multiple hard drive recognition

[Cockjaw]

In Windows 98

I recently suffered virus infusion. Formatted C: drive and reinstalled Win98.

I was previously running Win95 with older motherboard (4yr)and used OnTrack software to recognize a second 20G hard drive.

I updated BIOS flash on the Intel AL440LX motherboard which is supposed to enable multiple drive recognition. Then I formatted C: and installed Windows 98.

When I boot, the BIOS recognizes second hard drive but Explorer, My Computer etc. will not recognize in Windows 98
In System Properties, Device Manager sees two hard drives and floppy drive, CDROM etc. but CANNOT access thes drives through Explorer, My Computer etc. - does not see them.

What can I do short of using OnTrack software (slows down system too much)to recognize these drives?

Thanks,
cockjaw

 

[wolluf]

What's on this second hard drive? Have you actually fdisked and formatted it (because it won't appear in explorer until you do). Run fdisk from dos box and use option 5 to change to second disk - then use option 4 to view partition information. Create new partition if necessary, exit reboot then format it after restart.

 

[Cockjaw]

regarding my second hard drive:

It was FDISKed previously in Win95 into about 3 drives. I backed up all programs, email, JPEGs etc. to this second drive before erasing and formatting C: for new installation of Win98. I want to keep info on this second drive as it was my only backup!

Thanks in advance,
cockjaw

 

[wolluf]

Can you try what I suggested, but do it after booting from win98 boot floppy (ie, use fdisk to view disk/partition information). Also if fdisk sees it, see if you can access it from boot floppy boot. If you can't do either then obviously a problem (assuming drive is jumpered correctly as slave? - could try it temporarily as master on second IDE connector (instead of CDROM).

 

[Cockjaw]

I tried Fdisk - doesn't see it from normal boot or floppy boot. I am wondering if the problem is FAT32 system on new C: drive with the Win98 OS.
The system was Win95 and the second hard drive would be FAT16.
Do you think reinstalling Win 98 would work if I don't convert to FAT32?

Thanks

 

[SAseeker]

Can you see the drive in DOS mode ( command prompt ) option.
try to format the drive from the command prompt by typing - format d: ( or whatever drive it is ). Once formatted copy some files to the drive in DOS mode. if all this works windows should be able to see it.

 

[wolluf]

Reinstalling win98 shouldn't make any difference (it doesn't matter what filestore win98 is installed on - it should always be able to read FAT16) - but as fdisk sees nothing (you didn't say if it could see the disk & no partitions or if it can't see the disk at all), NO windows operating system will recognise/read it.

Assuming the drive is still working, you will need some sort of data recovery program to retrieve your data. Here's a link to a free one - but whether it will see it or not I don't know - you may need to buy a more powerful app (use Google to find some) -

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

 

[mackenk1]

I do not know what this Ontrack stuff is.... but have you tried to run Ontrack under 98, to see if it can see the drive? That worked for me with one of those proprietary patches for getting oversize disks to be seen by the BIOS.

 

[SurferJoe]

Definitely don't reformat the one you backed your info up to. win98 should install fine on a fat 16 drive and you can always convert that first drive to fat 32 when you are done (although it may be better to get a win98 boot floppy from someone and fdisk/format the first one to fat32 before you install) Now, for the second drive. It sounds like it's not being recognized from the get go, so in that case it may be that the little jumpers on the back of the drives are not set right. The first one needs to be set to master (or master w/slave) and the second drive needs to be set to slave. This is usually marked on the drive somewhere. If you got this right, which I'm guessing you already did, sometimes there is a setting in your bios where you tell it to look for master and slave drives on the primary and secondary ide channels. You may need to change one of those from none to auto or something like that. In worst case, unplug the old drive, make the 20 gig slave a master and plug it in where the other was, boot to a: and see if you can do a dir of the files on c: (then at least you know it works and can be accessed