Can no longer recognize second drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter compsosinc
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compsosinc

Running XP Pro SP2. System has a Maxtor 60GB SCSI hard drive & second
300GB Maxtor on Promise Controller on separate connections (not daisy
chained). The 60GB is a boot-up drive partitioned into C:\ (operating
system) & D:\ (Applications installed). The 300GB drive (F:\) has (1)
partition and contains a data files only. System has ran fine for 2
years. Discovered the C:\ partition had only 700MB free space so began
to delete the following files and perform routine maintenance:

1. Deleted (in Local Settings) all files within the "Temp" folder &
"temporary Internet Files"
2. Deleted all files within C:\Windows\Temp
3. Deleted all $*.X files under C:\Windows EXCEPT the $hf_mig$
folder. These included: $MSI...$ntServicePack..., & $NTunistall...
4. Ran System Tools>Disk Cleanup. Performed compressing of files, etc
5. Rebooted.

After rebooting, can no longer "access" the second drive. If I click
on it in "My Computer" it ask if I want to format it. Also shows it's
only 128GB, not 300GB. Shows same in Disk Management.

What I have done so far:

1. Reloaded XP SP2. Checked for Windows updates.
2. Uninstalled/Disconnected second drive, rebooted, reconnected,
rebooted. Same results.

The second drive is detected by the BIOS correctly.

Any ideas what may have happened or what other troubleshooting steps
to take?
 
I'd start by pulling the controller card out of the loop. Is the 300GB Maxtor
a SCSI or an IDE(PATA or SATA) device? If need be, temporarily disconnect
an optical drive to connect it to the mobo. I assume the BIOS supports
48-bit LBA, since you say it detects it correctly.

If that fails, I'd run a partinfo on the drive to see what the partition tables
and the boot sector look like. You can find that here-
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

Of course don't do anything that writes to the drive until you discover
what the problem is.
 
I'd start by pulling the controller card out of the loop. Is the 300GB Maxtor
a SCSI or an IDE(PATA or SATA) device? If need be, temporarily disconnect
an optical drive to connect it to the mobo. I assume the BIOS supports
48-bit LBA, since you say it detects it correctly.

If that fails, I'd run a partinfo on the drive to see what the partition tables
and the boot sector look like. You can find that here-http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

Of course don't do anything that writes to the drive until you discover
what the problem is.











- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

It was the partition table we fixed it using a utility from
www.partitionsupport.com. Thanks
 
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