn't have the latest hacks in it, it won't see your new drive. And if your OS is still heavily based on so much of the original DOS code, like some OS's I am aware of, it won't see your drive either.

But I've ranted far enough for one day :)

MaxBlast: psst! Hey, how big are you?
Drive: Who, me? I'm, um, 9 gigs.
MaxBlast: It's okay, you can tell me. BIOS isn't around.
Drive: Ok, ok, I'm really 80 gigs... but don't tell BIOS!

<ok, I am aware that wasn't worth a post edit.... ;) >

------------------
Justin Nelson
SFE Software (http://www.sfesoftware.com)
[This message has been edited by Justin (edited 05-01-01@8:05 pm)]

[Dunx]

Thanks Justin, you've just opened my eyes about what that MaxBlast software is actually _for_. I remember getting a copy with a 1.6Gb drive I bought, er, some time ago now and being confused at the time. But my BIOS was obviously new enough to cope since I never had any problems with it not being used.

My favourite pet peeve with Windows was related to this same drive, actually; I was transferring data onto a new machine using it and then, once all the data was copied, I was going to zap the disc and start again. All went well with the copying and deletion of the old partition table, then it came to reboot after FDISK had done its work.

Windows wouldn't boot. It just locked up on the Win98 logo screen. Many experimental reboots and walkthroughs of the startup files later, and I realised that neither Windows nor (perhaps more significantly) Norton Antivirus liked the idea of a disc in the system with no partition table. What a bag of spanners.

From that day forth that PC was known as Nyogtha - the Thing Which Should Not Be.

------------------
--
Dunx

[This message has been edited by Dunx (edited 05-01-01@8:26 pm)]

[YFS200]

I know all to well about the old BIOS limits. I remember the time when I picked up a WD 1.2GB HDD and it came with a On-Track disk. Back then, over 1024 cylinders caused the computer to freek. Good old On-Track to save things. Problem was that even a partition would not remove the thing once it was loaded in memory. Had to copy a DEBUG script from WD site to get the thing removed. :)[nbsp][nbsp]The newer versions have a uninstall feture.[nbsp][nbsp]As you know, it worked, but like disk compression, one bad byte and the thing was dead.

I just never thought that with todays system, their was still a limit in size. Lest it be in the Terrabyte range.[nbsp][nbsp]
Not long ago, I removed my 2GB hdd from my Omnibook 800ct and droped in a 18GB. EZDRIVE is required. :( But that I can understand.[nbsp][nbsp]

YFS200

[JohnFC]

Of course if you are copying Win9x from one drive to another, you will lose the Win98 operating system unless you do a 32-bit copy with certain parameters.[nbsp][nbsp]

In order to copy your entire &quot;C&quot; drive to another drive without third party software, first fdisk and format your target drive in the system using the /s parameter to copy the DOS boot files. (The copy is a bit faster if the source and target drives are on separate IDE channels.)

Older drives should be fdisked or even low-leveled using a utility provided by the manufacturer on motherboards with TX chipsets or higher before you attempt to use them in your system.[nbsp][nbsp]I confirmed this information with Maxtor and Western Digital.[nbsp][nbsp]A drive formatted on a VX or earlier motherboard and installed into a current system could have sudden file system distress ... such as suddenly turning up blank after churning hideously.[nbsp][nbsp]Or it might simply exhibit low performance.[nbsp][nbsp]Most of the time, you will be installing a new drive given the low prices and this information doesn't matter.

Make sure you have some sort of bootable Windows 9x (anyone that supports the partition you previously created when you formatted and partitioned the new disk) floppy disk with FDISK on it. Use CTL-ALT-DEL to close all open programs except for Explorer and Systray.[nbsp][nbsp](NOTE: on some computers, this could make your mouse stop responding.[nbsp][nbsp]If you mess something up, restart Windows and don't close that program this time.[nbsp][nbsp]Most of the time this step is unnecessary but certain programs like AOL's Instant Messenger will lose it's database if open during copy.)[nbsp][nbsp]

Open a DOS window (do not shut down to DOS, but open an instance of DOS by typing COMMAND on the Run line) when your computer is in standard 32-bit Windows (not safe mode) and move to the root directory of C (your source directory).[nbsp][nbsp]From within the root at the DOS prompt, type:
xcopy c: d: /c /h /e /r /k /y /v[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] (where D: is the target) ...[nbsp][nbsp]After all the files copy, power off the system and install target drive as the primary boot boot drive with appropriate jumper and cable changes if necessary. Power up and set the new drive parameters in the BIOS if necessary.[nbsp][nbsp]Boot to the Win9x boot disk and run FDISK.[nbsp][nbsp]Set the Active partition to the new &quot;C&quot; drive.[nbsp][nbsp]Remove the floppy and reboot to the new disk and you are done.[nbsp][nbsp]

This procedure works extremely well if followed but if you mess something up, you still have the original drive sitting there as a backup (remember to set the active partition in order to boot).[nbsp][nbsp]Finally, if these instructions are incomprehensible, you shouldn't be doing the procedure.[nbsp][nbsp]:)

John