Can't access hard drives

[Guest]

Until recently I was running Win XP Pro on an Asus motherboard with an Athlon
1333 with my Western Digital 80GB as Primary (with OS) and a 20GB Quantum for
storage. I just replaced the motherboard with an Asus A8V and an AMD 3000+.
It booted as far as Windows and then just kept cycling through reboots. I
tried booting off the Windows CD and going through setup. When it gets to the
part where it recognizes the partition and there is an existing OS there, it
asks if you want to overwrite and if you agree then it should just overwrite
and you won't lose your files (what I want). But when I agree and it goes to
the next screen, it says Windows doesn't recognize the partition and I have
to go back and delete the partition to install (no thanks). I tried using the
WD Diagnostic Tools and Lifeguard and they say it is a healthy bootable drive
with no problems. I finally just partitioned and formatted my 20GB Quantum
thinking that I will just install Windows on it, retrieve my info from the
WD, then I could wipe that and copy everything back. When I got the 20GB up
as primary and 80GB as slave I opened Windows Explorer. It showed the 20GB as
C: and my CDROM, no WD. Checked My Computer, same thing. Checked Device
Manager under "Disk Drives" and it showed both, the Quantum and WD. If I
right-clicked on Quantum and clicked "Properties" I got all the info. When I
clicked on "Properties" for WD nothing happened. Under "Disk Manager" in
"Advanced Tools" it shows both HDs. C: Disk 0, 20GB, Basic, Online, NTFS,
Healthy (System). (No drive letter)Disk 1, 80GB, Basic, Online, NTFS, Healthy
(Active). If I right-click on the WD drive the only option not grayed out is
“Delete Partitionâ€. The WD does show up in the BIOS.
I would really, really, really like to get my info off of this drive before
wiping it, or ideally, just get it up and running but I just cannot think of
anything else to try. Any information or assistance would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks, Bruce

 

[Guest]

Well 1st you cant just overwrite and install,or repair.You need to boot to
xp cd,
go to recovery,select 1 for C: Press enter for password,typeiskPart In
DiskPart
delete the partition(s),create one,press ESC key,type:EXIT Let it reboot
to xp cd,
select install xp,new copy,create partition,then let xp format and install
auto.Youre
dreaming to what you wished for,doesnt work that way,also,so wdc lifeguard
says
it bootable (it might be if all was installed on the new mb instead of old
one)....
One last tip,when you do the above and install xp,make sure youre other hds
are physically unplugged...

 

[Malke]

Andrew E. wrote:

Such terrible, destructive advice that I'm completely snipping it. Fsck
off Andrew! Enough! If the OP followed your advice, he would lose
everything. He said he wanted to *save* his data, not destroy it you
stupid fool.

"SmittyBC" wrote:

Smitty, I'm going to be honest with you. Your post is very difficult to
read. I've left it in unsnipped in case someone else has the patience
to wade through the stream-of-consciousness writing. Next time use
paragraphs, bullet points, or the like to make a clear, concise post.
Every time I try to read it my eyes glaze over.

From what I can gather, you have some data on an 80GB hard drive that
can't be read by Windows. Put the hard drive in a different machine and
if it is seen in the BIOS, boot with Knoppix to get the data off. If
you don't have a second machine, take the computer to a professional
computer repair shop that also does data recovery. This will not be
your local version of BigStoreUSA. Whatever you do, don't follow Andrew
E.'s advice.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks. I was trying to keep the posting short considering the amount of info
I was trying to get out. If that isn't an issue then I will try and repost it
so it can be understood!
I did try it in a second machine and the BIOS picked it up in this one as
well. Same results though, it just wouldn't get to Windows.
What is Knoppix? A hard drive recovery tool? I'll have to look it up.
Thanks again for tip and the info.
Bruce

 

[Malke]

Thanks. I was trying to keep the posting short considering the amount
of info I was trying to get out. If that isn't an issue then I will
try and repost it so it can be understood!
I did try it in a second machine and the BIOS picked it up in this one
as well. Same results though, it just wouldn't get to Windows.
What is Knoppix? A hard drive recovery tool? I'll have to look it up.
Thanks again for tip and the info.

Knoppix is a Linux distro that runs from cd. It is useful with Windows
machines to:

1. Test to see if something is a hardware issue or a Windows issue. If
you are having problems in Windows and no problems in Linux, then you
know it's software.

2. Retrieve data from a Windows drive or partition when Windows won't
boot. Here's how:

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw
OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an
external hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you
need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning
software. Download the Knoppix .iso from www.knoppix.net and create
your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the
Windows files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or external hard
drive, right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties
and uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it.
Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by
Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS
Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b burning program to burn
the files to cd/dvd-r's.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Wow, sounds cool. I'll have to give that a try.
If it doesn't work should I submit my "cleaned up" post as a new post or
carry it on with this one?

 

[Malke]

Wow, sounds cool. I'll have to give that a try.
If it doesn't work should I submit my "cleaned up" post as a new post
or carry it on with this one?

No, no - keep on with this one. It's always better to keep posts about
the same subject in one thread so people reading the thread can see the
history of it.

If Knoppix can get the data, you can just format the drive and move on.
One little thought - you did jumper the drives correctly? It won't hurt
you to double-check that. Check both drives because some drives want to
have a special setting for "Master with Slave" and not just "Master".
Or if you have them both on Cable Select make sure you have them in the
right positions on the ribbon cable. The grey connector is for the
slave and the black one is for the master, with the blue one going to
the motherboard.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Knoppix worked like a charm. It gave me access to my entire drive and I
burned everything to CD. Now I can just partition, format and re-install.
Did I say Thank you? Thank you!
Just out of curiosity do you have any idea what would cause the drives to do
that in the first place? It was like the partitions were gone but the info
was there. Power spike? Motherboard failure?
Oh well, I'm happy. I have everything back.
Thanks again,
Bruce