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unformatted hard drive help

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calidro14

Programmer
May 11, 2002
3
US
is there anyway to recover data on an unformatted drive. If so HOW?
thanks
 
unformat? under ms-dos 6.22 to work on FAT16. Also available on W95 to W98SE. But I've never used it so can't speak for abilities. 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.
 
I run Windows 98se, (2) hard drives master is on Windows98SE and the other the slave used to be operated on a Windows ME platform.

The problem is that the drive isnt formatted properly in fat32, it is an unknown system type. I think this problem was created from Windows ME and was carried over to not be compatible with 98SE. Does WindowsME use fat32?

Is there anyway to recover data? or just simply somehow convert it into fat32 without losing all data on the disk?

sorry kinda confusing on this one
thanks
 
Think the problem probably is in the media descriptor, where ME can recognise it as valid and 98se can't.
I would probably throw ME back on the master and see if it didn't come back as a valid data disk, probably with all the data intact.
If so, then I wold make an attempt to change the media type to a SE type, understanding that it might not work.
YOu might want to try a google search for "media descriptor" to see if there is any guidance out on the web. You could also try MS technical reference.
I know the problem exists, just haven't had to do it myself yet. 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.
 
I upgraded back to ME and the drive is still not accessable. No data can be retrieved. I looked up media descriptor and had no luck. any other suggestions besides losing my data. thanks for the help
 
If all fails contact the hard drive manufacturer and ask for DATA RECOVERY. It can cost any where from $200 - $2000 depending how much they got to work. Even this has no promisses, but the success rate is high. If the information is valuble enough than its worth the price.

Good luck!
 
Drive wasn't installed using a drive overlay, was it?
ME has fat32 support.
You might want to do a search on MS technical article site for info on FAT32. There is info there that will explain the media descriptor mods.
What version of fdisk are you using? The one from ME or SE, or one from earlier? I've found that my biggest problems have been from using other than the one that created the partition. 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.
 
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