Cannot start in safemode or normal [converted drive to dynamic drive in error0

I was recently planning on completely reinstalling my computer but due to a problem i can't do it. I was looking in my device manager in the hard drive part and i accidently set my hard drive to "dynamic" and now im unable to use the computer. When i turn it on i have the option of:

Safe mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mdoe with command prompt
Last known good configuration
Start windows normally.

I've tried to start it in all of them but it won't let me. Every time i go into start it up in one of the options it just restarts my computer and takes me back to the options screen.

 

That search didn't really bring up any results that could help. All of them are telling you how to do it in device manager, which i can do but i can get to the windows login screen let alone my device manager.

 

Looks pretty grim:

A good utility I have found for working outside of Windows is BartPE Ultimate Boot CD (or you could try Linux CD operating systems). It will depend on whether those programs can "see" past the changed partition information to locate and backup any of your data.

Try searching these forums for "data recovery ", there have been some freeware types mentioned. Repairing the situation, not very possible according to that quote, you could only try after backing up your data.

I think that even if that setup worked, when you changed the drive configuration at all, there may be a risk of things going wrong (I have seen it and immediately "high-tailed it out of there ").

Matt

 

I would probably try to get hold of a spare HD unplug the current drive and install a new Windows, when working reconnect the troubled one as a slave drive and go from there.

 

I'm inclined to agree with Matt on this one too. When I first looked at your dilemma, my thinking was that you were a candidiate for Bart PE if there ever was one - and, I do think you will be able to read your data and save it to another drive that way, however, it doesn't appear that there's much hope for converting your drive back and saving the data at the same time. So, from my vantage point, you have at least a two step process - first, backing up your data and then tackling the drive itself. When you get there, I'd just use a 98 boot disk and FDISK the MBR followed by FDISKing the drive and deleting any partitions. Then you can use your XP CD to create a partition and format the drive prior to doing an installation.

You may be smart to wait and see if a couple of other people weigh in on this problem before you take the plunge.



Edit: Reading Hawk22's post above (done while I was typing), that should work too and may be an easier approach with better all around results.

 

I managed to completely reformat it, now i cant use it again cause my hard drive died on me a couple of hours ago. I try booting it up but just comes as a grey screen, ive set it to slave in another computer but that wont run either. I'm just gonna need to get a new hard drive. Any suggestions on where to get one from around the wiltshire area?

 

Reformatting is not enough. You need to remove the partitions (volumes) and remake them. Rockster2U suggested a Win 98 startup disk (www.bootdisk.com). If that could not read the partition information I would use the HDD manufacturer's utilities drive setup utilities.

Matt

 

Mattman is right on the money. I'll give an illustration - I've had drives that came out of a broken RAID that wouldn't respond to anything until they were cabled as slave in a totally different machine and only then could I even FDISK them. Don't ask me why - I don't pretend to know the answer. It was impossible to do anything with them so long as they resided in the original machine and that includes a few attempts with various tools in partition magic. Thats not the same pickle you are in but it doesn't surprise me that you have an HDD which appears to be shot - its probably fine. I'd follow Matt's counsel and try the mfg's disk utilities.

 

Thanks for your help everyone. I've managed to get the hard drive to work with Ubuntu linux but only running it from the disk. I've tried to also run xp from the disk but it dont wanna take it. Is it possible to boot the computer into xp with linux running if I put the xp disk in?

 

Let's look at the problems and the objectives.
Windows won't boot up. It seems to have corrupted partition information.

Question, where is Ubantu? I don't think it is a CD based O/S, so have you installed it to the same partition as Windows on the harddrive (the C: drive)?

If you have formatted the drive that had Windows on it, it will be a lot of work to try and recover any data from it. I have tried Ubantu and it formats the drive before installation.

There will not be anything physically wrong with the harddrive. The "dynamic" setup will only change the way Windows uses partitions (you can spread a drive/volume over more than one HDD, by the sound of it).

From what you have said, because you have formatted the drive, you wish to install Windows again and not save any data. If you have formatted the drive that Windows was on, the Windows setup CD will no longer see it as an installation of Windows (it will see it as blank). You would need specialized recovery software to recover any data (the data is still there but Windows has had it's records/index of the files removed).

If you are happy to start over with a new install of Windows, get the HDD (hard disk drive) manufacturer's utilities and use them to setup (partition and format) the drive for Win XP.

If you have formatted the drive Windows was on, it will be very hard to recover the data and it will be impossible to get Windows running the way it was before.

If you have "lost" your old Windows, use it as a learning experience. Backup your data. That way, if disaster strikes you will be back to where you were before without much effort.

From what I have seen, Windows does not know what type of OS Linux is. If you install Windows to the same partition as Linux, the system would probably soon break down. If you could see your old data, back it up.
Different Operating Systems need to be installed on different partitions.

If you have formatted once, or maybe twice, it would be best to repartition the drive and install Windows "fresh "...and I suggest you use the HDD manufacturer's utilities to avoid any unforeseen problems in the future (it should rewrite/overwrite any "strange" partition information).

Matt

 

I managed to actualy fix the problem using Linux. Took two tries though but what i done was instead of running Linux using the live cd i installed it onto my hard drive using the complete installation cd. Then i just overwrote Linux with xp but accidently made a partition so i had two partitions but only one showed up so done the same process again, still havn't figured out what was wrong though after i managed to get on after setting the drive to dynamic.

 

I would not be completely satisfied that the "Dynamic" stuff is gone completely. Especially with:

If you run with the system the way it is now, backup regularly.

Me, I might be inclined to use the HDD manufacturer's utilities to "wipe" the drive completely (zero/low-level format). I would be afraid that it may all go "pear-shaped" again when changing the drive configuration in future. Zero/low-level format takes the drive back to the state it was when it was manufactured. Note, you need the drive manufacturer's setup utilities to make the partitions on it again (so for a Maxtor HDD you L-L format using PowerMax and setup/partition using Maxblast. For Seagate, you L-L format using Seatools and setup using Diskwizard ... from memory).

You should backup regularly anyway. I would find it troublesome though, if my main drive "disappeared" when adding another.

Matt