Hitachi hts424030m9at00

[Ben Myers]

It is a 2.5 to 3.5" hard drive adapter which allows you to plug you
laptop HD into a desktop IDE adaptor. see
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD

I have a HP Pavillion a1632x desktop running WinXP (not the target
machine)
I was able to see another (the replacement) Hitachi hts424030m9at00
HD when it was formatted by (Fedora Core 9 ) linux but not the HD
which was formatted as FAT32 by WinXP (by the Dell Inspiration 2200).

Shouldn't I be able to see the HD from Windows Explorer?

A hard drive can be seen by Windows Explorer if:

1a. The motherboard BIOS "sees" it, i.e. recognizes it.
1b. Or it is successfully mounted as an USB (or old-time PCMCIA laptop)
drive.
2. It has at least one valid partition table, NTFS or FAT32, on it.

I know of no other conditions which would allow Windows Explorer to see
and access it... Ben Myers

 

[Barry Watzman]

Re: "Shouldn't I be able to see the HD from Windows Explorer?"

I know it sounds like a simple question, but it's surprisingly complex.

You won't be able to see it unless a bunch of hardware and software
conditions are satisfied. These include proper master / slave / cable
select jumpering, proper responses to various commands by the controller
and the presence of proper master boot records, partition boot records,
partitions and (possibly) logical drives within partitions on the hard
drive. There are a couple dozen ways that you could not see anything in
Explorer even though the drive, at a hardware level, was good (not to
mention that you may not see anything if the drive is bad).

 

[Deodiaus]

The HD shows up in the BIOS on the HP Pavilion.
It is the only HD on that IDE ribbon cable (there are two slots on the
MB, maybe I'll try swapping them).
BTW, I did see it show up once (as file format RAW) before running the
DFT.
Now, when I use partition table editor, I get "error reading MBR at
the specified sector!"

 

[Ben Myers]

The HD shows up in the BIOS on the HP Pavilion.
It is the only HD on that IDE ribbon cable (there are two slots on the
MB, maybe I'll try swapping them).
BTW, I did see it show up once (as file format RAW) before running the
DFT.
Now, when I use partition table editor, I get "error reading MBR at
the specified sector!"

One possibility is to take your Windows install CD, boot it up in repair
mode, and from the command line fix the master boot record, which
appears to have been damaged. After that, one hopes you can see the
partition table... Ben Myers

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

It is a 2.5 to 3.5" hard drive adapter which allows you to plug you
laptop HD into a desktop IDE adaptor. see
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD

I have a HP Pavillion a1632x desktop running WinXP (not the target
machine)
I was able to see another (the replacement) Hitachi hts424030m9at00
HD when it was formatted by (Fedora Core 9 ) linux but not the HD
which was formatted as FAT32 by WinXP (by the Dell Inspiration 2200).

Shouldn't I be able to see the HD from Windows Explorer?

If the drive was not assigned a letter, it could be there and Windows
KNOWS t there but Windows Explorer won't show it.

To see if that is the case, run the Computer Management MSC.

Once it has loaded, click on 'Disk Management' in the left pane of the
window.

If you see the drive in the right pane, right-click on it and choose
'Change Drive Letter and Paths'. Assign a letter, then the drive will be
visible in WIndows Explorer.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Ben Myers]

If the drive was not assigned a letter, it could be there and Windows
KNOWS t there but Windows Explorer won't show it.

To see if that is the case, run the Computer Management MSC.

Once it has loaded, click on 'Disk Management' in the left pane of the
window.

If you see the drive in the right pane, right-click on it and choose
'Change Drive Letter and Paths'. Assign a letter, then the drive will be
visible in WIndows Explorer.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

Hardly! If the "drive" has no letter, it means that the drive does not
have at least one partition of a type known to and recognized by Windows
XP, i.e. NTFS, FAT32, or (rarely) FAT16. Windows XP Disk Management
will show which space is allocated and to which partitions. Or to no
partition at all. If there is no known partition, you can't assign a
drive letter.

As an example, a drive with Linux partition on it will not show up in
Windows, because Windows is incapable of reading a Linux file system.

Yet another example: The diagnostic partition found on the
factory-loaded hard drives of many Dell computers has a partition type
of 0xDF, IIRC. It is a "hidden" partition, which really means that
Windows does not know about it. But it is really a FAT32 partition with
data organized exactly like FAT32, and a partition type changed so that
users will not muck around with it.

Okay? ... Ben Myers

 

[Happy Oyster]

Ph.D. ? In computer services? Interesting.

Sure. Life is tough...


The problem with hidden partitions is that they are hidden - and such idiotic
things like Windows insist on being on a certain partition IN RELATION to
others.

I found out that using the installation DVD for SuSE is better to use than many
acclaimed tools.

The problem with those tools is that they do not tell you what they actually do
or what their "description" REALLY is about.

The installation DVD has the point or "organizing" the HDDs - or whatever they
call it. Background is that they make partitions.

The installer is damned stupid and would mess up each time. So do not follow it
"advices"!!!

The thing to use is the "expert" part where the existing partition table can be
loaded with. Do load the existing partition tables from the HDDs and look at
them. THERE you will see what really is going on.

A good way to prevent partitions from being messed up is to change their type.
You do not have to hide them or to overwrite them. Just change the type to
something really strange. So, to prevent Windows XP from messing up a partition,
just declare it as some type of unix. ;O)

After the installation work with the Windows OS is done, make the change of that
partitions back to the real type.

This method is easy.

If one knows how to use the "rescue" part of the SuSE installation DVD, the
better. There you have more tools at hand.

 

[Ben Myers]

Not necessarily true, when a new drive is detected if you
cancel the new disk wizard I've seen cases where a drive did
have a viable NTFS or FAT32 partition and data but did not
have a drive letter assigned yet.

Poltergeists at work! I cannot understand how that could be possible
unless the drive was pre-formatted with an NTFS or FAT32 partition.

.... Ben Myers

 

[Happy Oyster]

Poltergeists at work! I cannot understand how that could be possible
unless the drive was pre-formatted with an NTFS or FAT32 partition.

Very simple: M$ chose to push another madness onto the market: A HDD has to be
"accepted". A HDD gets an individual number. AFTER that it can be accessed.

Exchanging HDDs can be very complicated because of these "signatures".

Don't ask me for the details, please. I NEVER deal with that stuff. When a
shitty OS wants to make such things, I kill it.

 

[Ben Myers]

Very simple: M$ chose to push another madness onto the market: A HDD has to be
"accepted". A HDD gets an individual number. AFTER that it can be accessed.

Exchanging HDDs can be very complicated because of these "signatures".

Don't ask me for the details, please. I NEVER deal with that stuff. When a
shitty OS wants to make such things, I kill it.

I will ask you for the details. I am asking you for the details. Maybe
it is my brain going numb, but I do not understand at all what you are
describing here. It lacks the detail needed to be understood. It also
flies in the face of a considerable number of years troubleshooting,
repairing and upgrading Windows based computers... Ben Myers

 

[Happy Oyster]

I will ask you for the details. I am asking you for the details. Maybe
it is my brain going numb, but I do not understand at all what you are
describing here. It lacks the detail needed to be understood. It also
flies in the face of a considerable number of years troubleshooting,
repairing and upgrading Windows based computers... Ben Myers

AS I WROTE:

I NEVER deal with that stuff.
*****************************
When a shitty OS wants to make such things, I kill it.
******************************************************

 

[Happy Oyster]

Accepted ?? No offense but you lost me too on this.

The important point is: such a mess is a) totally inneccessary and b) a means of
warfare. If you lose a HDD you COULD easily exchange it, but the OS insists on
the old one - and as it does not get it goes berserk and spoils your
installation. That is an attack on MY computer which I consider criminal. And it
is M$ which commits that crime.

 

[Ben Myers]

The important point is: such a mess is a) totally inneccessary and b) a means of
warfare. If you lose a HDD you COULD easily exchange it, but the OS insists on
the old one - and as it does not get it goes berserk and spoils your
installation. That is an attack on MY computer which I consider criminal. And it
is M$ which commits that crime.

This does not make sense either... Ben Myers

 

[BillW50]

In Happy Oyster typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:27:41 +0100:

AS I WROTE:

I NEVER deal with that stuff.
*****************************
When a shitty OS wants to make such things, I kill it.
******************************************************

I don't blame you. It isn't what you can do for your OS, but what your
OS can do for you! <grin>

 

[BillW50]

In Happy Oyster typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:10:30 +0100:

Very simple: M$ chose to push another madness onto the market: A HDD
has to be "accepted". A HDD gets an individual number. AFTER that it
can be accessed.

Exchanging HDDs can be very complicated because of these "signatures".

Don't ask me for the details, please. I NEVER deal with that stuff.
When a shitty OS wants to make such things, I kill it.

MS-DOS 7's FDISK has a feature/bug that removes this signature with the
MBR switch. While Windows v5 and higher Repair Console doesn't have this
feature/bug so causes the OS to get confused if it has seen this drive's
serial number before as a different drive.

 

[WSZsr]

Go back into your shell!

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Hardly!  If the "drive" has no letter, it means that the drive
does not have at least one partition of a type known to and
recognized by Windows

Not all the time. I have seen Windows do exactly as Joseph has
described. For whatever reason, there are some times when Windows
would have no problem accessing the contents of a drive but will not
assign it a drive letter.

I've only known conventional Windows 2000, XP Home or Pro 32-bit
editions to do this rarely. Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 seems to do it
a lot more often with some USB hard drives that are rotated around for
backups.

In any event, a little tinker in Computer Management fixes it IF the
disk contains a file system that Windows can recognize.

XP, i.e. NTFS, FAT32, or (rarely) FAT16.

I'm scared to think that anyone has installed XP on a disk small
enough to use FAT16! Maybe with nLite or other methods...

William

 

[BillW50]

In Ben Myers typed on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:49:11 -0400:

Poltergeists at work! I cannot understand how that could be possible
unless the drive was pre-formatted with an NTFS or FAT32 partition.

... Ben Myers

EFI partitions are FAT partitions with data and don't often have drive
letters under Windows. Linux doesn't use drive letters so that is apples
and oranges there. Except the later Linux Xandros versions which does
use drive letters, oddly enough.

 

[BillW50]

In RnR typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:57:25 -0500:

Gosh Bill, can it get more confusing <grin> ? Just pulling your leg.
Good tip if I can remember it when I need it. Honestly I know a lot,
forgot a lot and will have to learn a lot. Vicious cycle.

Well I never met a human that could hold all of this information yet.
<grin>

 

[Barry Watzman]

When a new hard drive is shipped from the factory, it is totally
(TOTALLY) Blank; every single sector on the drive is filled with 512
bytes of whatever "fill value" that manufacturer uses.

A drive will not be recognized by Windows until it has a valid MBR
(Master Boot Record, recorded on the first sector of the drive). A
totally blank drive doesn't have an MBR, of course, so it is not
recognized. [Note that you can have a valid MBR and still have NO
partitions defined.]

When you connect such a drive, Windows offers to "initialize" the drive
.... that is, it is offering to create a valid (still empty, but valid)
MBR. If you decline, the drive won't be seen at all except by "Disk
Management" under "Computer Management" under "Administrative Tools"
(note, by default, "Administrative Tools" and everything under it is
hidden and is invisible, but it can be unhidden by right clicking on the
"Start" button, the selecting "properties", then "Customize". Some
computer makers unhide it by default, others leave it hidden.).

Even if the drive has a valid MBR, it may still have no partitions, at
all, of any kind. It may also have partition types that are not
recognized by the running version of Windows (Mac partitions, Linux
partitions, even NTFS partitions while running under Windows 98).
Those, also, will not be given a drive letter.