Unfry command??

Comming to you through the wonders of replacement technology..
Everything I backed up, I backed up to my HDD.. Big mistake on a single drive system. Boldly I commited the all time "Don't Do ". While fiddeling with the System innards, I unpluged the power plug from my CD\RW Secondary slave drive with the system power still running. Everything gone. Fixed disk unpartitioned itself. The closest I get to access is the error message that suggests I fdisk the C drive. Trouble is windows and dos both deny the disk is mounted. Short of buying another identical drive and replacing the metal discs with the ones in my dead drive any hope of a recovery?

 

You can probably still recover some if not all. I have heard of everything from sticking the hard drive in a freezer for a couple of minutes to other radical things Believe it or not
it sometimes works. But what you usually must have to recover is a second HD. With a second HD in place and the OS on the second HD there are programs you can get which will retrieve the partitions , programs, and data. Don't bother with the programs unless you don't have the install CD's or
they are absolutely irreplaceable. Reinstall them or they
will never give you 100% . The O/S should also be able to be reinstalled. Data libraries can be priceless.. There are commercial services which offer to restore damaged hard drives and depending on how close you are to a major
city you can get this done but I have found it can be very expensive.
If system is not booting only the MBR may be damaged not the partitions. You can retrieve the MBR using freeware or shareware for MBR repair which you can download.
For partitions some systems use a drive overlay not fdisk
for larger hard drives. If the drive overlay has been corrupted your stuff is there you just need to repair the drive overlay. Info on the how to is available on the web.
I am sure the Maxtor site has data for their HD's and Western Digital have their own "life" progam.
To recover data there are programs such as one called "Lost and found" that are just for this. Lost and found has been discontinued since it was thought to be a little too good for hackers but a similar product does exist and
it is the same as the data services use. I will try to find it for you but if you try search engines like "altavista.com ",
"google or "lycos" I am positive you should find it or one like it. They may not be freeware or shareware but are not as expensive as a commercial service.
Also try the most common download sites like download.com,nonags.com,tucows.com

 

If you have not already found one Major Geeks.com lists
under drive ultilites: Partition table doctor 1.0.
This is shareware which runs under dos so you may be able to get away with just floppy. It lists it will restore your partions AND MBR if necessary. It's new so I have not tried it, but when you are trying to get the system back up working in DOS from the floppy is the preferred method
as you will have no interference from Windows. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the input. It never ceases to amaze me how the people at this site are so willing to go out of their way to offer suggestions on fixes to problems that are not their own. Thanks again....
I'm wondering how any of these applications you mentioned can be performed on a drive, although connected and jumped correctly, has not been given a drive letter by the Windows98se OS. As for DOS, you know what I mean when I say "Invalid Drive Specification ". I've tried a few recovery type downloads and access to the problem drive has always been the rub. Command line....run *.exe on drive X:\ enter........DOSPrompt response ...something like "Invalad drive specification or syntax error ".
I'll look for some of those you mentioned though, and as for www.westerndigital.com (the address on the drive itself) I get "Page cannot be found' This can't be and must be temporary thing. And your right. this is not as much about the software as it is about the agony of all my lost data compilations, like password lists, music library, employment, financial and personal records, picture files, and on and on and on SH#@T. at least I can't get pregnant, and I don't get periods every 28 days, ahy?

recovery is a way of life.............sidermike

 

Western digital is there at "http://westerndigital.com ". As for the drive labels they are all assigned after partioning and based on the number of drives in the system. Initially any drive found by the system that shows up in the bios can be accessed. The start process does not require a drive label. Start the tower from floppy or System CD.
If the HD shows up in the bios you can work.
The partions are primary , secondary, and then if you are
allocating more extended dos (secondary). At start set primary as a number based on the size you want for C
(ARBRITRARY default).If you are going to add more put in secondary. then when you go to allocate you can simply use a percentage. Drive labels will be assigned when you are finished. Do one drive at a time.since the second drive will change the order: it's D by default. Some partioning systems
like those used for linux(the one I am familiar with is Mandrake) are graphical. Simply move the slider to how many % you want of the drive for that partion and you are done. When you have allocated the space you simply format the drive and finished. You can use linux to partition for a windows drive if you know how. I seem to think the last time I got a Maxtor it came with Max Blaster for software which is a drive overlay for partioning as I told you above and it does pretty much the same thing.
There are other well recognized packages like Partition
Magic in the stores which have been around for a while and you can get more info on the web about which method they use and what they can do on the web.
As to RECOVERY because this process is not dependant on a drive label (the primary drive is C untill you do something) the recover process is a I said to first identify
and or repair MBR if necessary; then look for primary/secondary/extended partitions and or repair.
All done from floppy usually very easy with a good program.

 

Wait, wait, wait.........
The damaged drive IS identified, but I believe it to be false, in the CMOS BIOS only. There is no place to work with it in this "press del to enter setup" utility. Is there? The few parameter choices given after auto detect are PIO 1thru5, LBM on or off and 32bit mode on or off. On the USER or Auto Detect selection, I cannot input sectors, cylinders, or heads. The size of the 40G drive is always reported wrong, LBM always off, and PIO always off. After windows starts, the drive is missing. I have enabled all drive letters C thru Z so it's not just not visible. When installed alone and I boot from floppy, C drive is the RAM drive created by the Win98 startup disk. D is an Invalid drive letter.. always. Also, I'm not into multiple partitions. I'm a single partition on a FAT32 man.
I am looking for a MBR utility that will let me write a new one to the drive (somehow) i'm almost convinced it's the File Alocation Table and/or the MBR that's preventing windows from identifing the drive to the system.
Here and in the Apps I've downloaded, every fix requires I have some ability to work with the drive !! "To fix this drive, switch to or click on the drive you want to fix...." NOT an option this goround. Any means or trick to put the drive on my screen at least, would be a huge step in the recovery process, Know what I mean?
sidermike

 

Whoa. To get into the cmos press delete. Now we have a screen showing a menu and at the top is usually standard
CMOS. Press enter. It should show the drive as IDE 0 master.
Press enter. I trust at this stage you are stuck. With most
but maybe not all with todays "automation" you are usually given a choice. It should identify the drive again as IDE0 master. Press enter. With many systems the next choice in the bios is a selection of drives one of which is identified by a number like 47 which allows you to input the parameters the way you describe; followed by a choice for access mode (LBA /CHS/Large/Auto).
From your description it sounds like the Cmos itself may be corrupt or damaged. If you have the manual for your
motherboard it will show you where there is a jumper you
can move temporarily to reset the CMOS. DO IT but be sure to move it back. If you do not have the book simply take out the battery for a few minutes and put it back.
Make note of all your other settings first so you can reset them because they will all go back to factory default.
Now we have a fresh CMOS. Try your HD setttings again.
Next option is to reflash the cmos with the latest bios.
If you know what mobo you have go to the manufacturer web site and download their latest bios along with the
flash.exe Most boards now allow you to reflash and update the CMOS. Try again.
If all else fails some boards have a socketed Cmos which
can be replaced and you can easily find a supplier on the web who you can phone with the description of your board and they will simply send you a new programmed chip with the latest bios.
So far nothing drastic. However if you really wanted to save time the easier way to know if the CMOS is toast
or the HD is toast of course is to stick another HD you know to be working into the system.
Another option is to put your hd into another working tower. Now if you can not access the drive you will know more advanced measures will be needed to correct your problem. I live in Calgary AB and the bench test here
at one of our smaller but reliable computer shops would probably cost 15 to 25.00. A reliable working refurb
hard drive the same money. Lots of choices. Chin up.
Get to it and let us know how you made out.

 

OK but been there done that. The fried HDD has been installed in two other PC's and invisble to both systems. I've jumped the reset cmos jumper to no avail and am almost certain the problem lies within the FAT32 and/or the MBR. All attempts to find answers at Western Digital have been futile. The software they offer all require the HDD to be listed in the running program's display. That seems to be the stumbling block... Even when the application's description states that it works even without Windows recognizing the damaged drive.. At WD any way, that's all hype and a bunch-a-bull.
Recovery is a way of life...........sidermike

 

Yup. Now you see why I pretty much always work from the dos boot. But the drive you are trying to work with (ANY
drive incidentally) must be seen at boot stage. At the top of my wish list was that the MBR or FAT32 was damaged by a temporary surge when you had your original boo boo. Also the same type of thing could have damaged the cmos as I said.
However almost all of todays devices are hard coded with a
device identifier and/or firmware which is what is used at boot stage by the CMOS to start the tower. Frankly, at this point I almost positive that your HD has lost its hard coding so that it can not be recognized.
The GOOD: Easily repaired by return to factory - worth the
money. Everything else right down to the MBR, partitions, and especially data probably still there.
The BAD: Annoying. Probably a week or two to get it back.
Not sure of cost but if you call them they are likely to give you
an exact amount so you can decide.
If it were the FAT32 or MBR they would prevent Windows
from loading properly but not interfere at boot stage. Sorry.
Let us know how you make out. Good luck.