Dude! Big Problems: 2nd H.d. Is Missing -

[zapjb]

I recently had a similar problem. You might not agree but it works on my sys. I have 2 HDD. 1 as backup only. Ghosting or cloning every 2-5wks.

What works is set both HDD to cs. On primary IDE HDD as master, 2nd HDD when needed to ghost as slave. On secondary IDE CDRW as master & CDROM as slave. That's the only way on my sys.

Try it & let us know. GL.

[Roosh]

Originally posted by zapjb@15 October 2003 - 19:37
I recently had a similar problem. You might not agree but it works on my sys. I have 2 HDD. 1 as backup only. Ghosting or cloning every 2-5wks.

What works is set both HDD to cs. On primary IDE HDD as master, 2nd HDD when needed to ghost as slave. On secondary IDE CDRW as master & CDROM as slave. That's the only way on my sys.

Try it & let us know. GL.

>"Ghosting or cloning every 2-5wks." ->?

>"set both HDD to cs. On primary IDE HDD as master, 2nd HDD when needed to ghost as slave. On secondary IDE CDRW as master & CDROM as slave. That's the only way on my sys." ->?

*Again, How can I manipulate the 2nd hd when it isn't recognized anywhere? (and if it is recognized, please identify where for me by looking at that 'inspection' a couple of posts up)

[Virtualbody1234]

Not sure what you mean. Do you mean, shut down, open the tower, unplug the master (if that's even possible), restart, get into the Bios & see if the secondary is detected?

No. What I mean is shut down, open the tower, unplug everything from the IDE and connect the "faulty" drive to the 'Primary' IDE all by itself on the end (Master) connector and set the jumper to CS (Cable Select). Then power up and go right to the CMOS setup and do a detection of drives. Does the drive show as detected?

[Roosh]

I appreciate the consideration, but before I go into such foreign territories, I'm still convinced (eventhough admittedly a noob) that all of this is a matter of going somewhere either through the OS or BIOS & simply turning something on, re-enabling, restarting, re-acknowledging etc, the drive. The drive is there, the OS just doesn't know it.
If that sounds at all familiar or you have any inkling as to know where to start, please let me know.

[cwctv]

Ok see that you have other threads too have you tried to see if the drive can be seen in sysytem resourses under dish drives.
Did it have another O/S on it before if so is it fat32 - in above if the drive is seen and the drive had an O/S on it you will have to fdisk it to get Fat32 off before XP will see it.

[kurtsl0an]

Originally posted by cwctv@16 October 2003 - 06:56
Ok see that you have other threads too have you tried to see if the drive can be seen in sysytem resourses under dish drives.
Did it have another O/S on it before if so is it fat32 - in above if the drive is seen and the drive had an O/S on it you will have to fdisk it to get Fat32 off before XP will see it.

XP can c FAT32 or NTFS.

[zapjb]

@Roosh sounds like you never opened a case before. Parts shake loose, go bad, rust, get dirty etc. Going have open cases & deal with hardware eventually. Otherwise they're going to luv you at the local computer repair shop. But read up & or have someone show you some basics. How to avoid ESD etc. GL.

[Roosh]

Originally posted by cwctv+15 October 2003 - 23:56--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (cwctv &#064; 15 October 2003 - 23:56)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Ok see that you have other threads too have you tried to see if the drive can be seen in sysytem resourses under dish drives.
Did it have another O/S on it before if so is it fat32 - in above if the drive is seen and the drive had an O/S on it you will have to fdisk it to get Fat32 off before XP will see it.[/b]

cwctv, I don&#39;t know where to find system resources...
Another sign that C is still alive somewhere, in Control Panel, Admin. Tools, Computer Management, Services and Applications, Indexing Service, System, Directories, there is reference to six E (primary drive) directories and one C:&#092; :-)
(Don&#39;t know what it means, but at this point I&#39;m just content to see the letter C anywhere on my computer)

My smaller E drive ( see the Dell thread if you&#39;re wondering why the hell the primary is E and secondary is C) carries the OS&#39;s. It used to have ME before the upgrade to XP Pro. The missing drive in question used to be labeled D before the upgrade & reformat, but has never housed an OS. It has always been FAT 32, while E is now NTFS. If it turns out that all of the storage data has been wiped out, it will at least be a good excuse to finally convert it to NTFS as well. THAT&#39;S AFTER I IDENTIFY THE DAMN THING&#33;

B)

Originally posted by kurtsl0an@15 October 2003 - 23:58

Originally posted by cwctv@16 October 2003 - 06:56
Ok see that you have other threads too have you tried to see if the drive can be seen in sysytem resourses under dish drives.
Did it have another O/S on it before if so is it fat32 - in above if the drive is seen and the drive had an O/S on it you will have to fdisk it to get Fat32 off before XP will see it.

XP can c FAT32 or NTFS.

That&#39;s true.

<!--QuoteBegin-zapjb@16 October 2003 - 00:04
@Roosh sounds like you never opened a case before. Parts shake loose, go bad, rust, get dirty etc. Going have open cases & deal with hardware eventually. Otherwise they&#39;re going to luv you at the local computer repair shop. But read up & or have someone show you some basics. How to avoid ESD etc. GL.[/quote]

I have opened a case before, and did so as recently as 3 months ago when a different fiasco prompted a kill-disk & the upgrade to xp from me. I&#39;m not adverse to it, but I don&#39;t think the fact that the system crashed, preceded by that long list of errors and warnings (referenced in the xtremepc thread) just before, and then was directly followed by the drive missing is a coincidence nor think that it points to "Parts shak[ing] loose, go[ing] bad, [getting] rusty, get[ting] dirty", etc.

It all comes back to:

I&#39;m still convinced (eventhough admittedly a noob) that all of this is a matter of going somewhere either through the OS or BIOS & simply turning something on, re-enabling, restarting, re-acknowledging etc, the drive. The drive is there, the OS just doesn&#39;t know it.
If that sounds at all familiar or you have any inkling as to know where to start, please let me know.

[zapjb]

You could have a bad cable etc. But you&#39;re so adverse to the possibility of a hardware problem. To the point of totally discounting it. That&#39;s not good trouble shooting. Openmindedness comes in handy with problem solving.

I can&#39;t help but say it. It&#39;s ridiculous not to even consider this might be a hardware problem & try out the suggestions offered by myself & Virtualbody1234.

Computers are funny. Sometimes by unplugging/plugging back in & or wiggling a cable around will fix a problem.

[Virtualbody1234]

Well, if you won&#39;t do a simple test to see if the drive is faulty or not then what&#39;s the point of you asking for help? The method I was pointing out is a simple way to eliminate some variables. It&#39;s not a permanent change to your system, you can reconnect it right back to the way it is now.

Computers are funny. Sometimes by unplugging/plugging back in & or wiggling a cable around will fix a problem.

That&#39;s a very good point. Perhaps the cable is loose or faulty. That&#39;s a lot cheaper to fix than if the drive is gone. In any case... The test I offered you would let you know if it&#39;s in fact the cable or the drive.