Formatting on drive wiped out when testing another drive

[docsavage20]

I wanted to test some older small h/d's and (after powering down of
course) I detached one of my dvd drives and attached these drives to
the cable see what if anything was on them.

Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't formatted
(had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I want to format
it. Apparently all the files on it are now inaccesible.

I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but it's
still giving me the same response.

What could have caused this and do you see any way around reformatting
the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial will still be a
huge pain to restore.

Using WinXP Home SP 2.

Thanks

 

[Arno Wagner]

I wanted to test some older small h/d's and (after powering down of
course) I detached one of my dvd drives and attached these drives to
the cable see what if anything was on them.

Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't formatted
(had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I want to format
it. Apparently all the files on it are now inaccesible.

I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but it's
still giving me the same response.

What could have caused this and do you see any way around reformatting
the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial will still be a
huge pain to restore.

Using WinXP Home SP 2.

Very strange. Just a thought: Maybe some of the drives you tested damaged
the IDE controller. You should test this HDD in another system or on
the other IDE channel, before you do anything drastic.

Arno

 

[Mike T.]

I wanted to test some older small h/d's and (after powering down of
course) I detached one of my dvd drives and attached these drives to
the cable see what if anything was on them.

Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't formatted
(had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I want to format
it. Apparently all the files on it are now inaccesible.

I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but it's
still giving me the same response.

What could have caused this and do you see any way around reformatting
the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial will still be a
huge pain to restore.

Using WinXP Home SP 2.

Thanks

Oh boy. Ummmm . . . when swapping physical hard drives around, the logical
(virtual) drives get swapped around by Windows. So you've got to be careful
in moving files around, formatting, etc., that you know which PHYSICAL drive
you are working with. It's possible that you have accidentally formatted a
physical drive that you didn't want to format, as it temporarily had a
logical drive letter assigned to it that you THOUGHT was assigned to a
physical drive that you did want to format. -DAve

 

[JAD]

Oh boy. Ummmm . . . when swapping physical hard drives around, the logical
(virtual) drives get swapped around by Windows. So you've got to be careful
in moving files around, formatting, etc., that you know which PHYSICAL drive
you are working with. It's possible that you have accidentally formatted a
physical drive that you didn't want to format, as it temporarily had a
logical drive letter assigned to it that you THOUGHT was assigned to a
physical drive that you did want to format. -DAve

Yep as soon as you mentioned determining which to format by drive LETTER you
were in deep poop.

 

[docsavage20]

I wanted to test some older small h/d's and (after powering down of
course) I detached one of my dvd drives and attached these drives to
the cable see what if anything was on them.

Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't formatted
(had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I want to format
it. Apparently all the files on it are now inaccesible.

Since posting this I discovered and tried the demo of Get Data Back and
the files are still there but the system isn't letting me access them
normally. I'm just wondering if there's a way around popping for the
$80 so I can save the files to another drive.

Thanks for all input.

 

[Pennywise]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

|>Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
|>same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't formatted
|>(had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I want to format
|>it. Apparently all the files on it are now inaccesible.
|>
|>I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but it's
|>still giving me the same response.
|>
|>What could have caused this and do you see any way around reformatting
|>the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial will still be a
|>huge pain to restore.

Not sure if this helps but, if the second HD has an active partition
it will show as D drive no matter how many partitions you have on the
first HD.

 

[Rod Speed]

Oh boy. Ummmm . . . when swapping physical hard drives around, the logical (virtual)
drives get swapped around by Windows.

No they dont with the NT/2K/XP family.

So you've got to be careful in moving files around, formatting, etc., that you know
which PHYSICAL drive you are working with. It's possible that you have accidentally
formatted a physical drive that you didn't want to format, as it temporarily had a
logical drive letter assigned to it that you THOUGHT was assigned to a physical drive
that you did want to format.

If that is what happened, you wouldnt expect XP to be asking
if it should be formatted since its already been formatted.

 

[Rod Speed]

Not sure if this helps but, if the second HD has an active partition
it will show as D drive no matter how many partitions you have on the
first HD.

Not with the NT/2K/XP family.

 

[ian field]

I wanted to test some older small h/d's and (after powering down of
course) I detached one of my dvd drives and attached these drives to
the cable see what if anything was on them.

Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't formatted
(had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I want to format
it. Apparently all the files on it are now inaccesible.

I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but it's
still giving me the same response.

What could have caused this and do you see any way around reformatting
the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial will still be a
huge pain to restore.

Using WinXP Home SP 2.

Thanks

Maybe you forgot to check the Master/Slave jumper - if both drives on the
same cable have the same jumper assignment, the 2 drives talk to each other
instead of the controller - they usually end up getting into an argument and
tear up each others part-table!!!

 

[Rod Speed]

Maybe you forgot to check the Master/Slave jumper - if both drives on the same cable
have the same jumper assignment, the 2 drives talk to each other instead of the
controller -

No they dont.

they usually end up getting into an argument and tear up each others part-table!!!

You can certainly get the partition table
corrupted that way, but not for that reason.

 

[Pennywise]

|>[email protected] wrote:
|>> (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|>>
|>>>> Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
|>>>> same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't
|>>>> formatted (had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I
|>>>> want to format it. Apparently all the files on it are now
|>>>> inaccesible.
|>>>>
|>>>> I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but
|>>>> it's still giving me the same response.
|>>>>
|>>>> What could have caused this and do you see any way around
|>>>> reformatting the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial
|>>>> will still be a huge pain to restore.


|>> Not sure if this helps but, if the second HD has an active partition
|>> it will show as D drive no matter how many partitions you have on the
|>> first HD.


|>Not with the NT/2K/XP family.

Nothing special about those OS's - you stick a second drive in with an
active partition and it's going to be D: drive (of course you can
change it in the diskmanager - but it will be D drive)

 

[Rod Speed]

Nothing special about those OS's

Wrong, they allocate drive letters differently to the Win9x/ME family.

- you stick a second drive in with an
active partition and it's going to be D: drive

Wrong if there is already a partition with that letter being used.

(of course you can change it in the diskmanager - but it will be D drive)

Wrong again. The drive letters are much more persistent with the NT/2K/XP family.

 

[Dave]

If that is what happened, you wouldnt expect XP to be asking

if it should be formatted since its already been formatted.

unless a partition had been removed

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

unless a partition had been removed

XP still doesnt say that when a drive has free space.

It only says that when it sees a corrupted partition table etc.

 

[Pennywise]

|>[email protected] wrote:
|>>
|>>>> (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|>>>>> (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|>>>>>
|>>>>>>> Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on
|>>>>>>> the same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't
|>>>>>>> formatted (had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I
|>>>>>>> want to format it. Apparently all the files on it are now
|>>>>>>> inaccesible.
|>>>>>>>
|>>>>>>> I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration
|>>>>>>> but it's still giving me the same response.
|>>>>>>>
|>>>>>>> What could have caused this and do you see any way around
|>>>>>>> reformatting the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial
|>>>>>>> will still be a huge pain to restore.
|>>
|>>
|>>>>> Not sure if this helps but, if the second HD has an active
|>>>>> partition it will show as D drive no matter how many partitions
|>>>>> you have on the first HD.
|>>
|>>
|>>>> Not with the NT/2K/XP family.
|>
|>> Nothing special about those OS's
|>
|>Wrong, they allocate drive letters differently to the Win9x/ME family.
|>
|>> - you stick a second drive in with an
|>> active partition and it's going to be D: drive
|>
|>Wrong if there is already a partition with that letter being used.

HD0: if you have CDEF and add HD1 with active partition you will then
have CEF - HD1's first partition will take over D: and the rest of the
partitions follow F (GH..)

LIke shown at the very bottom of http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.php

|>> (of course you can change it in the diskmanager - but it will be D drive)
|>
|>Wrong again. The drive letters are much more persistent with the NT/2K/XP family.
|>

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote
Gunna ignore that ? It aint gunna go away just because you ignore it.

HD0: if you have CDEF and add HD1 with active partition
you will then have CEF - HD1's first partition will take
over D: and the rest of the partitions follow F (GH..)

Wrong with the NT/2K/XP family.

That only happens with the Win9x/ME family.

LIke shown at the very bottom of http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.php

Pity about this bit right at the top
NOTE: I haven't yet comprehensively updated this article for Windows 2000/XP.

 

[David Maynard]

|>[email protected] wrote:
|>> (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|>>
|>>>> Now, I find that the system is telling me my "D" drive that's on the
|>>>> same cable as the one I was using to test these drives isn't
|>>>> formatted (had been formatted as NTSF) and keeps asking me if I
|>>>> want to format it. Apparently all the files on it are now
|>>>> inaccesible.
|>>>>
|>>>> I tried restoring the system to a previous day's configuration but
|>>>> it's still giving me the same response.
|>>>>
|>>>> What could have caused this and do you see any way around
|>>>> reformatting the drive? The files on it while not utterly crucial
|>>>> will still be a huge pain to restore.


|>> Not sure if this helps but, if the second HD has an active partition
|>> it will show as D drive no matter how many partitions you have on the
|>> first HD.


|>Not with the NT/2K/XP family.

Nothing special about those OS's

That is simply wrong, if you mean they operate like the Win9x family. The
NT line scans for and assigns the drive letters differently (which is one
reason why people sometimes discover their system drive is 'E:', or 'F:' or
whatever, instead of 'C:'), handles partitions differently, and drive
letter assignments are persistent regardless of where the physical drive is
located, or 'moved' to. I.E. If you have a partition labeled 'C:' on a
drive strapped as master on IDE0 it will still be 'C:' even if you move the
drive to IDE1, or change it to slave, and add another drive physically
'before' it.

In Win9X, the old 'C:' would become 'D:' and the new, 'physically before
it' partition would be 'C:' because Win9x scans for and assigns drive
letters on every boot.

Take a simple 1 partition per drive, two drives, master and slave on IDE0
and say one is 200gig and the other 100gig, to distinguish them:

Original configuration Physically swap master/slave

Drive 200gig 100gig 100gig 200gig
Master Slave Master Slave
Win9X C: D: C: D:
WinXP C: D: D: C:

And that's 'something special' because if you decide to format 'drive D:'
you get dramatically different results.

- you stick a second drive in with an
active partition and it's going to be D: drive (of course you can
change it in the diskmanager - but it will be D drive)

Not necessarily because, for one, the system partition might not be 'C:'.

 

[Pennywise]

|>> HD0: if you have CDEF and add HD1 with active partition
|>> you will then have CEF - HD1's first partition will take
|>> over D: and the rest of the partitions follow F (GH..)

|>Wrong with the NT/2K/XP family.
|>
|>That only happens with the Win9x/ME family.

|>> LIke shown at the very bottom of http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.php

|>Pity about this bit right at the top
|>NOTE: I haven't yet comprehensively updated this article for Windows 2000/XP.

Whatever, I've run into this with both NT and W2K,

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Whatever, I've run into this with both NT and W2K,

No you havent. You're just attempting to bullshit
your way out of your predicament now.

 

[Pennywise]

|>[email protected] wrote
|>
|>>>>> HD0: if you have CDEF and add HD1 with active partition
|>>>>> you will then have CEF - HD1's first partition will take
|>>>>> over D: and the rest of the partitions follow F (GH..)
|>
|>>>> Wrong with the NT/2K/XP family.
|>
|>>>> That only happens with the Win9x/ME family.
|>
|>>>>> LIke shown at the very bottom of http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.php
|>
|>>>> Pity about this bit right at the top
|>>>> NOTE: I haven't yet comprehensively updated this article for
|>>>> Windows 2000/XP.

|>> Whatever, I've run into this with both NT and W2K,

|>No you havent. You're just attempting to bullshit
|>your way out of your predicament now.

No predicament, nor my style.

My second HD was always D due to this (old boot up drive) and I was
triple booting at the time. Can't get any clear'r than that.