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Thread: I've "lost" a hard drive
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07-10-2006, 05:55 AM #1
I've "lost" a hard drive
When I bought this computer back in October, I had my old hard drive installed so I could still access all my files, but suddenly it aint there Any idea as to how to figure out what happened to it?
I noticed the computer was labouring a bit, so I turned it off for a while to give it a rest and when I fired it up again, the secondary drive had gone
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07-10-2006, 06:29 AM #2WHT Addict
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Are you on windows xp?
IF so do theses steps:
press start
contro lpanel
Administrative Tools
Computer Management
on the left side find: disk managment and click it
Check to see if the hard drive is listed there @ the bottom/top and make sure it has a LeTTER assisnged to it. If its there and you see it doesnt have a letter assisgned to it than right click and click "change letter and path". From there pick a letter.
Also, you said its a OLD hard drive. How old is this drive? It mightve died, but you can bring it back to life by stickign it in the freezor for abit than taking it out and putting it in ur computer. It should work than and youll be able to get ur old files off before it dies. Ill get some more information on this method if it seems like your problem.
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07-10-2006, 06:45 AM #3Originally Posted by BmXStuD
Also, you said its a OLD hard drive. How old is this drive?.
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07-10-2006, 07:09 AM #4Managed Hosting Expert
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Is the bios not picking it up?
Take it out of the machine, put it in a bag, and put it in the freezer for a few hours, try reconnecting it and if you can get in get all your data off there right away.
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07-10-2006, 09:46 AM #5Web Hosting Evangelist
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Originally Posted by anon-e-mouse
is you cmos setting set to auto detect all hard drives?
i suggest connect ONLY ur crashed drive, remove the working one from pc,
boot from bootable cd or floppy,
try fdisk/status
and see what you get to see.
Can you hear any cranky sounds when ur pc is booting ?
Hope this helps.www.xpindia.com hosting.
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07-10-2006, 10:17 AM #6Death is Sex
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[Just a baby six years old]
This is why companies give all the way 5 years guarantee. They know it will die in 6th year
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07-10-2006, 11:29 AM #7An Awesome Dude
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Have you tried a system restore Jan?? (This might work)
Good luck honey...God bless
Tinyurl is the answer for posting long urls!!!
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07-10-2006, 12:14 PM #8WHT Addict
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Originally Posted by The Dude
Thats the OS part. If its now showing in CMOS than its before the OS therefore a restore wouldnt have any effect. Hmm.
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07-10-2006, 01:48 PM #9Disabled
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Originally Posted by RazorBlue - Dan
Hehe, I did that to my laptop a couple years ago, since I heard the drive clicking and it wouldn't boot up.
Still works this day =)
So, I suggest you try that out Jan.
-Jarrett
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07-10-2006, 03:10 PM #10WHT Addict
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Originally Posted by wifiguru
Hope, you dont keep important data on that drive. Who knows it might crap out soon again lol.
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07-10-2006, 10:53 PM #11
Great news! It came back after shutting down again, I missed the setup screen to look at that stuff and it fired up, so I checked to see if the drive was there before I shut down again to enter setup and voila!
Now to get my files off there before it really does die on me
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07-11-2006, 12:02 AM #12Junior Guru Wannabe
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you should try keeping all your data and files on an external hard drive so whenever u get a new computer, you can just easily plug in and play.
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07-11-2006, 05:20 AM #13An Awesome Dude
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Congrats on it coming back
Tinyurl is the answer for posting long urls!!!
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07-11-2006, 08:10 AM #14Web Hosting Evangelist
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I knew it. Congrats
www.xpindia.com hosting.
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07-11-2006, 09:09 AM #15
Whilst I am glad the drive is "back", does anyone have a clue as to why it decided to "hide" for a few hours? Can't say I have heard of anything like this in all my computing years.
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07-11-2006, 09:20 AM #16Web Hosting Evangelist
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change your cmos battery cell.
If you want to reproduce the problem you can try this at command prompt
debug
-o 70 14
-o 71 20
q
PS: dont forget to jump the cpu, else you might damage it with this debug command.www.xpindia.com hosting.
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07-11-2006, 11:20 AM #17Disabled
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Lol @ Cool Surfer,
Anyways,
Congrats Jan.
-Jarrett
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07-11-2006, 11:22 AM #18Disabled
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Hehe,
Thank God for network storage .
-Jarrett
Originally Posted by BmXStuD
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07-12-2006, 02:19 AM #19Web Hosting Master
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This is an excellent reason for you to implement some sort of local backup system .
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07-15-2006, 08:14 AM #20
I'm thinking the secondary drive is on it's last legs now. When I restart, it tries to check that disk for errors and can't get past 1%. No biggy now as I have copied all the files over to the main disk. Phew! A close shave!
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07-15-2006, 08:18 AM #21
No kidding! Good job getting the files off you needed...
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07-15-2006, 08:50 AM #22Web Hosting Evangelist
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You can try isolating the bad sectors, fdisk, and exclude the bad sectors from
writable area. Disk manager and norton disk editor are very useful.
Then you wont get this error while bootingwww.xpindia.com hosting.
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07-15-2006, 09:25 AM #23
How does one fdisk with xp?
Disk manager worked when the drive was *missing*, but it seems no system tools can reach it now. I've tried the defrag tool with no success also.
Norton I gave up on years ago And I aint shelling out the money to buy it now when it was no brainer when it was version 3.whatever
I'll just write this six year old drive off as a lost cause now. I have all my files copied, so no more need to panic. Thanks for all the helpul hints
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07-15-2006, 09:39 AM #24Web Hosting Evangelist
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I think you can still use your disk, maybe install mini linux
You will have to boot using a dos boot disk.
Then insert dos compatible norton > diskedit.exe > select bad sectors > move them to the end of the disk > then disk manager > select cylinders (NOT MB option) , note the starting cylinder and ending cylinder till the bad sectors > create two partitions, one with good sectors and other with bad sectors > format just the good partition > and you will have a good disk.
Enjoy dos !!www.xpindia.com hosting.
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07-15-2006, 09:50 AM #25
There comes a time when you need to say goodbye to an old friend...the disk is failing...shoot it.