Cant Read Hard Disk HELP!!!! 3

[ajrey]

Hello Guys!

This is the thing... I just built a new PC and installed Windows 98 in it. I have a Slave HD from my old PC that was formated under Windows 95. Now, I installed that same Slave HD on my new PC but W98 cant read this HD. It says that is not formated. I really need to read that HD cause I have all my backup files in it. Is there a tool that can help W98 read this HD????

Please Help!!

Thank you in advanced.

 

[Accessdabbler]

Can you see the drive in your BIOS? If no, it's not properly connected.

Try connecting the Slave Drive to be Master on IDE 2. You may be having a problem with the Slave and Master drives.

Also, your main IDE connector may be for ATA66/100/133. Your older drive is probably ATA33.

 

[Win98User]

First thing first.

If it can't read it, it is likely due to the master/slave jumpers - some combinations of hard drives are very fussy.

What I would suggest is unplug your cd-roms and set the "Slave" HD to master and put it on its own IDE channel.

Boot the pc then and check the contents of the old drive - If it reads it ok then it is the master/slave jumpers - you would need to find the right combination - If you post the hard drive details others might be able to help.

If the slave is the master on its own IDE channel and you can't read it post back and let others have a go at solving it.

Regards.

 

[ajrey]

I can See the HD in the BIOS. The jumpers are set properly and when the PC boots, it sees both drives. I plugged the HD back to the old PC and is working fine. Im assuming Operating system issue but not sure.

When I go to BIOS I can see the HD and all its specifications. So the PC sees the HD just fine and Windows sees the HD but when trying to acces is it says that it needs to be formated.

Any help will be good.

Tnks

 

[Win98User]

ajrey,
Accessdabbler and myself posted at the same time - We both suggested that you put the hard drive as a master on its own IDE channel - Have you done that? Did the PC read it?

 

[ajrey]

Yes, I did that, the PC can see the Hard Drive but wont let me read the files in it. Im almost sure this is an Operatting System issue. I think there must be a special tool for this.

Important Note:

I re-verified the jumpers and there ok. Master for master and Slave for slave. I connected the HD back to the old pc and W95 reads it fine. So this is why I thnin is an Operating System issue.

Any Ideas??

 

[mudskipper]

Just saw thread615-407268, but thought that I should post on this thread. I have 1 good thought, and 1 really stupid one. I'm just going to throw these into the jumble and see what we come up with ;-)

--good thought--
If BIOS correctly identifies it, and windows knows that the drive is there, then my guess is that Drive Overlay software is in the way.

When you put the old hard drive back into the old computer and boot to it, do you see a message that says something like "hold CTRL to boot from floppy" before the windows startup screen starts? If so, then this is your problem.

--really stupid one--
Although this is very unlikely, it is possible that the win95 drive was formatted using FAT32 (could have been OSR2) and the win98 drive was formatted FAT16. I would not actually expect to see this (ever ever ever), but it is technically possible. Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[ajrey]

Dang Mudkipper!!!!!!! you hit the jackpot! LOL

There is a message like that when old PC boots. I think one of this HD softwares was used to install this HD in this old PC.

Any ideas on how to overcome this?

 

[edfair]

You have to load the overlay software on the new drive in order to see the old drive. Think you'll find that is a choice with the overlay floppy.

Good shot , mudskipper. An extra star for that. You probably saved 20 or 30 posts. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[mudskipper]

I'm assuming that you don't want to use drive overlay on the new PC. I'm telling you that trying to get data off is no fun at all!

Fair warning--you are playing with data, and it IS possible to lose it all. These are some general ideas--not a perfect walkthrough!!!! Also, DO NOT TAKE OUT THE DRIVE OVERLAY SOFTWARE UNLESS YOU KNOW THAT ALL OF YOUR DATA IS BACKED UP FIRST. DO NOT USE FDISK /MBR UNLESS ALL OF YOUR DATA IS BACKED UP. Otherwise, don't expect to ever see your data again!!

1) Your best option is to put the old hard drive back into the old PC, put NICs into both PCs, and then transfer (via a crossover network cable) the data to the new PC.
-This way, you can keep both PCs in working order. Might be a pain in the butt, but it really is the easiest way. Downside is that the transfer could take a while if you have alot of data. Also, you will not be able to just select the C: and transfer, as it will refuse to transfer system files, etc. You will have to pick and choose what you want to copy.

2) You can use drive overlay software on the new drive. this might actually be easier for you, but I don't suggest it! Just imagine trying to upgrade the next time!!!

3) you can use a spare drive, as a secondary drive and then
A) boot to drive overlay, boot to a ghost floppy, and transfer partition to partition. This will wipe out any data on your spare drive.
OR
B) boot to safe mode, turn off virtual memory, set to show all files, copy data to spare drive. This will screw up all of your date and time stamps on your files. Also, if the copy does not work, then you might have to open a dos window (in safe mode still) and use XCOPY to transfer data. Don't expect to get all of your system files, etc.

4) If you are using EZDRIVE for drive overlay software, you can
a) put the old hard drive in as master
b) put a spare hdd in as a secondary
c) boot to your floppy (after holding the ctrl key), boot to your ezdrive disk
d) tell it to controll your second hard drive too
e) use the transfer utility to transfer all data to it
f) Might have to reboot into drive overlay software (I don't remember), then tell it not to control the second hard drive.
-This does not always work--I only get it to work about 50% of the time.

After you have the needed data off (and you are very sure about that), then you can put the old hard drive into the old PC. If you want to put the old drive in the new computer for use as more storage, then this is how you would get the Drive overlay (along with all of the data) off. Remove all partitions on the harddrive, type fdisk /mbr at a dos prompt, repartition, format.

I know that this is a bunch of info--I am sorry for the long post! I hope that this helps you more than overwhelmes you ;-) Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[Stealer]

You could also install the cdrw drive in the old pc and copy all your backups onto cdr disks. Then just copy from the cdr disk on to your new hard drive.

Good Luck

Stealer

 

[GaryMckie]

Hi,

Well to be honest I would put the old drive back in the old system, slave the new drive to it and copy the fies via Windows 95 to the 98 drive. Then put the new drive into the new machine, but since you were using DDO on the old machine, that may prove as a bit more tricky,
my second guess would be to set the old drive as the master in your new machine, slave the new drive and boot to 95 (safe mode or normal mode if you want to install all the device drivers..) and copy the files that way, once completed, arrange the drives back to normal..

But if you feel confident, use Mudskippers post, it is rather well explained (btw I'm new here so I'm looking to see who's who and such like)

 

[mudskipper]

GaryMckie-- you are right on. Hooking the new drive up as a slave might work fine. It is a very good idea--but unfortunately, my guess is that the new drive won't be seen properly as a slave drive on the old machine--

1) The old drive has drive overlay on it, and it has win95. It is a fairly safe guess that the old motherboard does not support large hard drives.
2) The new hard drive is likely to be over 8GB (hard to find a new drive much under 20 at this point).

HOWEVER--you can certainly put the old drive in the NEW machine as master. Make the new drive slave, boot ONLY into safe mode and do like you said!

Stealer--great idea! It constantly amazes me that no matter how complex I try to make a problem, there is always an easier way! ;-)

ajrey-- everything working ok? Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[GaryMckie]

Thanks Mudskipper, I should have really explained things a bit better (im used to just sorting out the issue rather than posting how I would do it..)

 

[ajrey]

I will like to thank all the good help you all gave me to solve my frustrating issue!!

Well tonight I will try it and will let you all know how it went.

Thanks again!!!!!!