Not reading second existing drive, (Win XP Pro) 2

[andypomf]

Hello, I have just changed a small (full) Hdd for a big Samsung 120gb HDD. Everything went great with the change over. However I decided to disconnect the second physical Seagate HDD (also 120gb) during that process. Once all was OK I reconnected to the 2nd physical HDD, which had Ontrack's Dynamic Disc Overlay (DDO) installed. I had installed this due to previous BIOS large HDD size limitations.

Recognising the BIOS could be a problem I updated and bought a new BIOS update from esupport.com. Then once I reconnected the 2nd HDD the BIOS did not recognise the full 120gb. Yet using Seagate's Disc Wizard and also their Seatools Diagnostic, both utilities recognise the full size as well as the 3 partitions.

Seatools diagnostic software also says there is nothing wrong with the HDD or the motherboard controller. But still neither the new BIOS or Win XP recognise the full size or the 3 partitions on that second HDD.

I would like to remove the DDO but in Seagate's Disc Wizard that option is greyed out and not available. Anybody got any ideas how I can get this second physical disc to be recognised properly by both the new updated BIOS and also Win XP read all its Data? At the moment both see only 33.8gb and Win XP says it needs formatting.
Any help much appreciated
Anfy Pomfret

 

[wolluf]

Was the overlay installed on the 120GB Seagate (second drive) or the original small system drive? (so the o/s there could use large disk)

When you changed the small drive for the Samsung 120GB - how did you get the machine to recognise THAT drive (as from your description, you'd not updated the bios at that point)?

Does the bios now definitely recognise larger drives?

Have you still got the small drive - intact as was? If so, does returning the system to its original 2 drives allow you to read the Seagate drive? If it does, is it possible to also connect the Samsung drive (may have to disconnect a CD/DVD device) - still booting from original small drive. If all drives are fully visible, you could copy the contents of Seagate to Samsung (if space). Then remove the small drive, boot from Samsung & repartition/format Seagate & copy data back.

Lots of ifs and buts and long-winded suggestions - hope its of some use.

 

[andypomf]

Thanks Wolluf
The overlay was installed in order for the old BIOS to see all of the Seagate 120gb second physical disk about 14 months ago. Whether it was installed on the OS HDD (the small 4.5gb) or on the Seagate 120gb I don't know. I have always presumed it was on the Seagate 120gb. If it wasn't installed on the Seagate 120gb I can't figure out what else could cause the new BIOS to have a problem with Seagate 120gb.
The Seagate `120gb is recognised in full as a consequence of the BIOS update.
The BIOS was updated as the very last job before removing the small 4.5gb HDD. In all honesty I can't remember any problems at that stage.
I then disconnected the Seagate 120gb whilst I formatted and then setup the Win XP OS, Once that was up and running I reconnected the Seagate 120gb, that's when I noticed that both the BIOS then Win XP only "saw" 33.8gb. In fact Win XP says the drive needs formatting! And can't read any of the data on it.
The only way I thought could cause this to happen is the Overlay?
I don't know perhaps it could be something else?
I still have the small drive and could put it back if need be. The BIOS would still be the updated version.
I have run Seagate's Disc Wizard and this utility can read the Seagate 120gb in full and also sees the three partitions and gives the correct free space on each partition. So everything seems to be OK with the disc, it's just a matter of getting at the data.
Andy

 

[wolluf]

Andy,

I've always avoided overlays since I had a disaster with one - so am not entirely sure, but think the overlay software has to be installed in the MBR of the boot disk (presumably as well as in the disk concerned) - see for example

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/over_DDO.htm

(as the mbr of the boot disk is what the bios uses to load the operating system, the overlay would need to be there to enable the operating system to see the second disk - if it was just in the second disk, it would never get loaded).

This was the reason for my suggestion to load all 3 disks at once with the old boot disk as boot disk, as I think all 3 disks should then be accessible - so you can 'rescue' the data on the Seagate. You could also try removing the overlay with the 2 original disks present (if its installed on both disks, that would explain the greyed out option with just the Seagate disk present) - but I'm not sure of the status of the partitions created by the overlay (does your documentation tell you if they'll still be ok) - which again is an argument for retrieving the data if possible.

So my suggestion is definitely put the old drive back - and either copy the Seagate data to the Samsumg temporarily or remove the overlay if it will now let you and partitions will be ok.

PS If you do retrieve the data ok, but can't remove the overlay from the Seagate, you could try writing a new MBR (either fixmbr from recovery console or fdisk /mbr from a win98 boot floppy) to see if that wipes out the overlay. If no good, more drastic action with something like

http://www.killdisk.com/features.htm

should do the trick (wipes the whole disk).

 

[jurgen36]

You might have to fill the drive with zero's as a last resort. I had a few very bad experiences with overlay software, it seems to be very hard to get rid of it once installed. Put in the drives on your machine as they were originally, resque all your data to another drive and then use the seagate software, which you can download, to fill the drive with zero's. That should restore it to original factory conditions. Just rewriting MBR does not always work. Good luck

Jurgen

 

[andypomf]

Thanks Wolluf and Jurgen,
What I will do next is to return the computer to its original state, before any changes, including rolling back to the old BIOS. I think I will then be able to remove the Overlay at that point, using the Disc Wizard bootable CD.
Also at that point the second disk (120gb Seagate) will no longer be read by the BIOS upon re-booting.
Then I could remove the Seagate 120gb, leaving the small 4.5gb Seagate. Then I could update the BIOS again.
Then boot up and make sure everything is OK. If it is.
Then power down, remove the 4.5gb & replace with new Samsung 120gb.
Power up, see if everything is OK, if it is, replace the Seagate 120gb as second disk and without overlay it should be read by both the new BIOS and the o/s.
What do you think?
Thanks again, Andy

 

[wolluf]

Andy - as long as the documentation for the overlay says the existing partitions on the Seagate will be accessible AFTER you remove the overlay (this is why I keep suggesting a copy strategy, if the configuration I suggested with all 3 drives works - at least you can be sure of your data. I'd hate you to successfully remove the overlay & then not be able to retrieve the data on the Seagate. I'm just not sure if the partition table in the mbr is written in the same way with overlay software as without - and if it isn't, whether the Seagate utility 'converts' it to standard format so it can be normally recognised later), then your strategy seems reasonable. Though can't see why you'd need the bios regression (the overlay software is still going to be present in the mbr(s)) - and I like to avoid flashing bios as far as possible as its a potentially dangerous operation (I'd try without flashing & only regress if no joy).

 

[andypomf]

Thanks Wolluf
Sorry for delay in responding. I have been offline allday. I decided to check Ontrack's web site for any help in removing the overlay. I came across instead, a trial/demo software called "Easy Recover Professional". So I tried it and it takes an awfully long time hence my time offline. Again it was only able to see part of the Seagate HDD. Strangely enough it showed the whole HDD as 31.7gb yet the only partition it could read was shown as the correct size of 37.8gb. How the software achievd that, I don't know.
So the Data is there and in good condition. After 6 hours it hit a problem and I had to cancel. But it has given me hope that ultimately I'll get at my data.
The full version of the software is expensive and more than I want to pay, until I'm desperate and have covered all other (cheaper) possibilities.
So tomorrow I'll start moving HDDs about to see if I can achieve access to my second (Seagate) HDD.
One of the things I've lost is my floppy drive. It just shows a continual green light after booting up so I can't use the floppy at the moment. Why that has happened I don't know. Presumably as a result of the BIOS upgrade.
I agree with you and will not regress the BIOS.
Thanks again, Andy