Installing an Old Harddrive?

[Zip]

I recently installed an old Maxtor 7120AT into my AMD 2800+ machine running
Win XP. The machine correctly identifies the Maxtor drive as a slave, and
mounts it on the file system as drive F:. The control panel reports this
device as a "Maxtor 7120 AT". When I open the F drive in Windows, the drive
is reported as having a capacity of 123 MB (correct), 8 MB free (seems
correct) and FAT (it was running Windows 3.11). However, no files can be
found on the drive when exploring from Windows. The directory of F: from the
command line:

F:\>dir
Volume in drive F has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 1D91-5DCC

Directory of F:\

05/31/1994 06:22 AM 54,645 COMMAND.COM
1 File(s) 54,645 bytes
0 Dir(s) 8,513,536 bytes free

Any ideas as to what I can do to troubleshoot this? I'd like to think that
someone on this drive there are over 100 MB of files to find, other than
command.com

Thanks.

 

[N9WOS]

I recently installed an old Maxtor 7120AT into my AMD 2800+ machine running
Win XP. The machine correctly identifies the Maxtor drive as a slave, and
mounts it on the file system as drive F:. The control panel reports this
device as a "Maxtor 7120 AT". When I open the F drive in Windows, the drive
is reported as having a capacity of 123 MB (correct), 8 MB free (seems
correct) and FAT (it was running Windows 3.11). However, no files can be
found on the drive when exploring from Windows. The directory of F: from
the command line:

F:\>dir
Volume in drive F has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 1D91-5DCC

Directory of F:\

05/31/1994 06:22 AM 54,645 COMMAND.COM
1 File(s) 54,645 bytes
0 Dir(s) 8,513,536 bytes free

Any ideas as to what I can do to troubleshoot this? I'd like to think that
someone on this drive there are over 100 MB of files to find, other than
command.com

(Smiles...)
That's a problem that even I can figure out...
(I have had that problem.)

It's a compressed drive.
Compressed with "drive space" or some other program.
You could get to it with an old boot floppy with the "drive space" system
files on it.
(or what ever files is needed by the compression system used)

Put a third clean 200+MB hard drive in with a fat 16 partition.
Boot with the drive space (or other) driver enabled boot disk.
Copy the data off the compressed second drive, to the non compressed third
drive.
Then reboot win xp and get access to the non compressed files.

I don't know what type of support win xp has for mounting compressed drive
volumes.
The other people here should be able tell you that info.

The 8MB, or so, free space, is the uncompressed space that drive space
reserves for critical drivers that can't be put in a compressed volume.

 

[Jan Alter]

Hi,

From your description I'm assuming you want to retrieve those files. I'll
conjecture that the drive is formatted as FAT 16 and perhaps XP (I'm also
thinking you're running that OS) is having trouble reading the file system
for whatever reason. Anyhow, if you can get hold of a startup disk for Win98
you can start the computer with that disk as your OS and I'm guessing you
will be able to read the the Maxtor as drive D: To get a startup disk try
goiong to bootdisk.com

An alternative to this scenario is to simply disconnect your main XP drive
and connect the maxtor as your only drive and see if it starts (DOS 6, 5 ?).
You may not be able to load Windows but if you hit the F8 key you should be
able to get to a DOS prompt and view the files from there, if there's
anything to view.

The last thought is that XP may be reading the drive correctly and those
files may not be there. Have you attempted to copy a file onto that drive
and see if you can read it?

 

[Trent©]

I recently installed an old Maxtor 7120AT into my AMD 2800+ machine running
Win XP. The machine correctly identifies the Maxtor drive as a slave, and
mounts it on the file system as drive F:. The control panel reports this
device as a "Maxtor 7120 AT". When I open the F drive in Windows, the drive
is reported as having a capacity of 123 MB (correct), 8 MB free (seems
correct) and FAT (it was running Windows 3.11). However, no files can be
found on the drive when exploring from Windows. The directory of F: from the
command line:

F:\>dir
Volume in drive F has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 1D91-5DCC

Directory of F:\

05/31/1994 06:22 AM 54,645 COMMAND.COM
1 File(s) 54,645 bytes
0 Dir(s) 8,513,536 bytes free

Any ideas as to what I can do to troubleshoot this? I'd like to think that
someone on this drive there are over 100 MB of files to find, other than
command.com

Thanks.

I think N9 may have nailed it!!

An easier way to check it...

Just install the drive as the boot drive. The drivers for the
compressed volume is on the drive...and need to be loaded at boot.

Then, as N9 suggested, just copy those files to another drive.

Good luck.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

 

[Zip]

That's a problem that even I can figure out...
(I have had that problem.)

It's a compressed drive.
Compressed with "drive space" or some other program.
You could get to it with an old boot floppy with the "drive space" system
files on it.
(or what ever files is needed by the compression system used)

Drive Space! Man, I haven't heard that term in 10 years (coincidentally,
since the last time I dealt with this drive).

Put a third clean 200+MB hard drive in with a fat 16 partition.

Is there any way to create a FAT 16 partition on the XP NTFS hard drive
without a re-format? A re-format is really not an option at this time.

Boot with the drive space (or other) driver enabled boot disk.

I tried this just to see if I could look at the drive-spaced data. When I
did this, both the NTFS hard drive (expected) and the Maxtor FAT 16 hard
drive (unexpected) were not recognized, or at least not assigned accessible
drive letters. Strangely enough, the DVD-ROM and the CD-RW were recognized
as R: and S:, respectively. I used "Alt 1" for Dos 6.22 from bootdisk.com

Copy the data off the compressed second drive, to the non compressed third
drive.
Then reboot win xp and get access to the non compressed files.

If a FAT 16 partition cannot be created without a reformat, would there be a
devious way to dump the drive-spaced data to the CD burner, or a USB jump
drive, or something?

I don't know what type of support win xp has for mounting compressed drive
volumes.
The other people here should be able tell you that info.

You'd think think that someone would have developed a little Windows GUI by
now that would allow people access to their DOS-compressed drives in the
modern Windows world.

The 8MB, or so, free space, is the uncompressed space that drive space
reserves for critical drivers that can't be put in a compressed volume.

Thanks again, N9 and all for the help.

 

[Skeleton Man]

You'd think think that someone would have developed a little Windows GUI by

now that would allow people access to their DOS-compressed drives in the
modern Windows world.

Windows 98 comes with various drive tools.. one of which is compression..
Drivespace 3 I think.. I used it ages ago to make a compressed boot floppy.. you
could try accessing the disk from that if you have a spare box or free partition
to install on.. I recall having to use 98 coz no other operating system
supports drive compression anymore.. (not even sure if win95 does)

Regards,
Chris

 

[Trent©]

Is there any way to create a FAT 16 partition on the XP NTFS hard drive
without a re-format? A re-format is really not an option at this time.

You'll need a 3rd party program that can work with
partitions...Partition Manager, Partition Magic, etc. You'll need to
resize the current partition...making it smaller so that you have room
for the new partition. Then create the new FAT 16 partition...making
sure you keep it under 2 gig.

I tried this just to see if I could look at the drive-spaced data. When I
did this, both the NTFS hard drive (expected) and the Maxtor FAT 16 hard
drive (unexpected) were not recognized, or at least not assigned accessible
drive letters.

You need to load these drivers thru an autoexec.bat file and/or a
config.sys file (I forget which one) on the floppy. But, as I
suggested, it would be just as easy to boot from that drive...and
create a FAT16 partition on the XP drive...as you suggested. When it
boots, you'll see all of that drive...and you'll see the new FAT16
partition. Copy over the files that you want to that new partition.
Then go back and boot to the XP drive...and you'll see that drive and
the FAT16 drive.

When you booted from that floppy...

You didn't see the NTFS drive because you booted from a DOS system
disk.

You didn't see the Maxtor drive because you didn't load any drivers
for the compressed volume...thru autoexec and config.

One more option you may have...

You can boot from the Maxtor...and then unmount that compressed
volume. But usually there's not enough room left on the drive to do
that.

If a FAT 16 partition cannot be created without a reformat, would there be a
devious way to dump the drive-spaced data to the CD burner, or a USB jump
drive, or something?

Yes...there is a way...too lengthy to explain in detail. It amounts
to loading the drivers for those drives...so that you can see them.

You'd think think that someone would have developed a little Windows GUI by
now that would allow people access to their DOS-compressed drives in the
modern Windows world.

AFAIK, you are the first person I've seen in many a moon that's had a
compressed volume problem! lol Who would pay for such a GUI !! LOL

To add to this...

When you boot into that drive, you should see 2 drives...C & D. One
is the compressed volume...the other uncompressed. And the drive
letters are swapped to protect the innocent. lol

Good luck. Let us know how you make out.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

 

[N9WOS]

Drive Space! Man, I haven't heard that term in 10 years (coincidentally,

since the last time I dealt with this drive).

Is there any way to create a FAT 16 partition on the XP NTFS hard drive
without a re-format? A re-format is really not an option at this time.

I didn't say, "reformat", I said to put a third hard drive in, separate from
The XP NTFS drive, and the compressed drive.

The problem with creating a fat16 partition on the primary drive is the
Fact that DOS 6.22 can only fully use a hard disk that is 8GB or less in
size.
(excluding added drivers)
And it can only use a partition that is 2GB or less in size.
So the basic maximum limit is four, 2GB drives on an 8GB disk
(excluding added drivers)
DOS 6.22 can't see a partition that is beyond the 8Gb harddisk limit.
(excluding..bla bla bla you get the point...)
You can make one that starts beyond the 8GB level, but it can't use it.
And to make a partition on your primary drive,
it would most likely come after the large primary partition,
(Bigger than 8GB.)
Which would put it out of the range of the DOS6.22 OS

I tried this just to see if I could look at the drive-spaced data. When I
did this, both the NTFS hard drive (expected) and the Maxtor FAT 16 hard
drive (unexpected) were not recognized, or at least not assigned
accessible drive letters. Strangely enough, the DVD-ROM and the CD-RW were
recognized as R: and S:, respectively. I used "Alt 1" for Dos 6.22 from
bootdisk.com

The problem with that is the "drive space" drivers are not loaded by the
boot disk,
Unless you have a boot disk that is made with a computer that already has
drive space on it.

If a FAT 16 partition cannot be created without a reformat, would there be
a devious way to dump the drive-spaced data to the CD burner, or a USB
jump drive, or something?

The USB drive has some level of possibility.
There is USB drivers for DOS.

Suggestion, remove the large xp hard drive,
And install the Maxtor drive as the primary C drive.
That will allow you to just turn on the computer,
and it will boot from the "drive space" drive which has all the needed
drivers.
It will boot up where you have native access to the drive space drive.
The drive space drive will be assigned to the C drive, and the uncompressed
Drive will be assigned to drive Z.. or something (I have forgotten)

Then you can do two things from there.
One...
Take and install USB drivers in the dos installation on the compressed
drive.
(It's up to you to find those, just try google.)
That will allow you to mount a USB drive and give it a usable drive letter.
And you can copy the data from the compressed drive to the USB drive.

Two....
Go down to best buy, circuit city, or staples and buy a 60GB drive for 60
dollars.
(I think that is what they are going for now..)
Install it as a second hard drive, as a slave to the first.
Use the dos maintenance programs on the DOS disk to create and format
A 2GB partition on the very start of the new drive.
Use Xcopy to copy the data over to the new non compressed drive.
Pull the Maxtor dos disk out, and put your XP drive in as primary,
and you are off to the races.

Then you can partition the rest of the 60GB drive into 58Gb or so NTSF
partition,
And use it for normal uses.
As they say, the more space the better.

And if you formatted the 2GB partition as a system disk in the pre stated
step,
Then you can edit your boot.ini file on xp, and have yourself a dual boot
system.
You could boot to XP or to the DOS partition.

 

[Zip]

You'll need a 3rd party program that can work with
partitions...Partition Manager, Partition Magic, etc. You'll need to
resize the current partition...making it smaller so that you have room
for the new partition. Then create the new FAT 16 partition...making
sure you keep it under 2 gig.

Hmmm.. N9 pointed out that DOS 6.22 would only recognize the FAT 16
partition if it were in the first 8 GB of the NTFS disk. I'd have to clear
up a whole lot of space for that to happen. His/her recommendation was a
third drive, other than the NTFS and Maxtor drives, to create the FAT 16
partition.

Yes...there is a way...too lengthy to explain in detail. It amounts
to loading the drivers for those drives...so that you can see them.

From what I've read on deja so far, it seems that many current chipsets and
BIOSes allow automatic USB drive recognition in DOS without drivers. This
seems the most straightforward approach at this point, and would save me
from having to buy a new hard drive just to restore this old one. I'd feel
much better about shelling out $50 for a 512MB USB drive to solve this
problem than > $50 for another hard drive. I was going to upgrade from my 32
MB one anyway (bleh!).

AFAIK, you are the first person I've seen in many a moon that's had a
compressed volume problem! lol Who would pay for such a GUI !! LOL

Honestly, if it were under $100, and had a pretty decent chance of success,
I might. =|

 

[Zip]

I didn't say, "reformat", I said to put a third hard drive in, separate
from
The XP NTFS drive, and the compressed drive.

The problem with creating a fat16 partition on the primary drive is the
Fact that DOS 6.22 can only fully use a hard disk that is 8GB or less in
size.
(excluding added drivers)
And it can only use a partition that is 2GB or less in size.
So the basic maximum limit is four, 2GB drives on an 8GB disk
(excluding added drivers)
DOS 6.22 can't see a partition that is beyond the 8Gb harddisk limit.
(excluding..bla bla bla you get the point...)
You can make one that starts beyond the 8GB level, but it can't use it.
And to make a partition on your primary drive,
it would most likely come after the large primary partition,
(Bigger than 8GB.)
Which would put it out of the range of the DOS6.22 OS

Thanks, I was not aware of this, and it may have been something I would try.
To summarize (let me just get this straight), DOS 6.22 will recognize any
partition on any hard drive if the following three conditions are met:

1) The partition is FAT 16
2) The partition is no greater than 2 GB
3) The partition falls within the first 8 GB of the hard disk

The problem with that is the "drive space" drivers are not loaded by the
boot disk,
Unless you have a boot disk that is made with a computer that already has
drive space on it.

<smacks self> Yeah, I forgot about that. But it was fun playing around with
a system that had a floppy drive, DVD drive, CD burner, and no hard drives.
Well, not really.

The USB drive has some level of possibility.
There is USB drivers for DOS.

Suggestion, remove the large xp hard drive,
And install the Maxtor drive as the primary C drive.
That will allow you to just turn on the computer,
and it will boot from the "drive space" drive which has all the needed
drivers.
It will boot up where you have native access to the drive space drive.
The drive space drive will be assigned to the C drive, and the
uncompressed
Drive will be assigned to drive Z.. or something (I have forgotten)

Then you can do two things from there.
One...
Take and install USB drivers in the dos installation on the compressed
drive.
(It's up to you to find those, just try google.)
That will allow you to mount a USB drive and give it a usable drive
letter.
And you can copy the data from the compressed drive to the USB drive.

I think this is the alternative I'd like to try first. Question, though.
What is the file system on the USB drive? FAT 16, FAT 32, NTFS? Do I need to
format the USB drive before hand?

Thanks again!

 

[Zip]

Two....
Go down to best buy, circuit city, or staples and buy a 60GB drive for 60
dollars.
(I think that is what they are going for now..)
Install it as a second hard drive, as a slave to the first.
Use the dos maintenance programs on the DOS disk to create and format
A 2GB partition on the very start of the new drive.
Use Xcopy to copy the data over to the new non compressed drive.
Pull the Maxtor dos disk out, and put your XP drive in as primary,
and you are off to the races.

Out of curiousity, why couldn't I use XP to format this new 3rd hard drive
with 2 partitions: 1st: < 2 GB FAT 16, 2nd: rest of the HD NTFS. Why must I
partition the new HD in DOS using DOS maintenance programs.

 

[Trent©]

Out of curiousity, why couldn't I use XP to format this new 3rd hard drive
with 2 partitions: 1st: < 2 GB FAT 16, 2nd: rest of the HD NTFS. Why must I
partition the new HD in DOS using DOS maintenance programs.

Here's one final idea...

http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/

Good luck.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

 

[N9WOS]

Thanks, I was not aware of this, and it may have been something I would
try.

To summarize (let me just get this straight), DOS 6.22 will recognize any
partition on any hard drive if the following three conditions are met:

1) The partition is FAT 16
2) The partition is no greater than 2 GB
3) The partition falls within the first 8 GB of the hard disk

It should*
*(N9WOS disclaims any responsibility for, and the accuracy of, the
statement.)

<smacks self> Yeah, I forgot about that. But it was fun playing around with
a system that had a floppy drive, DVD drive, CD burner, and no hard drives.
Well, not really.

I know the feeling....

I think this is the alternative I'd like to try first. Question, though.
What is the file system on the USB drive? FAT 16, FAT 32, NTFS? Do I need to
format the USB drive before hand?

Usually USB thumb drives are formatted FAT 16
But sometimes they are not.
If in doubt, you can format it with fat 16 by using windows.

Or you can use DOS 6.22 Fdisk to repartition it in dos,
and then use the DOS format command to format it with FAT 16
Yes, Fdisk works with a USB thumb drive too.
Make sure to have the Maxtor disk disconnected when you do it,
(Run Fdisk and format from a floppy.)
So you don't accidentally delete the partition on the Maxtor hard drive.
Then reconnect the Maxtor drive to move the data over.

WARNING do not use DOS 6.22 Fdisk while
a drive with an NTFS partition is connected to the computer!!!!!!

I don't know about other people, some may get away with it,
and it may be particular to the computers I have around here... But...
I have totally destroyed multiple NTFS partitions before I knew what was
going on.

You don't even have to try to do any modifications to the drive with Fdisk,
When you load the program, and it says....
"Fdisk encountered an error while reading drive C"
(or something to that effect)
The NTFS partition on that drive is already toast!

 

[N9WOS]

Out of curiousity, why couldn't I use XP to format this new 3rd hard drive

with 2 partitions: 1st: < 2 GB FAT 16, 2nd: rest of the HD NTFS.

You could.

Why must I
partition the new HD in DOS using DOS maintenance programs.

I didn't say you had to do that, but I was assuming you would already have
The XP drive disconnected, which would mean that you were limited to
DOS applications.

And I have had one time, that I couldn't get another OS to read
A fat partition created by win XP.

So I follow this general rule
If you use DOS to make the partition, then you know that DOS can read it!

 

[Zip]

Update:

First, the good I found a 13 GB hard drive lying around here. I
created a 300 MB partition at the beginning of it, and formatted the
partition FAT using WinXP Disk Management. Booted to DOS 6.22 via a floppy
boot disk, and the new 300 MB FAT partition was recognized in DOS.

Now, the bad I set the Maxtor drive (the compressed volume) to master
dual, and the new HD with the 300 MB FAT partition to slave dual, and the
Maxtor drive would not boot "Boot disk failure. Please insert a system
disk". This doesn't convince me that the Maxtor is hosed. After all, the
capacity, usage and presence of command.com were recognized when it was a
slave to the XP NTFS drive.

So I guess my final option is to somehow load Drive Space via a DOS boot
floppy. However, after much research, I have no idea how to do this, or even
what must be present on the boot floppy. Apparently a file called
drvspace.bin must be present, which details the exact specifications of the
compressed volume. If this is wrong, however, the show's off. To make
matters worse, if the wrong version of DOS is loaded via bootdisk, the
compressed volume won't be recognized. And I'm not even sure now if DOS 6.21
vs. 6.22, or Double Space vs. Drive Space was running on the Maxtor. It
seems like a whole lot of really lucky guesswork needs to take place in
order for this to eventually work.

Anyway, if anyone has any more bright ideas, I'd love to hear them.
And thanks again for all the help!

 

[Trent©]

Update:

First, the good I found a 13 GB hard drive lying around here. I
created a 300 MB partition at the beginning of it, and formatted the
partition FAT using WinXP Disk Management. Booted to DOS 6.22 via a floppy
boot disk, and the new 300 MB FAT partition was recognized in DOS.

Now, the bad I set the Maxtor drive (the compressed volume) to master
dual, and the new HD with the 300 MB FAT partition to slave dual, and the
Maxtor drive would not boot "Boot disk failure. Please insert a system
disk". This doesn't convince me that the Maxtor is hosed. After all, the
capacity, usage and presence of command.com were recognized when it was a
slave to the XP NTFS drive.

Don't do any of this fancy stuff. IOW...I don't recall seeing
anywhere where you ever simply booted into that Maxtor drive.

DO THAT!...so that you know what you MIGHT have. If its a compressed
drive, booting into it should answer some of your questions.

Simply jumper it as single drive...no slave attached. Then boot it by
itself. If its a compressed drive, it'll have all the necessary
drivers...and you'll be able to see what's on the drive.

So I guess my final option is to somehow load Drive Space via a DOS boot
floppy.

At this point, you don't even KNOW that its a compressed drive.
Simply boot to it...and make sure its the only drive running on the
ENTIRE SYSTEM...including any optical drives, etc. IOW...disable ALL
drives on ALL controllers...escept for that drive.

Anyway, if anyone has any more bright ideas, I'd love to hear them.
And thanks again for all the help!

Partition Manager...or Partition Magic...or some other software that
can tell you something about the partition.

And...what makes you think there's any files on the drive? Are you
simply guessing?

Good luck...let us know.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

 

[Zip]

Don't do any of this fancy stuff. IOW...I don't recall seeing
anywhere where you ever simply booted into that Maxtor drive.

DO THAT!...so that you know what you MIGHT have. If its a compressed
drive, booting into it should answer some of your questions.

Simply jumper it as single drive...no slave attached. Then boot it by
itself. If its a compressed drive, it'll have all the necessary
drivers...and you'll be able to see what's on the drive.

I set the Maxtor to master single, and pulled the IDE cables from the 300 MB
FAT partition HD, the floppy drive, the DVD drive, and the CD-RW drive.
Turned on the computer: "Boot disk failure. Please insert a disk and press
enter". With this setup, the BIOS recognizes the Maxtor as the primary hard
drive as basically the only device available to the system.

At this point, you don't even KNOW that its a compressed drive.

I'm about 98% sure. The symptoms of a compressed volume are there, and the
terms 'dblspace' and 'drvspace', even though I haven't even thought about
them in years, ring an awfully big bell. I was constantly in need of space.

Simply boot to it...and make sure its the only drive running on the
ENTIRE SYSTEM...including any optical drives, etc. IOW...disable ALL
drives on ALL controllers...escept for that drive.


Partition Manager...or Partition Magic...or some other software that
can tell you something about the partition.

I KNOW the Maxtor only contained 1 partition. I'm assuming those programs
would tell me its a 120 MB drive with a single FAT partition. Not sure what
else they could tell me that I don't already know. Could they tell me
something about the 'alleged' compression?

And...what makes you think there's any files on the drive? Are you
simply guessing?

Well, this is only circumstancial evidence of course, but:

1) The disk was for sure running DOS 6.x and windows 3.x. Absolutely NO
chance of Win 95.
2) I remember many files and programs being on the disk 10 years ago.
3) XP recognizes the Maxtor, its capacity, its current usage (in MB), and
can find the single file 'command.com' on it. It seems strange to me that XP
can recognize the filesystem and a file on the Maxtor, and yet a DOS 6.22
bootdisk cannot.

Just throwing out ideas, but any chance it could be the IDE cable (i.e., its
a "cable select" compatible IDE cable, and I'm not sure the maxtor supports
cable select). If I remember correctly, cable select IDE cables have an
extra voltage line.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Trent©]

I set the Maxtor to master single, and pulled the IDE cables from the 300 MB
FAT partition HD, the floppy drive, the DVD drive, and the CD-RW drive.
Turned on the computer: "Boot disk failure. Please insert a disk and press
enter". With this setup, the BIOS recognizes the Maxtor as the primary hard
drive as basically the only device available to the system.

Okay...so one thing we know for SURE now...

You do not have a viable, bootable drive...even if it IS a compressed
drive.

I KNOW the Maxtor only contained 1 partition. I'm assuming those programs
would tell me its a 120 MB drive with a single FAT partition. Not sure what
else they could tell me that I don't already know. Could they tell me
something about the 'alleged' compression?

Get BootItNG...and run it. Its free...and it should be able to see
all the partitions on that drive. Create a bootable, BootItNG
floppy...then boot into it with only that Maxtor drive attached. See
what it tells you.

Well, this is only circumstancial evidence of course, but:

1) The disk was for sure running DOS 6.x and windows 3.x. Absolutely NO
chance of Win 95.
2) I remember many files and programs being on the disk 10 years ago.
3) XP recognizes the Maxtor, its capacity, its current usage (in MB), and
can find the single file 'command.com' on it. It seems strange to me that XP
can recognize the filesystem and a file on the Maxtor, and yet a DOS 6.22
bootdisk cannot.

Yer not talking about DOS 6.22, of course. Yer takin' about a certain
program...FDISK ?, I don't remember which program you were
runnin'...that was a DOS 6.22 version.

If I remember correctly...its been a long time ago since I screwed
around with a compression program...the program created a separate
partition (or was it a file?) and swapped drive letters. At any rate,
I'm not sure that FDISK can see hidden partitions. I think BootItNG
can.

If it were booting properly, you would see 2 drives...your C
drive...and another drive letter. I think they used F by default.

And I THINK I remember that, no matter what, you were always able to
see autoexec.bat, config.sys, and dblspace.bin. You don't seem to
have those files on that drive.

Just throwing out ideas, but any chance it could be the IDE cable (i.e., its
a "cable select" compatible IDE cable, and I'm not sure the maxtor supports
cable select). If I remember correctly, cable select IDE cables have an
extra voltage line.

Shouldn't be a problem. But if you have any doubts, take your other
boot drive and set it to master, no slave...and boot into it. It
should boot.

Recap...

You now know for sure that the drive will not boot. So, if it IS a
compressed drive, other files will need to be added in order for it to
boot.

Next...find out the rest of the information about the drive...i.e.,
how many partitions (including any that may be hidden) that are on the
drive.

Good luck...let us know.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

 

[Trent©]

One more thing...

You should tackle your problem in at LEAST 2 steps...

1. Gain access to the drive and its files.

2. Transfer/save/move the files.

Get #1 accomplished first. If you can't access the files, #2 won't be
a problem.

And #2 should be a simple matter.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Budweiser: Helping ugly people have sex since 1876!

 

[Zip]

I again appreciate yours and others continued help on recovering this data.
It's pretty important to me.

Get BootItNG...and run it. Its free...and it should be able to see
all the partitions on that drive. Create a bootable, BootItNG
floppy...then boot into it with only that Maxtor drive attached. See
what it tells you.

When bringing up the system with only the Maxtor HD and a bootitNG floppy, a
single partition is found. So this indicates to me that either there is a
hidden partition and bootit can't detect it, or there is no hidden
partition. I'm kinda leaning toward the latter (see below). Also, the bootit
creation of the EMBR fails on HD0, and reading the manual, this is
indicative of write-protected media. Could this drive somehow be write
protected? I sure didn't do it, but that might explain why it won't boot. Or
maybe whatever physical component responsible for disk writes is now
inoperative? I've been tentative to test write to the Maxtor, for fear of
ruining the data somehow.

This is a pretty interesting development, however:
I don't know why I didn't do this before, but performing a dir /ah on the
maxtor drive as a slave in XP yields:

F:\>dir /ah
Volume in drive F has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 1D91-5DCC

Directory of F:\

05/31/1994 06:22 AM 40,774 IO.SYS
05/31/1994 06:22 AM 38,138 MSDOS.SYS
09/20/1995 04:56 AM 8,472,576 386SPART.PAR
09/30/1993 06:20 AM 64,246 DBLSPACE.BIN
05/31/1994 06:22 AM 66,294 DRVSPACE.BIN
05/31/1994 06:22 AM 512 DRVSPACE.MR1
07/05/1996 12:50 AM 112,671,232 DRVSPACE.000
12/17/1994 04:55 PM 109 DRVSPACE.INI
01/05/2005 11:37 PM <DIR> System Volume Information
8 File(s) 121,353,881 bytes
1 Dir(s) 8,509,440 bytes free

Does this help us at all? It seems unlikely that there would be a hidden
partition on this drive, as all data (size-wise) is now accounted for. Or is
this faulty logic?

I guess I have empirical evidence now.

Yer not talking about DOS 6.22, of course. Yer takin' about a certain
program...FDISK ?, I don't remember which program you were
runnin'...that was a DOS 6.22 version.

I was using a floppy bootdisk from bootdisk.com that was created with an
executable named boot622-1.exe. Maybe I don't have a clear understanding of
how bootdisks work, but I thought using this bootdisk would have brought the
system up with DOS 6.22.

Again, thanks...