Hard disk problem

[Robert]

I have just replaced a failed second (slave) disk on my PC. My problem is
that it doesn't work properly, but I'm not sure if maybe my set-up broke it,
or was it faulty to begin with? I have a dual boot system on my other
(master) disk. C: is Windows 98, E: is Windows XP, & D:&F: are for storage.
It is 250GB, all formatted as fat 32. I know fat 32 & large disks can cause
problems, but that's another story. After I installed the new internal disk,
I tried to use a win 98 boot disk, to partition it with fdisk. This never
worked, as when it tried to scan the disk, it remained at 0% with no hard
drive activity showing on the LED. I then started Win XP & used Paragon
Partition Manager to partition the drive into a 230GB NTFS, & a 20GB fat 32
partition. This was successful, but when I tried to copy files onto the new
drive, it seemed to go very slow, & had some I/O errors. Video clips that
did move played very jerky, & took long time to start, some didn't play at
all. Then the new drives disappeared from "My computer". On a re-boot they
showed in the bios, but still not in Windows. Trying later, they were back
in Windows, but soon disappeared again. This time, the new disk failed to
even appear in the bios when re-booting. Next day they were back, but things
just repeated themselves, & the drives disappeared from Windows. Anyone know
what might be causing this? Faulty drive, or could my set-up have broke it?
Should this set-up have worked, with this mix of NTFS & fat 32? I also tried
formatting the new disk fully in NTFS, then fat 32, but it made no
difference.

 

[DL]

Download the disk checking utility from the hd manu site.
It could also be failing cables/connections, mobo or pwr supply.
Why didnt you use Disk Management to partition?

 

[Robert]

Download the disk checking utility from the hd manu site.
It could also be failing cables/connections, mobo or pwr supply.
Why didnt you use Disk Management to partition?

I've had a look at the cables & connections, & all these appear to be okay.
But I'm wondering if it could still be the cable. I'm working just now, but
when I'm off through the week I will try disconnecting the first drive from
the ribbon cable (which I know works properly), then connect this to the new
drive. If it works...it's the cable...if it doesn't work then the drives
damaged. I would still like to know if I could have damaged it with my
set-up, etc. or was it damaged when I got it? If it was me that damaged it,
& I get a replacement, I may end up damaging that one too, unless I find out
where I went wrong.

I use both W98 & XP so my existing partitions are all fat 32. The new disk
is for backup purposes & video editing, so I wanted the 230GB partition to
be NTFS, & the 20GB to be fat 32 so it's compatible with W98. That's the
reason I tried using fdisk & Paragon Partition Manager to set it up, as XP
won't let you format as fat 32. Is it possible that fdisk or Paragon
Partition Manager may have damaged the drive?

Thanks for the help,
Robert.

 

[Robert]

I've had a look at the cables & connections, & all these appear to be
okay. But I'm wondering if it could still be the cable. I'm working just
now, but when I'm off through the week I will try disconnecting the first
drive from the ribbon cable (which I know works properly), then connect
this to the new drive. If it works...it's the cable...if it doesn't work
then the drives damaged. I would still like to know if I could have
damaged it with my set-up, etc. or was it damaged when I got it? If it was
me that damaged it, & I get a replacement, I may end up damaging that one
too, unless I find out where I went wrong.

I use both W98 & XP so my existing partitions are all fat 32. The new disk
is for backup purposes & video editing, so I wanted the 230GB partition to
be NTFS, & the 20GB to be fat 32 so it's compatible with W98. That's the
reason I tried using fdisk & Paragon Partition Manager to set it up, as XP
won't let you format as fat 32. Is it possible that fdisk or Paragon
Partition Manager may have damaged the drive?

Thanks for the help,
Robert.

Things are looking a lot better now. Windows couldn't see the new drive for
the last few days, but I found that it could see it in safe mode, so I
partitioned & formatted it with disk manager & it now seems to work fairly
well. I'm not 100% happy with it though, as certain videos play jerky on
this new drive, but play fine if run from the other master drive. Any ideas
how I might solve this problem? I will try downloading the manufacturer's
diagnostics program, & see if this can help.
Robert.

 

[DL]

If the disk was visible in safe mode then its likely that its a driver
problem