Computer Hope

Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: ccbutch on December 31, 2005, 03:40:46 AM

Title: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on December 31, 2005, 03:40:46 AM
to start, I had a 250 gigabyte maxtor hard drive installed on my compaq presario using windows xp service pack 1.  It started getting viruses and spyware.  So i used microsofts anti spyware program and I forget which virus cleaner(it has annoying siren when ever it finds something) to fix all that, but it was still running slow.  A co-worker said I should defrag it, so I did.  

When I started my computer up after I defragmented it, it came up with a window saying, my configuration was wrong.  It gave me 3 choices.  1. run it as it is. 2 revert to last known good configuration.  And I forget 3, but none of them worked, I was completly locked out.

So I bought a new hard drive, Western digital 7200 rpm.  I installed it using old xp disks and upgradded to service pack 2.  I hooked up my old hard drive to rip all my old stuff off it on to my new one, then to wipe it clean and use it as a back up.

The problem is, I can't get into my old one, everytime i try it says it needs to be formatted.  Everything should still be on it, I just need a way to find out how to get it.

Thanks
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: pcdoc4christ on December 31, 2005, 04:08:18 AM
CCButch:

What is the status of the old hard drive in Disk Management?  To view the status:

1. Right-click My Computer and choose Manage
2. In Computer Management, double-click Disk Management

For Disk 1, does it indicate the disk is healthy, or something else?
For the logical drive letter(s) for Disk 1, what is listed as the layout, type, file system and status for each volume (i.e., for each drive letter)?

Best regards,
Doc
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on December 31, 2005, 09:17:34 AM
I suspect he will get the "RAW" message. Usually very bad news.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: pcdoc4christ on December 31, 2005, 11:13:40 AM
Quote
I suspect he will get the "RAW" message. Usually very bad news.

Right, GX.  My hope is that Disk 1 will not show, which may mean he just did not connect the hard drive correctly, or used an incorrect jumper setting.  

Otherwise, it may be a virus or mechanical failure that has damaged the file system.  Bad news, indeed!


Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 02, 2006, 03:34:30 AM
ok in disk management I got:

Disk 0                
Basic                  PRESARIO_RP (D:)                 PRESARIO (C:)
279.45 GB          3.19 GB FAT32                        276.26 GB NTFS
Online                Healthy                                  Healthy (System)


Disk 1
Basic                 (G:)
31.50 GB           31.50 GB
Online                Healthy

and up top on G,C,and D the layout=partition, type=basic, status=healthy, fault tolerance=no, and overhead=0%

So I thought my old hard drive not connected right and that's just a partition of my new one, cause my old hard drive was 250 gb.  

but when i go to system  information, storage, disks it shows my old drive, but at the 31.49gb

Description: Disk drive
Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
Model: Maxtor 6Y250P0
Bytes/Sector: 512
Media Loaded: Yes
Media Type: Fixed	hard disk media
Partitions:1
SCSI Bus:0
SCSI Logical Unit:0
SCSI Port:0
SCSI Target ID:1
Sectors/Track: 63
Size: 31.49 GB (33,814,609,920 bytes)
Total Cylinders:4,368
Total Sectors:66,044,160
Total Tracks: 1,048,320
Tracks/Cylinder: 240
Partition: Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size: 31.50 GB (33,820,286,976 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset: 0 bytes

*censored* confusing technollogy
Thanks again
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: pcdoc4christ on January 02, 2006, 06:13:07 PM
CCButch:

So Disk 1 is a SCSI drive?  If so, do you have it jumpered for the correct SCSI ID number and is the SCSI daisy chain terminated correctly at both ends?  Is Disk 0 a SCSI drive and, if so, for what SCSI ID number did you you jumper it?  Did you check (or do you know how to check) if SCSI drive support is enabled in the BIOS setup?

Doc
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 02, 2006, 07:45:13 PM
I have no idea if the disks are SCSI, they both have the SCSI Bus, Logical Unit, Port & Target ID in the system information.  I'm pretty sure the jumpers are set right, new one is master, old one is slave.  The old hard drive says it needs a cylinder Limitation Jumper (CLJ).  not sure what this is, but I tried putting on the black and white jumper in it's place and they both got the same result.

I don't know what a daisy chain is.

for the new drive the SCSI target id=0 so says system info

And I don't know how to check if SCSI drive support is enabled in the bios setup

sorry for being such a pain
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on January 02, 2006, 08:26:44 PM
You should have put "they are SCSI drives" in the first post.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 02, 2006, 08:58:51 PM
I didn't know they were.  to that matter, I didn't know there was much difference between those and other drives.  sorry
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on January 02, 2006, 09:16:12 PM
I suspect 95% of the traffic here couldn't tell you what a SCSI drive is, much less go into terminators, cabling setting up a SCSI system, etc. So by posting SCSI, it gets all of (and hopefully only) those who can be of assist.

Not chastising you now, just showing you how to get appropriate help quicker next time. Doc and dl65 would probably be the strongest contenders in this area that I am aware of.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: J0K3R on January 02, 2006, 10:48:50 PM
it ISNT a SCSI drive

Maxtor 6Y250P0 250GB Hard Drive (IDE ATA-133, 7200RPM, 8MB)


i think 96% of the traffic here havent a clue as to what google is
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: J0K3R on January 02, 2006, 10:58:44 PM
im sorry to say this ,, but you did have a hard drive problem in the first place ,, when you defragged it what data that could be read was moved into a contigous line however by the sounds of it some was lost during the defrag and this makes it nearly impossible for a file recovery however you can try something like this http://www.recovermyfiles.com/  . cant see it working tho but might retrive some of your data ,, after you format it now and get it back to its full 250 gig.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: dl65 on January 03, 2006, 12:25:20 AM
ccbutch.......Ok ..... if the Maxtor drive is a 6Y250P0........
Description: MAXTOR - 250GB 7200RPM 8MB CACHE ULTRA ATA133 EIDE DIAMONDMAX PLUS-9 HARD DISK DRIVE.
So it is not a SCSI ..........

Disk 1   ( This drive "G" must be your Maxtor )
Basic                 (G
31.50 GB           31.50 GB
Online                Healthy

How was it formatted  FAT32 or NTSF ?

BTW ......CLJ = Cylinder Limitation Jumper

Operating System: Windows XP and 2000 have a 32 GB format limitation for FAT 32. That means if you formatted the drive in FAT 32 with Windows XP and 2000, the largest partition supported is 32 GB. You will need to format the drive in NTFS if you want to partition the drive larger than 32 GB.
OR DID YOU .....
If you format the drive with the CLJ or AC jumper then the drive capacity will be limited to 32GB. After removing the CLJ or AC jumper the drive will still be recognized as 32GB. You must reformat the drive without the CLJ or AC jumper to gain the full capacity of the drive.

Drive Jumpers: Applies to Mac and Window users. On drives that are larger than 32 GB there is a Capacity Limitation Jumper (CLJ) or the Alternate Capacity (AC) Jumper setting. This jumper will limit the capacity of the drive to 32 GB and should only be used when the BIOS hangs when trying to auto-detect the drive. If you have two jumpers shunts on the drive you will need to remove the CLJ or AC jumper. To resolve the issue use the standard jumper settings.

So it would appear that your new WD Hard drive is refered to as Disk 0 and the old Maxtor is refered to as Disk 1
Tell us exactly how you have the two drives jumpered .

Get back to us with the answers .

dl65  ::)

Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: dl65 on January 03, 2006, 12:31:18 AM
ccbutch.... I neglected to ask you for the model number of your Western Digital drive .

dl65  ::)
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 03, 2006, 02:34:51 AM
the model for my  western digital hard drive is WDCWD3000JB-00KFA0 or WD3000JB works on the official website. It's 300 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB Cache and a EIDE hard drive

I believe the last time I formated my maxtor drive was about a year and a half ago, and it came out with all the space.  I havn't formatted it since then, I formatted my new one, set it up, then hooked in the new one.  

as for the jumpers
Maxtor
          _
0   0   l0l       0
0   0   l0l   0  0

western digital
          _
0   0   l0l   0   0
0   0   l0l   0   0

Those are for the master and slave settings, should I put them on the cable select?  or reformat my new one and not hook up the jumpers or hook the up differently?
dumb computer
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: dl65 on January 03, 2006, 01:35:45 PM
 ccbutch.......ok ...here are the jumper settings for each of your drives .........


If you want the Maxtor to be the Master .......... install jumper as shown
(http://server3.uploadit.org/files/jochrobo-maxtor.JPG) 
Do not use the CLJ jumper setting or the display size will not be right .

Then set the Western Digital as the slave ........ install jumper as shown
(http://server3.uploadit.org/files/jochrobo-WD.JPG)


dl65  ::)

Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 04, 2006, 04:47:13 AM
ok, so I now know the jumper setting, maxter as slave & western digital as the master., so what do I do now?

Just turn it off, switch the jumpers?
Disconnect the hard drive, switch the jumpers, then hook it back in?
or should I go all out and reformat my western digital and start brand new with the right jumper settings?
or some other way
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on January 04, 2006, 05:11:03 AM
I'm a firm believer in reformatting and reinstalling, just to remove all possibility of software configuration errors. Others like to tinker with settings.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 04, 2006, 05:27:25 AM
ok, I switched the jumpers and now when i go to disk managment disk 1 (G) says 233.75 GB, so that's right.  It also says healthy, not raw.  So I thought I had it figured out.  
But when I went to open it up or explore a window pops up that says
G: is not accessible
The parameter is incorrect

And when I try searching it comes up says the drive needs to be formatted.

I am also noticing that my computer is running much slower, like it did when I only had the maxtor drive before it crashed

Once I get my movies, pics and ext off the old one, I'm gunna reformat it and use it as back-up only
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 04, 2006, 02:59:49 PM
I'm using the one that came with the western digital hard drive
EIDE Interface Cable
(40-pin, 80-conductor)

I also have an Ultra ATA cable that came with the Maxtor hard drive, but the thing said the western digital must be installed with the 40-pin, 80-conductor
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: Computer_Commando on January 04, 2006, 05:17:04 PM
Quote
I'm using the one that came with the western digital hard drive
EIDE Interface Cable
(40-pin, 80-conductor)

I also have an Ultra ATA cable that came with the Maxtor hard drive, but the thing said the western digital must be installed with the 40-pin, 80-conductor
With the 40-pin 80-conductor cable, you can jumper both drives as Cable Select.  The one on the end of the cable will be the Master and the one on the middle connector will be the Slave.  For simplicity, make the boot drive the Master.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: pcdoc4christ on January 06, 2006, 06:02:05 PM
Quote
ok in disk management I got:

Disk 0                
Basic                  PRESARIO_RP (D:)                 PRESARIO (C:)
279.45 GB          3.19 GB FAT32                        276.26 GB NTFS
Online                Healthy                                  Healthy (System)


Disk 1
Basic                 (G:)
31.50 GB           31.50 GB
Online                Healthy

and up top on G,C,and D the layout=partition, type=basic, status=healthy, fault tolerance=no, and overhead=0%

...

ccbutch:

The file system tells Windows where the files are located on the hard drive.  If the file system is damaged, the files may still be there, Windows just cannot tell where they are.  Disk 0 has two partitions with two file systems (FAT32 and NTFS).  Since Disk 1 has no file system indicated, there is little chance of accessing the files.  My guess is a boot sector virus might be the cause of the damaged file system, as you mentioned viruses.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Doc


Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: ccbutch on January 07, 2006, 02:23:06 AM
that kinda sucks.  Oh well, 150GB worth of stuff gone.
Title: Re: Hard drive needs formatting
Post by: pcdoc4christ on January 07, 2006, 10:39:31 AM
Quote
Is this drive partitioned? Could an OS be installed on a partition and the drive run on its own?

Have you tried running it on its own and using a KNOPPIX CD to see if it is mountable and can be read by KNOPPIX?

Mac:

I'm unfamiliar with Knoppix; is it a flavor of Linux?  I confess i'm ignorant about Linux.  Is it possible to access files by installing Knoppix when the Windows file system is corrupt?  

Doc
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on January 07, 2006, 05:13:28 PM
Doc,

Knoppix is failrly straightforward, but Linspire is a little more Windows like for newbiew (to Linux) to play around with. You don't even need a hard drive in the machine (!) and it writes no files to your existing drives. Here's a download for the Linspire Live 5.0:

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/distro.php?distro=58


Just keep in mind that it is going to be slower because it runs from the CD. Don't make a final judgement based on that factor.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on January 07, 2006, 05:15:07 PM
Mac,

Knoppix is your best quality!  ;)

Linux Live CD's have saved a lot of data and solved many other issues for me.
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: pcdoc4christ on January 07, 2006, 06:14:53 PM
Thanks Mac and GX.  I just may give one or the other a whirl!

I'll let you know if i have an questions when i do.


 :)
Title: Re: hard drive needs formatting
Post by: GX1_Man on January 07, 2006, 06:43:18 PM
Give them both a whirl. At that price (free).........