Partition Utility

[Bob]

I am afraid that option won't work in Win2K version of Diskpart.

Use WinXP Diskpart ver.5.1.3565; there is an INACTIVE command.

Thanks for the heads up. I am using MBR Wizard - it works just fine
for my purposes.


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English, thank an American soldier.

 

[Rod Speed]

You are the stupid one.

Ad hominem and flagrant hypocrisy noted. Yet again.

2K can't do what I want.

Lie. It partitions and formats drives fine.

And doesnt set the active bit in an extra drive
when its partitioned and formatted for data.

It may do what you want, but then you are too stupid to realize
that 2K or XP is not really doing what you think you want.

How odd that they both do it fine for me.

You are the one who is full of bullshit.

Ad hominem and flagrant hypocrisy noted. Yet again.

I know what my BIOS says.

I doubt it. You cant even manage to work out that 2K
handles two drives which both have an active partition fine.

You cant even manage to work out that you did more
than JUST toggle the active bit on one of the drives.

It says that it wants to boot from
the disk I just partitioned/formatted.

More pig ignorant bullshit.

You don't know what you are talking about.

That particular pig ignorant claim of yours is
completely trivial to prove is just plain wrong.

As always you are again full of crap.

Ad hominem and flagrant hypocrisy noted. Yet again.

I fixed the problem by clearing the Active bit.

Lying again. You clearly did a hell of a lot more
than JUST toggling the active bit on one of the drives.

Windows attached the proper driver

There arent different drivers that depend on the active bit.

and all is working as expected.

You clearly did a hell of a lot more than JUST
toggling the active bit on one of the drives.

And carefully deleted all that from the quoting,
I have restored it, so you can lie yet again.

You do stupid things all the time so I would not pay
any attention much less give any credence to your
stupid ways of dealing with computer problems.

Ad hominem and flagrant hypocrisy and
flagrant dishonesty noted. Yet again.

Have you the remotest concept of how pathetic you look in
the eyes of those who KNOW that they have used 2K fine
with more than one drive with an active partition on it ?

Obviously not, you presumably are actually that stupid.

You are over the top.

Ad hominem and flagrant hypocrisy and
flagrant dishonesty noted. Yet again.

Don't be surprised if I ignore any posts from you.

You have always been, and always will be completely and utterly
irrelevant. What you might or might not claim to ignore in spades.

We have seen you desperately attempt to lie your way
out of your predicament time after time after time now.

I don't have time to deal with someone
who is obviously suffering from a psychosis.

Any 2 year old could bullshit its way out of
its predicament better than that pathetic effort.

You're the rabid psychotic redneck, and everyone has noticed.

 

[Peter]

"scratch space"? Which disk are you booting from if you

I am booting from the Enermax disk. The one that was giving me trouble
because the Active bit was set is in a Kingwin KF-23 removable bay.

Is the "Enermax disk" the one which has OS and data
to be backed up?

I have a solution now with MBR Wizard.

I know, you said that. But I'm trying to figure out
why you can't boot Win98SE floppy and FDISK
your WD Caviar drive.

Only that disk.

That might be the reason. Maybe with two disks you would be
able to clear active partition flag on WD drive (second disk).

Not really. I load DLG to do the partition/format. That's actually
faster than loading PM8. I then load MBRWizd. You always have to check
the BIOS if you have two disks or more. Most people don't because the
BIOS has chosen their real boot disk. But somehow my BIOS picks the
newly partitioned/formatted disk. Once I set the BIOS up properly I
never have to fool with it until I present a new partitioned/formatted
disk. Since I do not have all that many disks to play with, that will
be very rare.


I can't get Windows to do it properly if the Active bit is set. PM8
has a problem with the Enermax sometimes. It's too flaky to rely on.
With DLG I can get the job done with no muss, no fuss. I just have to
clear the Active bit which entails a simple additional step.

If you keep running Windows from your primary aka
"Enermax disk" while doing this WD procedure,
you potentially introducing system changes to your
primary environment. That might be dangerous. I would
try to avoid that as much as possible.

That is why I suggested booting DOS, BartPE or
Knoppix to perform disk operations on your
"scratch disk".

BTW, how do you do your backup?

 

[Bob]

Is the "Enermax disk" the one which has OS and data
to be backed up?

There is no backup operation involved in the problem I faced. However
the answer to your question is that there are normally two disks in
the Enermax unit. You can configure it two ways: RAID-1 or Backup. I
use it only for backup. The source is cloned to the target inside the
box - an operation that is essentially transparent to the operating
system.

I know, you said that. But I'm trying to figure out
why you can't boot Win98SE floppy and FDISK
your WD Caviar drive.

It's probably because I am so paranoid about using FDISK that I did
not try out all the possibilities. It has been over 15 years since I
used it, and it was braindead then.

That might be the reason. Maybe with two disks you would be
able to clear active partition flag on WD drive (second disk).

I got adventurous (after making a clone backup) and tried to use FDISK
with two disks in. But I could not figure out how to change the Active
bit.

If you keep running Windows from your primary aka
"Enermax disk" while doing this WD procedure,
you potentially introducing system changes to your
primary environment. That might be dangerous. I would
try to avoid that as much as possible.

I boot to DOS while doing the DLG partition/format and the MBR Wizard.

That is why I suggested booting DOS, BartPE or
Knoppix to perform disk operations on your
"scratch disk".

BTW, how do you do your backup?

The Enermax unit does it automatically in h/w. I set a scheduler and
the unit takes over. After the backup is finished, the target is
isolated from the circuits inside the Enermax until it is time for
another backup. I can do as few as one backup per month at one
specific time (top of any hour) or I can do it twice daily at the top
of any two different hours.

I could just as well do RAID-1 and pull one of the disks for a shelf
archive. But that means I have to interact once per backup period.
With the automated backup I can set it and forget it. I have it set
for 4:00 am Daily. On Sunday when I do my major maintenance I will
make the backup disk a weekly archive by putting it on the shelf and
rotate the 3 disk set thru the machine. IOW the boot disk becomes the
weekly archive, the backup becomes the boot disk and the week-old
shelf archive becomes the backup disk.

In addition I have a clone disk created with s/w in the Kingwin KF-23
mobile bay. That sits on the shelf for a monthly archive in case
something major happens to the Enermax h/w. Then as mentioned I have
an old small WD Caviar disk I keep in the Kingwin for scratch pad
purposes. For example, if I accidentally deleted something from my
boot disk, I can swap it with the last daily backup and copy the lost
item to the scratch disk, then put the original boot disk back and
cooy it from the scratch disk.

If Enermax would make a mobile rack that accepted the RAID-1/Backup
trays, then I could do that recovery in one step instead of the two
required now. I have already let the Product Manager at EnermaxUSA
know about this need for a static mobile bay. Enermax makes mobile
bays and sells them to Kingwin (or maybe vice versa or there is a
third party) because one of them is identical with the Kingwin. It's
all one big happy family in Taiwan anyway.

There are a couple of purposes behind doing backups this way instead
of the conventional "ghost" method. 1) I want a h/w solution. I do not
trust s/w, not after Power Quest routinely botched everything they
ever made. Symantec did us all a favor putting them out of their
misery. 2) I want an automated procedure, one that does not demand
that I stop what I am doing and dedicate hours to what is basically
one of the most boring tasks in computing. I'd rather watch grass grow
or paint dry than watch Drive Image churn away making half-assed
clones for hours.

 

[kony]

I got adventurous (after making a clone backup) and tried to use FDISK
with two disks in. But I could not figure out how to change the Active
bit.

As someone has already pointed out, Win2k does not have any
problems with multiple drives having active status (bit). I
don't have a solution for you but do feel you're barking up
the wrong tree here.

 

[Bob]

As someone has already pointed out, Win2k does not have any
problems with multiple drives having active status (bit).

Who said that? Ask him if he did the entire procedure as I did it, or
he is just pontificating.

I don't have a solution for you but do feel you're barking up
the wrong tree here.

I know what happened.

1) Remove the primary master boot disk. Don't confuse DLG about which
disk to partition/format.

2) Install the other drive as secondary slave.

3) Partition/format the secondary slave disk with DataLifeguard. The
Active bit will be set.

4) Install the primary master boot disk.

5) Make sure the BIOS doesn't try to boot off the secondary slave.

6) Start Win2K. It will tell you that you have a new device and to
reboot. Do so.

7) You will get a STOP 0x9F POWER_FAILURE BSOD.

Now start over but do things differently this time.

1) Remove the secondary slave disk.

2) Start Win\2K and remove the driver that was associated with the
secondary slave disk. Start fresh.

3) Remove the primary master boot disk. Don't confuse DLG about which
disk to partition/format.

3) Install the secondary slave disk.

4) Partition/format the secondary slave with DLG.

5) Use MBR WizD (DOS version) to clear the Active bit.

6) Install the primary master boot disk.

7) Make sure your BIOS doesn't try to boot off the secondary slave
disk.

8) Start Win2K. It will tell you that you have a new device and to
reboot. Do so.

9) Notice that you do not get any STOP BSOD.

10) Restart Win2K and notice that the secondary slave disk is properly
mounted.

That's how it happened. I don't care what anyone else says. I was the
one doing this and I kept close track of each step. I can duplicate
the entire procedure and have the same thing happen again.

 

[Rod Speed]

Who said that?
Me.

Ask him if he did the entire procedure as I did it,

What you may or may not have done is completely
irrelevant to whether 2K doesnt have a problem with
more than one physical drive with an active partition on it.

or he is just pontificating.

Nope, like I said, its what I normally do when upgrading drives,
have multiple physical drives with an active partition on it and
have observed that 2K doesnt give a damn about that.

I know what happened.

But since you didnt actually try JUST toggling the active bit on
just one of the physical drives AND DIDNT CHANGE ANYTHING
ELSE AT THE SAME TIME, you have absolutely no basis what
so ever for your pig ignorant claim that 2K cant handle more
than one physical drive with an active partition on it.

And many of us know damned well that 2K handles that fine.

1) Remove the primary master boot disk. Don't
confuse DLG about which disk to partition/format.

2) Install the other drive as secondary slave.

3) Partition/format the secondary slave disk
with DataLifeguard. The Active bit will be set.

4) Install the primary master boot disk.

5) Make sure the BIOS doesn't try to boot off the secondary slave.

6) Start Win2K. It will tell you that you have a new device and to
reboot. Do so.

7) You will get a STOP 0x9F POWER_FAILURE BSOD.

Now start over but do things differently this time.

1) Remove the secondary slave disk.

2) Start Win\2K and remove the driver that was
associated with the secondary slave disk. Start fresh.

3) Remove the primary master boot disk. Don't
confuse DLG about which disk to partition/format.

3) Install the secondary slave disk.

4) Partition/format the secondary slave with DLG.

5) Use MBR WizD (DOS version) to clear the Active bit.

6) Install the primary master boot disk.

7) Make sure your BIOS doesn't try to boot off the secondary slave
disk.

8) Start Win2K. It will tell you that you have a new device and to
reboot. Do so.

9) Notice that you do not get any STOP BSOD.

10) Restart Win2K and notice that the
secondary slave disk is properly mounted.

That's how it happened.

All completely irrelevant to your stupid pig ignorant claim
that 2K CANT HANDLE MORE THAN ONE PHYSICAL
DRIVE WITH AN ACTIVE PARTITION ON IT.

I don't care what anyone else says. I was the one doing
this and I kept close track of each step. I can duplicate
the entire procedure and have the same thing happen again.

Easy to claim. Until you actually do that, WITH A CLEAN
INSTALL OF 2K, YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THAT THAT
PROBLEM WOULD SHOW UP AGAIN.

Presumably you actually are so stupid that you cant
manage to grasp the basics of what it takes to prove
your pig ignorant assertion that 2K cant handle more
than one physical drive with an active partition on it.

You havent even eliminated the possibility that its
something that DataLifeGuard does thats the problem.

And even someone as stupid as you should be able to
grasp that your pig ignorant assertion can be tested
any time by just taking your working config AND JUST
TOGGLING THE ACTIVE BIT ON AGAIN AND SEE
IF 2K AGAIN HAS THE PROBLEM THAT YOU SAY.

You're no rocket scientist, you clearly havent actually got
a clue about the most basic concepts of rigorous testing.

 

[mcp6453]

Partition Magic 8 is worthless for my system. I have two HD installed
and both have the Active bit set. The BIOS is smart enough to know
that and allows me to choose which one I want to boot from.

Windows is not as smart - it issues a STOP0x9F POWER_FAILURE error
when I shut down, presumably because it gets confused over two
bootable disks.

I do not need the Acxtive bit set on the second disk - it is left over
from formatting it with Western Digital DataLifeguard formatter, which
unfortunately assumes you are preparing the disk for installing
Windows, so it sets the Active bit in advance and does not let you
clear it. Bummer.

Partition Magic 8 can't deal with two bootable disks either. More
bummer.

In the past there was always FDISK, but I haven't used that in over 10
years and would be concerned about using it in today's environment.
Lord only knows what it would do to the partition table.

So I need a utility that will let me clear the Active bit. Any
recommendations?

I'm late to the thread, but I did want to mention the easiest way I have
ever found to clear an active bit: Download BootItNG from
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com. You also need to download their free
makedisk utility from the free utilities section. Put makedisk in the
same folder as BING. Make either a bootable floppy or a bootable ISO.
Boot to that disk. When the opening screen appears, hit cancel and then
OK. That will put you into the maintenance mode. Click on Partition
work. Select the second drive, probably HD1. Click on View MBR. To clear
the Active bit, click on the partition, hold the LEFT shift key, and
click Set Active. The bit will clear. I love the program. It's a free
download and worth the time to try.

 

[Bob]

I'm late to the thread, but I did want to mention the easiest way I have
ever found to clear an active bit: Download BootItNG from
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com. You also need to download their free
makedisk utility from the free utilities section. Put makedisk in the
same folder as BING. Make either a bootable floppy or a bootable ISO.
Boot to that disk. When the opening screen appears, hit cancel and then
OK. That will put you into the maintenance mode. Click on Partition
work. Select the second drive, probably HD1. Click on View MBR. To clear
the Active bit, click on the partition, hold the LEFT shift key, and
click Set Active. The bit will clear. I love the program. It's a free
download and worth the time to try.

Thanks for the recommendation.


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English, thank an American soldier.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Partition Magic 8 is worthless for my system. I have two HD installed
and both have the Active bit set. The BIOS is smart enough to know
that and allows me to choose which one I want to boot from.

Windows is not as smart - it issues a STOP0x9F POWER_FAILURE error
when I shut down, presumably because it gets confused over two
bootable disks.

I do not need the Acxtive bit set on the second disk - it is left over
from formatting it with Western Digital DataLifeguard formatter, which
unfortunately assumes you are preparing the disk for installing
Windows, so it sets the Active bit in advance and does not let you
clear it. Bummer.

Partition Magic 8 can't deal with two bootable disks either. More
bummer.

In the past there was always FDISK, but I haven't used that in over 10
years and would be concerned about using it in today's environment.
Lord only knows what it would do to the partition table.

So I need a utility that will let me clear the Active bit. Any
recommendations?

Use Linux fdisk if you don't trust MD fdisk. Comes e.g.
on a Knoppix CD-only linux that will not touch your drives unless
told to. I have never had it screw up anything.

You can also try GNU parted which can fit on a bootable floppy.

For both consult Google as to where get them.

Arno

 

[Peter]

Is the "Enermax disk" the one which has OS and data

There is no backup operation involved in the problem I faced. However
the answer to your question is that there are normally two disks in
the Enermax unit. You can configure it two ways: RAID-1 or Backup. I
use it only for backup. The source is cloned to the target inside the
box - an operation that is essentially transparent to the operating
system.

So actually you had your computer booted up from
"Enermax disk", the source one, when you were having
Windows "STOP 0x9F" problem with WD "scratch disk"
connected.
Is that right?

It's probably because I am so paranoid about using FDISK that I did
not try out all the possibilities. It has been over 15 years since I
used it, and it was braindead then.

So you didn't try to boot Win98SE and use FDISK
to remove partition from WD drive.

While FDISK might not be as versitile as I thought
(active partitions handling), you still can use it for
removing partitions.

I got adventurous (after making a clone backup) and tried to use FDISK
with two disks in. But I could not figure out how to change the Active
bit.

Neither I. It looks that FDISK is not able to do that.
Sorry for the wrong lead.

I boot to DOS while doing the DLG partition/format and the MBR Wizard.

But after doing that, you boot your primary environment
("Enermax disk") with WD drive still attached.
That is the dangerous part.
I never let my primary environment boot with additional
disks attached.

The Enermax unit does it automatically in h/w. I set a scheduler and
the unit takes over.

Oh, really?
I thought that some software is required to be installed
in your Windows environment, that allows scheduler to work.
Like Enermax DynaView.
And your Windows must be running during Enermax Backup
process.

After the backup is finished, the target is
isolated from the circuits inside the Enermax until it is time for
another backup. I can do as few as one backup per month at one
specific time (top of any hour) or I can do it twice daily at the top
of any two different hours.

I could just as well do RAID-1 and pull one of the disks for a shelf
archive. But that means I have to interact once per backup period.
With the automated backup I can set it and forget it. I have it set
for 4:00 am Daily. On Sunday when I do my major maintenance I will
make the backup disk a weekly archive by putting it on the shelf and
rotate the 3 disk set thru the machine. IOW the boot disk becomes the
weekly archive, the backup becomes the boot disk and the week-old
shelf archive becomes the backup disk.

Did you test this 3-disk routine?
Dynabacker disk auto-labelling (SOURCE, target) is a bit
confusing. I hope you have tested rovering data from backup
procedure.

In addition I have a clone disk created with s/w in the Kingwin KF-23
mobile bay. That sits on the shelf for a monthly archive in case
something major happens to the Enermax h/w. Then as mentioned I have
an old small WD Caviar disk I keep in the Kingwin for scratch pad
purposes. For example, if I accidentally deleted something from my
boot disk, I can swap it with the last daily backup and copy the lost
item to the scratch disk, then put the original boot disk back and
cooy it from the scratch disk.

If Enermax would make a mobile rack that accepted the RAID-1/Backup
trays, then I could do that recovery in one step instead of the two
required now. I have already let the Product Manager at EnermaxUSA
know about this need for a static mobile bay. Enermax makes mobile
bays and sells them to Kingwin (or maybe vice versa or there is a
third party) because one of them is identical with the Kingwin. It's
all one big happy family in Taiwan anyway.

There are a couple of purposes behind doing backups this way instead
of the conventional "ghost" method. 1) I want a h/w solution. I do not
trust s/w, not after Power Quest routinely botched everything they
ever made. Symantec did us all a favor putting them out of their
misery. 2) I want an automated procedure, one that does not demand
that I stop what I am doing and dedicate hours to what is basically
one of the most boring tasks in computing. I'd rather watch grass grow
or paint dry than watch Drive Image churn away making half-assed
clones for hours.

It seems that you have a plan.
Hope it works for you.

Personally I tend to rely on network based imaging/backups.
For imaging I boot system from a non-primary OS,
for backups I use tools compliant with shadow copy.
All automated, no need to watch it happening.

 

[Peter]

Use Linux fdisk if you don't trust MD fdisk. Comes e.g.

on a Knoppix CD-only linux that will not touch your drives unless
told to. I have never had it screw up anything.

You can also try GNU parted which can fit on a bootable floppy.

For both consult Google as to where get them.

Knoppix CD has QTparted which handles toggling
active partition flag.

 

[Peter]

That's how it happened. I don't care what anyone else says. I was the

one doing this and I kept close track of each step. I can duplicate
the entire procedure and have the same thing happen again.

Nobody says that what you have observed was not true.

But your conclusion that:
"I can't get Windows to format it correctly because it too blows its
brains when it had to deal with two Active disks."
is possibly wrong.

It is not that setting two disks with active partition flags on,
will always produce mentioned Windows error.
There is something else in your system that causes it.
I'm still puzzeled why you need to use WD DataLifeGuard
on your WD Caviar hard drive?
Maybe DLG plays a role there.

 

[Eric Gisin]

Nobody says that what you have observed was not true.

But your conclusion that:
"I can't get Windows to format it correctly because it too blows its
brains when it had to deal with two Active disks."
is possibly wrong.

Definitely wrong. The MS KB article says it's a driver/service problem, not
boot.

It is not that setting two disks with active partition flags on,
will always produce mentioned Windows error.

It will never. The problem is the device detected before the reboot. Its
driver has a power state transition bug.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I'm late to the thread, but I did want to mention the easiest way I have
ever found to clear an active bit:

Given the shear complexity of your 'easy' below, I hesitate to ask what you consider 'difficult'.

 

[Bob]

Definitely wrong. The MS KB article says it's a driver/service problem, not
boot.

Then why does it work after I clear the Active bit? I also have to
uninstall the old driver before I put the disk into operation. Win2K
finds a new driver and tells me to reboot. When I do I do not get the
power transition problem. When Win2K comes up the second time, the
disk is properly installed for all time (until I reformat it with
DLG).

It will never. The problem is the device detected before the reboot. Its
driver has a power state transition bug.

Please elaborate on what you mean by "device detected before the
reboot".

If the driver had the bug, then how come it all works properly after I
clear the Active bit?


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English, thank an American soldier.

 

[Bob]

So actually you had your computer booted up from
"Enermax disk", the source one, when you were having
Windows "STOP 0x9F" problem with WD "scratch disk"
connected.
Is that right?

That is correct. In every instance I boot from the Enermax disk.

So you didn't try to boot Win98SE and use FDISK
to remove partition from WD drive.

Yes - I used a Win98 DOS disk I had from a project a long time ago.

While FDISK might not be as versitile as I thought
(active partitions handling), you still can use it for
removing partitions.

Yes, I got that part to work. But I could not clear the Active bit.

Neither I. It looks that FDISK is not able to do that.
Sorry for the wrong lead.

I had actually tried FDISK before you mentioned it.

But after doing that, you boot your primary environment
("Enermax disk") with WD drive still attached.
That is the dangerous part.
I never let my primary environment boot with additional
disks attached.

I don't understand what you are saying. Many people install a second
HD and still boot from the primary IDE master.

The BIOS detects both disks and makes a stab at which one it thinks is
more likely to be the desired boot disk. It does that without knowing
the state of the Active bit. You have to tell the BIOS which HD to
boot from in the Advanced BIOS Setting (Phoenix BIOS).

Oh, really?
Yep.

I thought that some software is required to be installed
in your Windows environment, that allows scheduler to work.

The s/w scheduler tells the Enermax to do the Backup and displays the
progress. But it does not do the actual disk operations.

Like Enermax DynaView.
And your Windows must be running during Enermax Backup
process.
Yes.

Did you test this 3-disk routine?

This is the first Sunday I could do it routinely.

Dynabacker disk auto-labelling (SOURCE, target) is a bit
confusing. I hope you have tested rovering data from backup
procedure.

I have tried just about every possible way to use the unit. I bought
it on evaluation with the understanding (in writing) that if it did
not perform as advertised, then I could return it for a full refund -
no restocking fee. I have completed one full week of exercises with it
and I am beginning to learn its quirks.

For example, on two occasions something happened to cause a bad sector
on a disk. It may be a bad drive - I will know if it happens again.
The Event Log has an entry to that effect and Win2K schedules CHKDSK
on the next reboot. Both times CHKDSK has reported bad clusters in the
pagefile.

However, even though CHKDSK claims to have fixed the problem, the
Enermax unit will not perform a complete Backup - it detects an error
and shuts the Backup down. Unfortunately by this time the Backup is
ruined so now I have two bad disks. Not wanting to reach for the
weekly archive disk unless forced to, I make a clone of the boot disk
on the target with s/w. Somehow the s/w manages to lay off a clean
copy with no bad clusters. So I am able to recover my boot disk.

I suspect the Enermax is doing a much more primitive (raw) copy when
it makes a Backup and cannot tolerate any cluster faults. On the other
hand the s/w cloning process is higher level and can deal any cluster
errors that CHKDSK has "fixed".

It seems that you have a plan.
Hope it works for you.

Personally I tend to rely on network based imaging/backups.
For imaging I boot system from a non-primary OS,
for backups I use tools compliant with shadow copy.
All automated, no need to watch it happening.

You are one step higher on the food chain than I am. Although we are
networked we do not want to set up a backup server.

I suppose in the final analysis the real reason I am fooling around
with the Enermax besides its automated solution is because I find it
to be an interesting approach and want to see how it works.


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English, thank an American soldier.

 

[Bob]

Given the shear complexity of your 'easy' below, I hesitate to ask what you consider 'difficult'.

To a rapist, foreplay would seem "difficult".


--

Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English, thank an American soldier.

 

[Peter]

So you didn't try to boot Win98SE and use FDISK

Yes - I used a Win98 DOS disk I had from a project a long time ago.

But did you remove partition from WD drive at that time?

Yes, I got that part to work. But I could not clear the Active bit.

So you have removed partition. Which Active bit you
are referring to?

I don't understand what you are saying. Many people install a second
HD and still boot from the primary IDE master.

I meant used disks (with some partitions, created outside of
your primary environment).
There is nothing wrong when you attach a new, unpartitioned
disk.

But why you insist on using DLG? Is there a reason for that?

Yep.

Will backup occur if you leave your system in the BIOS screen,
or boot with DOS floppy?
(I mean no Windows running, but PC powered up)

The s/w scheduler tells the Enermax to do the Backup and displays the
progress. But it does not do the actual disk operations.

So "s/w scheduler" gets corrupted, Enermax will not do
the Backup?

Yes.

Then backup is not entirely hardware based

This is the first Sunday I could do it routinely.

You could. What was the result?

I have tried just about every possible way to use the unit. I bought
it on evaluation with the understanding (in writing) that if it did
not perform as advertised, then I could return it for a full refund -
no restocking fee. I have completed one full week of exercises with it
and I am beginning to learn its quirks.

For example, on two occasions something happened to cause a bad sector
on a disk. It may be a bad drive - I will know if it happens again.
The Event Log has an entry to that effect and Win2K schedules CHKDSK
on the next reboot. Both times CHKDSK has reported bad clusters in the
pagefile.

However, even though CHKDSK claims to have fixed the problem, the
Enermax unit will not perform a complete Backup - it detects an error
and shuts the Backup down. Unfortunately by this time the Backup is
ruined so now I have two bad disks. Not wanting to reach for the
weekly archive disk unless forced to, I make a clone of the boot disk
on the target with s/w. Somehow the s/w manages to lay off a clean
copy with no bad clusters. So I am able to recover my boot disk.

I suspect the Enermax is doing a much more primitive (raw) copy when
it makes a Backup and cannot tolerate any cluster faults. On the other
hand the s/w cloning process is higher level and can deal any cluster
errors that CHKDSK has "fixed".

That indeed is weird. Did you scanned your disks outside of
Enermax to see if they are healthy?

You are one step higher on the food chain than I am. Although we are
networked we do not want to set up a backup server.

I suppose in the final analysis the real reason I am fooling around
with the Enermax besides its automated solution is because I find it
to be an interesting approach and want to see how it works.

I agree with you. It is an interesting product and it had quite good
reviews.

 

[Rod Speed]

Then why does it work after I clear the Active bit?

You did MORE than JUST toggle that bit, stupid.

Bet you dont have the balls to JUST set that bit
active again and find that 2K couldnt care less.

I also have to uninstall the old driver before I put the disk into operation.
Precisely.

Win2K finds a new driver and tells me to reboot.
When I do I do not get the power transition problem.
When Win2K comes up the second time, the disk is
properly installed for all time (until I reformat it with DLG).

Which should indicate to anyone with a clue that
it might not be the active bit that's the problem.

Please elaborate on what you mean by
"device detected before the reboot".

If the driver had the bug, then how come it all
works properly after I clear the Active bit?

You did MORE than JUST toggle that bit, stupid.

Bet you dont have the balls to JUST set that bit
active again and find that 2K couldnt care less.