XP Pro destroys second HD data?

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Luckily, I had a backup of my 2nd hard disk. Here's the situation:

Did a clean XP Pro install on a machine which previously had XP Pro, and two
hard disks, C: & E:. Did this by reformatting drive C: using a boot floppy,
then restarting machine with XP CD in place and continuing as normal. I
absolutely, positively did NOT reformat 2nd HD, nor did I allow SETUP do
fiddle with it. Now, when I go into My Computer, the 2nd HD exists, but
appears to contain no data except for a folder called "System Volume
Information".

If it's at all relevant, C: drive is set up with NTFS file system. I do
*not* know if this was previously the case with the 2nd HD. Does XP expect
to see both disks set up with the same file system?

Although I can restore all files from my backup, I'd still like to know
what's going on here. No other steps have been taken so far. Is it possible
the files are still there, but Windows simply isn't seeing them for some
reason? I've used Explorer's options thing to show all files & folders, even
hidden ones.

 

[Anna]

Luckily, I had a backup of my 2nd hard disk. Here's the situation:

Did a clean XP Pro install on a machine which previously had XP Pro, and
two hard disks, C: & E:. Did this by reformatting drive C: using a boot
floppy, then restarting machine with XP CD in place and continuing as
normal. I absolutely, positively did NOT reformat 2nd HD, nor did I allow
SETUP do fiddle with it. Now, when I go into My Computer, the 2nd HD
exists, but appears to contain no data except for a folder called "System
Volume Information".

If it's at all relevant, C: drive is set up with NTFS file system. I do
*not* know if this was previously the case with the 2nd HD. Does XP expect
to see both disks set up with the same file system?

Although I can restore all files from my backup, I'd still like to know
what's going on here. No other steps have been taken so far. Is it
possible the files are still there, but Windows simply isn't seeing them
for some reason? I've used Explorer's options thing to show all files &
folders, even hidden ones.

"Joe...":
When you formatted your C: drive "using a boot floppy" you formatted that
drive FAT32. (Why you used a DOS boot floppy disk to do this rather than
using your XP installation CD to format the drive NTFS is unanswered unless
for some reason or another you desired a FAT32 file system on that drive
although that doesn't appear to have been your intention).

So when you subsequently installed the XP OS on that drive I assume that the
FAT32 file system you previously established remained unchanged. Thus your
FAT32 formatted boot drive cannot "see" the (presumably) NTFS formatted E:
drive. I realize you've stated that the "C: drive is set up with NTFS file
system" but this contradicts your statement that you formatted that drive
with a DOS boot floppy disk which, of course, would permit only a FAT32
format.
Anna

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

"Joe...":
When you formatted your C: drive "using a boot floppy" you formatted that
drive FAT32. (Why you used a DOS boot floppy disk to do this rather than
using your XP installation CD to format the drive NTFS is unanswered
unless for some reason or another you desired a FAT32 file system on that
drive although that doesn't appear to have been your intention).

So when you subsequently installed the XP OS on that drive I assume that
the FAT32 file system you previously established remained unchanged. Thus
your FAT32 formatted boot drive cannot "see" the (presumably) NTFS
formatted E: drive. I realize you've stated that the "C: drive is set up
with NTFS file system" but this contradicts your statement that you
formatted that drive with a DOS boot floppy disk which, of course, would
permit only a FAT32 format.
Anna

Anna, your question is understandable. My "two format" thing was
unnecessarily redundant, but it had been a while since I did a clean XP Pro
install, and I forgot that it could wipe a disk clean as part of the install
process. Now, onward: During the installation, I was given the choice of
staying with FAT32, or switching to NTFS. I chose the NTFS, and I just
confirmed it by checking properties for drive #1. Checking drive #2, I see
that it's FAT32. Hopefully, this information clarifies my mess.

Also: Why would there even be a system volume info folder on drive #2 at
this point?

 

[Guest]

2 answers... Not sure this is what happened to you for sure but whenever you
have 2 hard drives and are about to run an install I always like to unplug my
secondary hard drive and then do the install. I am thinking that you may
have formatted your primary hdd with the boot disk and then when you
installed windows you may have formatted your secondary hdd and installed
windows onto it. This is just a guess on what might have happened. Your
question of why is there a System Volume info folder on your second hdd is
probably because windows by design uses the secondary hdd for both the system
restore backup and recycle bin backup for better performance and less disk
usage on the system disk(primary disk). Well hope I helped some, good luck.

Joe

Kemco IT Professional

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

2 answers... Not sure this is what happened to you for sure but whenever
you
have 2 hard drives and are about to run an install I always like to unplug
my
secondary hard drive and then do the install. I am thinking that you may
have formatted your primary hdd with the boot disk and then when you
installed windows you may have formatted your secondary hdd and installed
windows onto it. This is just a guess on what might have happened. Your
question of why is there a System Volume info folder on your second hdd is
probably because windows by design uses the secondary hdd for both the
system
restore backup and recycle bin backup for better performance and less disk
usage on the system disk(primary disk). Well hope I helped some, good
luck.

Joe

Kemco IT Professional

All the system files are where they belong, on the C: drive. As far as
formatting drive #2, I did something I suggest to users at my home office,
who call with error messages to discuss, but click them away before reading
them to me: I put my hands behind my head, and read the setup screen 3
times. Then, I read it again. I'm not saying I'm blameless for this mess,
but my innate curiosity's driving me nuts!

 

[Ron Sommer]

You may need to take ownership of the drive.
http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Taking_ownership

 

[Guest]

I had data on my second had drive....

reinstalled XP and now the second hd data is gone....


is stupid to think that XP would mess with the second HD when it was just
installing on the C drive. XP should see any Microsoft formatted partitioned
hard drive but it doesnt.
I run into this every once in a while but doesnt happen to me all the time
and I have always stuck with NTF and never turned on encrypted drives or
secure user account.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I agree. It doesn't matter WHAT the reason. The install routine should be
able to identify all drives and ASK THE USER what to do. But, earlier
explanations make some sense - about how my use of the older format command
was at the root of the problem. What I still don't understand is where drive
designations come from - the BIOS, or the OS? I typed "format c:", and ended
up whacking the D: drive.

 

[Ron Sommer]

C is the first active partition for the operating system.
The letter designations come from the operating system.
The Bios knows multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1), but even that is
somewhat unclear if you have IDE and SATA drives.

 

[Andy]

I agree. It doesn't matter WHAT the reason.

It's incumbent upon the pilot to know what he's doing at every stage
of the flight.

The install routine should be
able to identify all drives and ASK THE USER what to do.

It does, if you use Windows XP setup, which is the only thing you
should be using.

But, earlier
explanations make some sense - about how my use of the older format command
was at the root of the problem. What I still don't understand is where drive
designations come from - the BIOS, or the OS?

The physical drive order (e.g., drive 0, drive 1, etc.) comes from the
BIOS. Assignment of letters to drive partitions comes from the OS. How
the assignment is done depends on the particular OS (e.g., Windows XP
vs. Windows 98's DOS), whether it's a primary partition or logical
drives within the extended partition, and the existing file system
(FAT vs. NTFS) in a partition or logical drive.

I typed "format c:", and ended
up whacking the D: drive.

Before typing format c:, type dir c:. This makes it less likely that
you will do something stupid.