Hard disk no longer detected

This is so long-winded I know & I'm sorry but I've tried to outline as much of what I did to get into this mess as possible in the off chance it makes a difference.
Any help would be so very, very appreciated

First of all my computer is a Dell Dimension 4300. I've got 2 hds: a seagate 8.2gb model: ST38420A & a Maxtor 20GB model: 2B020H1. The seagate was my master / c:\ & also has an 855mb partition - D:\. The maxtor was my slave (F:\) which I have all my (desperately wanted back) stuff on. Jumper setting: Seagate - master; Maxtor - none. Operating perfectly.

A friend gave me their old (1993) hard disk to see if I could retrieve some files. Instead of swapping my maxtor drive with this other one, I accidentally swapped it with my seagate drive (I didn't see where the jumpers were on the old disk until afterwards, though there were no directions for their settings).

So my system booted from the old disk, I tried a few files & things when I realised what I'd done. I exited windows, switched the computer off & replaced the old disk with my seagate. & that's when all hell broke loose.
When I switched back on I got there was a beep & "strike the F1 key to retry boot, or F2 for setup utility ". That was all I got for a while, then it was "Primary hard disk drive 0 not found ".
In BIOS primary hard disk was 'unknown device'. No mention of my maxtor disk (I finally removed it). (the the old drive have written something to my maxtor drive or to my system?)

I called Dell & they said it looked like my hd needed replacing. They were supposed to call back, but despite calling them again a few times, & being promised a return call I never got one.

After much trial & error I managed to gain access to my seagate disk which is ironic as I deliberately had nothing on it (well, that I cared about). Each time I've connected my Maxtor disk I'm met with the primary hard disk not found error. By fiddling with different cables I got onto my seagate drive again & into windows. No listing of the maxtor drive in comp. management or when tried to 'add new hardware'.

I downloaded Powermax, connected only the maxtor drive & booted up (i set the jumper to master, but had to plug it into the slave ide cable as powermax missed it on the end. Incidentally I've also had to have my seagate on the middle socket too). Powermax saw it, as a slave, I ran the first few tests, it reported that there were errors which needed to be fixed did I want powermax to attempt to fix them? & that the data on these sectors would be lost if I said yes (but that there was a good chance the data on these sectors was already stuffed). I said no. Thus far all tests had *passed*, until 'BIOS Extension Support' - *Failed*. After saying no to fixing the errors it came back with "This drive is failing, to contact maxtor for a replacement..." (warranty's expired).
I searched for info re the bios extension support but didn't come up with much at all.

Finally, I'm not sure how much of a difference - if any - this would make but my maxtor is ntfs formatted. I'm sure my seagate c:\ had been converted to ntfs too, with D:\ being fat32. Both C:\ & D:\ are now fat32 though.

Also, on booting, after the dell logo screen, I get 'starting ontrack' & seagate disk wizard which is from several years ago when I formatted & partitioned my seagate disk to run in a x486.
don't know if it matters... I never thought about doing much about it because I intended to buy a larger hd for my slave/data, & use the 20gig maxtor for windows & stuff (after removing all my files).

I'm wondering about trying data recovery software. any thoughts? I'm not going to take it to an expert - as desperate as I am to recover the data, it's just too $$$$$

 

Thanks PeteC.

OS is Windows XP home edition (upgrade)

 

Hi Velvetcat,

I'm betting that the Drive Overlay is the problem. When you changed the drive configuration the master boot record (MBR) was corrupted (it also changes the MBR information on other drives so that it can be "seen ").

I run IBM's Ontrack drive overlay called Disk Manager (2000)...I am not sure how the Seagate's runs. I have run Disk Manager in the past to fix "lost drive" problems.
You could try running Seagate Wizard. Do a backup of your current MBR then reinstalling the Ontrack drive overlay. Try to run it with the same drive setup as you originally had.

I am sure I saw a repair/maintenance section in SW. See what it says about your Seagate drive.

I think Powermax is saying that your drive is failing because it can see some bad sectors. I got one bad sector on my 45gb IBM after a year and a half, haven't had another since... then again you may get more and more and the drive is starting to fail. Not sure, but I would think that BIOS extension support is only information reporting to the BIOS.

I hope some info here is helpful. If you want to do your own recovery, then you have to consider the possible consequences. I wouldn't pay for data recovery either (Ontrack does data recovery.... but also made the the drive overlay). You could ask/email Ontrack support for help, but they will probably ask you to pay for recovery. I have recovered a few drives (almost all seem to be drive overlay problems)...you have to sort through the jargon.

!!Maybe an idea...email Seagates support (see how well they support their software/utilities)...concentrate on telling them about the drive overlay and how your second drive "disappeared ".

Matt
Big PS: don't forget to to start a backup system when you recover!!.....even if it is to copy/burn files straight onto a CD.

 

Hey Matt,
Thanks for the response.

It's Disc Wizard/Disk Manager v9.56A, Seagate. It's not on my problem maxtor hd & all was working fine b4.

I sort of figured the old disk I connected must have written something on the drive, somehow? obviously I have no idea.
I don't need ontrack on my seagate drive anymore. To remove it I think I need to reformat, partition & reinstall windows, which I'll do if it could help.

How do I backup the mbr?

Another thing, my maxtor was originally my master, with windows & everything so it has a very small primary partition on it. Don't know if that's relevant.

re data recovery softare what are the possible consequences??

I don't see how the drive could be riddled with bad sectors. A few, definitely, buit when I put the old disk in with it, it was for such a short time & the oldie would've had a mb capacity so...

thinking of posting a question in s/w about which recovery to use? pc inspector; getdatabackntfs' Ontrack Easy Recovery etc.
I was going to try them 1 at a time, thinking the worst that could happen was it didn't notice my drive, or wasn't able to do anything. ??
I looked at the repair/maintenance in s/w & that must be why I dld readntfs.

(I meant to respond earlier but was so tired & got confused reading my original post...)

 

Yes, the (Ontrack) drive overlay is on the Seagate drive, but to let other drives "see" it, it changes the MBR information on those HD's. The MBR of the Maxtor would have been corrupted when the configuration was changed (it was set up to "see" the Seagate).

I don't like the sound of the drives only being recognised in the middle of the cable. Get some good drawings of the jumpers...it is easy to be holding the drive upside-down. Can you get another cable to try.

Backup the MBR is the bottom selection(button) in DiskWizard (latest version). Download the latest version if you don't have it, but keep the old one (in case you need it).

I think you need to reinstall the drive overlay when DiskWizard sees both drives. NOTE: don't go into "Setup ", I did that on a drive the other day just to format C:...it automatically removed all the partitions. Don't do anything "to" the Maxtor...just get both drives to be recognised by DiskWizard.

I will post back later...something very important...golf

Matt

 

The way I would do it:
Get DiskWizard to recognise both drives. Reinstall the Ontrack drive overlay on the Seagate. Repartition and and format the Seagate. Install XP on it.
Like you said , but WITH the drive overlay so that it will reconfigure the Maxtor's MBR.

I would be pretty sure Ontrack's recovery program will see the drive/data. I was amazed when I tried their trial program and it read a drive that nothing else could (corrupted MBR from a drive overlay). You can try the Easy Recovery trial program, but at the end it says they will "work out a price ".

Maybe this is what you were going to do... run DiskWizard (actually Powermax may be better), make sure both HDs are recognised, exit the program...it will leave you at a DOS prompt. Put the readntfs (haven't tried/read about those others) floppy in and run the program....with luck...copy your files across to the Seagate. (Depends on if Powermax or DiskWizard can read/see the partitions...that's why I reckon you should reinstall the drive overlay on the Seagate).

Do some "trys" on the Seagate, nothing to lose by the sound of it.

Matt

 

I've been avoiding doing the complete reinstallation. My xp is an upgrade, so is my 98 so previously I've had to first install windows 3.1 - crazy... I'm going to grab a friend's windows 98 this time! but will have to wait a few days.

I've got the jumpers fine. Have tried master + slave & both cs.
It's only now that they have to be connected to the centre cable.
I think Powermax saw the maxtor drive when it was connected to the secondary ide cable (usually connected up to my cd drive).


Here's what I did before:

I fiddled around with cables & eventually with both disks on the cd drive secondary ide I was able to see both drives in powermax and readntfs. My cd drive wasn't seen on the primary cable though, on either the end or centre socket. I'll buy a new cable & try that too.
In the readntfs program it showed 2 partitions + the unallocated space for the maxtor, & I was able to see all my folders & files! which was great. But it showed seagate as entirely unallocated (?) so when I went to try out the copy command I could only copy from 1 partition of the maxtor to the the other partition on the same drive. which of course I didn't do.
I haven't downloaded the latest disk manager yet but my old der version saw both drives..
I couldn't get onto windows with the drives like that. On rebooting :
an error occurred while initializing DDO. To identify the error, add /V=2 to the DDO command line etc. which seems to backup your theory about the drive overlay.

I'll finish this shortly...