Explorer doesn't recognize SLAVE

[vegassounder]

Gateway service tech no help.
The Problem: 7 yr old Gateway running Win98se with 20 gig HDD 90% full. Installed new 80 gig HDD as MASTER with original 20 gig as SLAVE. Bios recognizes both but Explorer only lists 80 gig MASTER. Configuring 20 gig as MASTER and 80 gig as SLAVE works as it should. Have tried every combination of jumper and ribbon cable settings with the same result. I will be installing WIN XP PRO on new HDD and will need to access drawing files on SLAVE. Will also need to boot to WIN 98 from time to time because my FILTER CAD APP won't run on XP. I will be installing a DPST switch on the front panel of machine wired to the HDD's jumper pins to facilitate choice of OS before boot. And before you ask, for some reason, this machine doesn't seem to care which ribbon connector, middle or end, is used for the MASTER.
Any advice will be much appriciated.
Gary

 

[vacunita]

I'm confused.

You say you will be installing XP, which I take it to mean you haven't installed XP on the 80GB yet.

If that's the case, what are you using to view them in explorer when the 80GB is master?

For jumper settings, assuming you are putting both the 80GB and the 20Gb on the same ribbon, one would need to be a master and the other a slave.
If they are on different ribbons then they can both be master.


As far as booting from 98 occasionally, why not just install XP with the win98 drive present, that will generate a boot loader and you can choose what to boot form at start-up.

Which is better than fiddling with jumper settings and what not.





----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[wahnula]

I'm sitting next to vacunita on the "confused" bus. Chances are that old Gateway has (2) IDE connectors. I would set both HDDs to Master and then the CD-ROM to slave on the IDE chain with the 20GB drive. Set BIOS to boot from CD-ROM and load XP, I'll bet that the 20GB drive will still work as both file repository and boot drive.

To alternate boot, I would avoid a hardware solution like you're contemplating. Set the boot order with the XP drive as the primary boot drive, when you need Win98 simply reboot into BIOS and change the boot order to boot from the 20GB drive. This way both drives can be active, but if you want the Win98 drive to see the 80 GB you will need to format it as FAT during XP install. Best of luck!!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[vegassounder]

Thank you for your reply VACUNITA,

"You say you will be installing XP, which I take it to mean you haven't installed XP on the 80GB yet."

I loaded WIN98se on the new 80gig just to make sure I could configure everything correctly. Once everything is OK I'll NUKE the drive and install WIN XP PRO.

I've tried drives as MASTERS on separate cables and then select the drive to boot from in BIOS.
When booting from the 20gig, Explorer recognizes the 80gig but when booting to the 80gig, Explorer ignores the 20gig, same as when I configure as MASTER/SLAVE on a single cable.

"As far as booting from 98 occasionally, why not just install XP with the win98 drive present, that will generate a boot loader and you can choose what to boot form at start-up."

I wasn't aware of that feature in XP. Don't both OS's need to be on the same drive to allow for this? If not, then of course you're right, that would be the way to go.

Thanks again
Gary

 

[vegassounder]

Greetings WAHNULA,
Heres my problem. When I retired, my employer allowed me to take my work station with me. It has a $1500 FILTER CAD and $2000 printed circuit AUTO ROUTING programs loaded on it.
They will not work with OS's later than WIN98 and I was not allowed to take the software with me. So I need to preserve the 20gig HDD intact.
Most applications today require WIN 2000 or later, even FIREFOX latest version. So I need to upgrade in a manner that allows me to choose the OS at boot. My primary software, AUTOCAD, which I use daily, will run on XP and I do have the software for it, but all my drawings are stored on the 20gig drive so I need to be able to grab them off the SLAVE.
One other possibility: Do you think installing a HDD controller card and configuring the drives as CABLE SELECT might work?
Thanks again
Gary

 

[BadBigBen]

About the DUAL BOOT, I would do it like this:

1.) install the 20gig as MASTER (BOOT) and the 80gig as SLAVE...
2.) Boot up using XP and choose the 80 gig as install drive... you can if you want create partitions on that 80 gig drive... e.g. 30gig for the XP install (NTFS) and the rest (ca. 46gig) as a DATA partition (FAT32) so that 98se can access it as well...

XP will recognize the 98se install and creates the necessary boot files to boot BOTH OS's...

This is a straight forward procedure, but if you are not careful and select the wrong drive to install XP, all your data on the 20 gig drive are gone...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Freestone]

May I suggest slowing down a bit at this point?

It has a $1500 FILTER CAD and $2000 printed circuit AUTO ROUTING programs loaded on it.
They will not work with OS's later than WIN98 and I was not allowed to take the software with me.

All of this irreplaceable data is being placed in jeopardy at every change of jumpers and/or IDE cables. And as Ben has pointed out, it is in further danger if a dual-boot install goes wrong.

I think you first need to concentrate on getting this 20GB drive backed up before you reach a point of no return.

I normally recommend Acronis True Image. But it requires at least 2000 to install so you can create its bootable media. A Catch-22 in your case. I am thinking that if you have access to a PC that can run Acronis, then you could cut the CD on that. This then leaves the problem of where to place the resulting image file. If having both drives in the PC and upon booting Acronis it sees them both, you are set.

Acronis True Image Workstation, though more expensive than their Home product, has the ability of converting an image to a virtual machine. VMWARE or Virtual PC are just two of the formats it can produce. The point of all this Acronis talk is I am thinking that once you have your 20GB drive backed up safely, you could install XP on the new 80GB, install Microsoft's Virtual PC, and let Acronis convert the image to a Virtual PC session. You would then be running your Windows 98 with all its programs, and if it performs as needed, you are golden. Unfortunately, if it doesn't perform, you have paid for a higher priced Acronis product.

Regardless of all the virtual talk, consider getting your 20GB data backed up.

 

[vacunita]

I'll have to agree with Freestone. If that data is that important, before attempting anything else, back up the 20GB.

With that said, scrap your new Win98 install and install XP its easier to manage the drives from there.

Its likely the 20Gb is just not getting a drive letter assigned by Win98 for whatever reason.

Installing XP will hep you figure that out as it is easier to manage the drives and assign them drive letters should that be the case.


In any case, have you tried going into Device Manager if the drive shows up there, you may be able to assign it a drive letter form there if it doesn't have one.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[vegassounder]

BadBigBen, Freestone, and vacunita
First I want to thank you all for the great advice.

Regarding backups, all my CAD drawings are backed up on floppies, at last count 357 of them.

Many of these files require more than 1 floppy some as many as 4 so it becomes very time consuming to work with them.

vancunita, I went to the DEVICE MANAGER, as you suggested, and found the drive listed.

It wouldn't allow me to assign a drive letter so I selected REMOVABLE DEVICE and, Wa La, it shows up as DRIVE D:\ in EXPLORER.
However, when I click on it I get the message that it isn't formated and asks if I want to format now.

If I do format will I lose data? Please advise.
Gary

 

[BadBigBen]

if you format it, it will destroy what ever is on that drive...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[vacunita]

Yes, if you format it will wipe everything off.

I would install XP on the 80GB drive and see if you can view the drive with it then.

Also let me point you towards a USB flash drive. It will be much easier to handle your CAD drawings then to be backing up onto floppies.

http://www.amazon.com/USB-Flash-Drives-Storage-Add-Ons/b?ie=UTF8&node=3151491

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[vegassounder]

Gentlemen,
Of course you are right, I didn't realize that large flash drives could be obtained that cheap.

I already have a 5 port USB card installed which I use for my HP all in one and my camera.

So this is what I think I should do. Let me know if you agree OK?

First: Install 8 or 16 gig flash drive in internal slot.

Second: Boot to 20gig as MASTER and 80gig as SLAVE.

Third: Cut and paste all CAD drawings plus project photos to FLASH and cut and paste all music files to 80gig SLAVE.
This alone will free up over 3gigs which should speed up the 20gig drive.

Forth: Uninstall SOUND BLASTER from 20gig.

Fifth: Install XP with FAT32 option and re-install SOUND BLASTER software on 80gig.

Sixth: Boot to 20gig MASTER and direct AUTOCAD, FILTERCAD, and AUTOROUTING APPs to store files on both 80gig and FLASH drives.

This way I will only need to boot to the 80gig for the INTERNET, MUSIC and Applications requiring Win 2000 or later.

Does anyone for-see any problems.

Thanks once more

Gary

 

[vacunita]

Looks good.

Fifth: Install XP with FAT32 option and re-install SOUND BLASTER software on 80gig.

This step is specially important, if you want Win98 to be able to see and use the 80GB drive it needs to be FAT32.

With that said, before buying a flash drive, look around the manufacturer's website, and make sure it has drivers for win98 so it can use it.

XP should not require any drivers.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Freestone]

Regarding backups, all my CAD drawings are backed up on floppies, at last count 357 of them.

I guess I'll be the stick in the mud. I still see no mention of backup of the $3500.00 programs that cannot be reinstalled. The hard drive they live on isn't going to last forever, so even if you get the 800GB to coexist, your 20GB will die eventually, and with it, these programs.

 

[wahnula]

All of this sounds good, just remember that flash drives are limited to 4GB files, but that should not be a problem due to the FAT source. I agree with Dell that care should be taken to back up those programs, virtualization would seem to be a godsend here.

Also, remember flash drives are not forever either. I would spool off the important files to DVD (should only need a few) and again the idea to virtualize the apps is genius, if it can work. More good advice: slow down! Stick around & we'll get this sorted out!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[vacunita]

just remember that flash drives are limited to 4GB files

So what is Kingston here selling?:

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Data...ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1233008642&sr=1-1

A 4Gb drive but they say its 16 just to get you to buy it?

Or Sandisk here?:

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruze...ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1233008642&sr=1-7

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[vacunita]

OOOOPS!!! Ignore that last post, I mis-read your file.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[BadBigBen]

Oh oh, vacunita... more coffee? LOL... ;-)

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[vegassounder]

Gentlemen,
Thank you so much for the confirmation and, yes, I will take your advice and burn the files to CDs. Last night I checked some of the older floppies and 3 out of the 25 I looked at wouldn't load.

Regarding HDD drive failure, and the loss of my costly programs, could I merely clone the drive with something like ACRONIS?

The drive is already over 8 years old. As a circuit designer I learned early on that the greatest enemy to electronic and especially electro mechanical hardware is HEAT. I don't know if it really makes much difference but what I do is attach a heatsink with conductive epoxy to the HDD and mount a small 12 volt muffin fan to blow air across it.

I have yet to play with FLASH drives so have no idea what to look for. You say I need one with WIN98 drivers. I looked at the Amazon link you copied and was confused by the number and variety of devices available.
Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Gary

 

[Freestone]

Yes, Acronis True Image can clone drives, in addition to creating an image. I would do both, personally. Just be careful when cloning - you don't want to clone the new empty drive to your existing older drive!

Me being somewhat paranoid about data, I would burn a copy of all relevant data to CDs, or easier yet, is the suggestion of using a flash drive. I would also obtain an external drive and copy the data there too. I would further create an image of the old drive prior to the cloning and copy the image to that external drive. But things are adding up, Acronis (Workstation preferable), external drive, etc., and not knowing your budget, I am not sure have far you can take any of these ideas.