Cloned Additonal Hard Drive Not Recognized

[ColTom2]

Hi:

I have a Sony VGC-RA716G desktop computer with a WD2500BB 250GB hard drive
and used Acronis True Image Home Ver 11.0 to clone internally another exact
WD2500BB 250 GB hard drive. Windows MCE(2005) SP3 OS. I have used it before
with no problems.

In the cloning process I got a sector error or some sort and when the
process was through it shut down. At this point I know to disconnect the
cloned drive, as failure to do so will mean the clone will not work as a
boot disk. I suppose I had my mind on the sector error that caused me not to
disconnect the cloned drive.

Anyway now I have been unable to get my computer to recognize this HD. I
had it connected as cable select Primary Slave and it shows this in the
BIOS, but no drive letter is recognized. So I next used Disk Management to
try and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu, but it does not
appear there either where I can make this selection.

I next thought that maybe by reformatting it with my Sony Recovery DVD
that I would put this HD back to its original state, but this also fails. I
tried the option of not using the restore partition and doing a complete
restore but it also fails.

So I have a HD that is recognized in the BIOS as Primary Slave, but have
not been able to get Windows OS to recognize it.

If anyone knows how I can resolve this issue I will be most appreciative.
If I ever get it back you can rest assured I will immediately disconnect it
upon clone shutdown in the future.

Thanks,

ColTom2

 

[philo]

Hi:

I have a Sony VGC-RA716G desktop computer with a WD2500BB 250GB hard drive
and used Acronis True Image Home Ver 11.0 to clone internally another exact
WD2500BB 250 GB hard drive. Windows MCE(2005) SP3 OS. I have used it before
with no problems.

In the cloning process I got a sector error or some sort and when the
process was through it shut down. At this point I know to disconnect the
cloned drive, as failure to do so will mean the clone will not work as a
boot disk. I suppose I had my mind on the sector error that caused me not to
disconnect the cloned drive.

Anyway now I have been unable to get my computer to recognize this HD. I
had it connected as cable select Primary Slave and it shows this in the
BIOS, but no drive letter is recognized. So I next used Disk Management to
try and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu, but it does not
appear there either where I can make this selection.

I next thought that maybe by reformatting it with my Sony Recovery DVD
that I would put this HD back to its original state, but this also fails. I
tried the option of not using the restore partition and doing a complete
restore but it also fails.

So I have a HD that is recognized in the BIOS as Primary Slave, but have
not been able to get Windows OS to recognize it.

If anyone knows how I can resolve this issue I will be most appreciative.
If I ever get it back you can rest assured I will immediately disconnect it
upon clone shutdown in the future.

Thanks,

ColTom2

If the drive is seen by the bios
but does not appear in disk management it is apparently defective

try another drive

 

[ColTom2]

That was my spare HD that I used as a backup and nothing was wrong with it
until I screwed up by not disconnecting it after clone.

Sure hate to wipe one out like that....

ColTom2

Hi:

I have a Sony VGC-RA716G desktop computer with a WD2500BB 250GB hard
drive
and used Acronis True Image Home Ver 11.0 to clone internally another
exact
WD2500BB 250 GB hard drive. Windows MCE(2005) SP3 OS. I have used it
before
with no problems.

In the cloning process I got a sector error or some sort and when the
process was through it shut down. At this point I know to disconnect the
cloned drive, as failure to do so will mean the clone will not work as a
boot disk. I suppose I had my mind on the sector error that caused me not
to
disconnect the cloned drive.

Anyway now I have been unable to get my computer to recognize this HD. I
had it connected as cable select Primary Slave and it shows this in the
BIOS, but no drive letter is recognized. So I next used Disk Management to
try and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu, but it does
not
appear there either where I can make this selection.

I next thought that maybe by reformatting it with my Sony Recovery DVD
that I would put this HD back to its original state, but this also fails.
I
tried the option of not using the restore partition and doing a complete
restore but it also fails.

So I have a HD that is recognized in the BIOS as Primary Slave, but have
not been able to get Windows OS to recognize it.

If anyone knows how I can resolve this issue I will be most
appreciative.
If I ever get it back you can rest assured I will immediately disconnect
it
upon clone shutdown in the future.

Thanks,

ColTom2

If the drive is seen by the bios
but does not appear in disk management it is apparently defective

try another drive

 

[philo]

That was my spare HD that I used as a backup and nothing was wrong with it
until I screwed up by not disconnecting it after clone.

Sure hate to wipe one out like that....

ColTom2

That should not have destroyed the drive

 

[ColTom2]

That's what I thought, but something unknown to me has happened. That is
the reason that I am searching for an answer.

Thanks,

ColTom2

That was my spare HD that I used as a backup and nothing was wrong with it
until I screwed up by not disconnecting it after clone.

Sure hate to wipe one out like that....

ColTom2

That should not have destroyed the drive

 

[Anna]

Hi:

I have a Sony VGC-RA716G desktop computer with a WD2500BB 250GB hard
drive
and used Acronis True Image Home Ver 11.0 to clone internally another
exact
WD2500BB 250 GB hard drive. Windows MCE(2005) SP3 OS. I have used it
before
with no problems.

In the cloning process I got a sector error or some sort and when the
process was through it shut down. At this point I know to disconnect the
cloned drive, as failure to do so will mean the clone will not work as a
boot disk. I suppose I had my mind on the sector error that caused me not
to
disconnect the cloned drive.

Anyway now I have been unable to get my computer to recognize this HD. I
had it connected as cable select Primary Slave and it shows this in the
BIOS, but no drive letter is recognized. So I next used Disk Management to
try and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu, but it does
not
appear there either where I can make this selection.

I next thought that maybe by reformatting it with my Sony Recovery DVD
that I would put this HD back to its original state, but this also fails.
I
tried the option of not using the restore partition and doing a complete
restore but it also fails.

So I have a HD that is recognized in the BIOS as Primary Slave, but have
not been able to get Windows OS to recognize it.

If anyone knows how I can resolve this issue I will be most appreciative.
If I ever get it back you can rest assured I will immediately disconnect
it
upon clone shutdown in the future.

Thanks,

ColTom2

Col...
1. First of all, we'll assume that there's no problem with your "source"
HDD, i.e., it boots without incident and functions without any problems.
That's right, yes?

2. You mention that during the disk-cloning process you "got a sector error
or some sort...". But I take it that the disk-cloning process wasn't aborted
as a result of that message, i.e., the process presumably completed. Is that
correct?

3. You infer that the problem you're now experiencing, i.e., the
non-recognition of your secondary HDD, was possibly due to booting to your
system with the cloned HDD connected immediately following the disk-cloning
operation. It's hard to imagine that had any effect on your current
non-recognition problem involving that secondary-connected HDD. While you
are correct that with most disk-cloning programs a boot problem involving
the newly-cloned HDD *may* occur when the user boots to his/her source HDD
with the newly-cloned HDD connected immediately following the disk-cloning
operation, that situation (should it occur) should have no effect on the
system detecting that drive when it's connected as a secondary HDD in the
system.

4. While I understand that you've indicated prior use of the problem drive
with no problems experienced, it really would be wise to check out the disk
with the WD HDD diagnostic utility.

5. Assuming the disk is non-defective, (and I'm assuming it's a PATA HDD)
have you tried connecting the drive to your secondary IDE channel, either as
Master or Slave on that channel? And, of course, you're certain the jumper
is correctly set.

6. Any chance of installing the drive in another PC? Or do you have a USB
external enclosure which you could use with the disk?
Anna

 

[ColTom2]

Hi Anna:

I am so delighted to see you answering my question, as you were the one
back in Feb 2008 that answered my original questions when I purchased this
HDD. Your reply then was the most informative and provided me with the much
needed info. In fact, it was you who alerted me about it being imperative to
shutdown immediately after completion of clone and remove backup HDD. I
still have a lot to learn about HDD's as you can probably tell.

1. My current system boots fine and I ran an analysis last night with
Spinrite and no problems were detected. I have it connected to the end of
IDE cable with jumper in the no 4 and 6 position..

2. Yes the disk cloning process completed with no problems even though I
did get some kind of sector problem notice. Using Acronis it shutdown the
computer upon completion of clone. The cloned drive was detected as Drive
"F" which was my next available letter. However, I forgot to remove the HDD
as you advised me to do so.

3. I just assume that the problem that I currently have was caused by not
removing the HDD upon completion of clone, as I have cloned it previously
with no problems using both WD and Acronis software.

4. I tried to use Spinrite to check this HDD, but could not get Spinrite to
work even though it's a bootable CD, as you probably know. As I recall
Spinrite did identify the HDD in BIOS, but the HDD did not show up otherwise
where I could select it to run a repair or analysis. As I mentioned in my
original post the HDD does not show up in Disk Management.

5. I have tried connecting it using cable select method as Primary Slave
with the jumpers in position 1 and 2 on both HD's. Also tried connecting it
as Primary Master with jumper in 4 and 6 position. I don't know what a PATA
HDD is, but as I recall it's a SATA HDD.

6. My other two computers are laptops so I do not have a source to connect
this HDD. However, I do have an adapter kit for connecting USB 2.0 to
SATA/IDE cable and plan to do so later today. I will reply back to you the
results, as I now wonder if I am getting power to this HDD.

I am hoping that I can find a solution and I am most delighted to have you
back assisting me. I know if anyone can resolve this you can.

Thanks,

Tom

Hi:

I have a Sony VGC-RA716G desktop computer with a WD2500BB 250GB hard
drive
and used Acronis True Image Home Ver 11.0 to clone internally another
exact
WD2500BB 250 GB hard drive. Windows MCE(2005) SP3 OS. I have used it
before
with no problems.

In the cloning process I got a sector error or some sort and when the
process was through it shut down. At this point I know to disconnect the
cloned drive, as failure to do so will mean the clone will not work as a
boot disk. I suppose I had my mind on the sector error that caused me not
to
disconnect the cloned drive.

Anyway now I have been unable to get my computer to recognize this HD. I
had it connected as cable select Primary Slave and it shows this in the
BIOS, but no drive letter is recognized. So I next used Disk Management to
try and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu, but it does
not
appear there either where I can make this selection.

I next thought that maybe by reformatting it with my Sony Recovery DVD
that I would put this HD back to its original state, but this also fails.
I
tried the option of not using the restore partition and doing a complete
restore but it also fails.

So I have a HD that is recognized in the BIOS as Primary Slave, but have
not been able to get Windows OS to recognize it.

If anyone knows how I can resolve this issue I will be most appreciative.
If I ever get it back you can rest assured I will immediately disconnect
it
upon clone shutdown in the future.

Thanks,

ColTom2

Col...
1. First of all, we'll assume that there's no problem with your "source"
HDD, i.e., it boots without incident and functions without any problems.
That's right, yes?

2. You mention that during the disk-cloning process you "got a sector error
or some sort...". But I take it that the disk-cloning process wasn't aborted
as a result of that message, i.e., the process presumably completed. Is that
correct?

3. You infer that the problem you're now experiencing, i.e., the
non-recognition of your secondary HDD, was possibly due to booting to your
system with the cloned HDD connected immediately following the disk-cloning
operation. It's hard to imagine that had any effect on your current
non-recognition problem involving that secondary-connected HDD. While you
are correct that with most disk-cloning programs a boot problem involving
the newly-cloned HDD *may* occur when the user boots to his/her source HDD
with the newly-cloned HDD connected immediately following the disk-cloning
operation, that situation (should it occur) should have no effect on the
system detecting that drive when it's connected as a secondary HDD in the
system.

4. While I understand that you've indicated prior use of the problem drive
with no problems experienced, it really would be wise to check out the disk
with the WD HDD diagnostic utility.

5. Assuming the disk is non-defective, (and I'm assuming it's a PATA HDD)
have you tried connecting the drive to your secondary IDE channel, either as
Master or Slave on that channel? And, of course, you're certain the jumper
is correctly set.

6. Any chance of installing the drive in another PC? Or do you have a USB
external enclosure which you could use with the disk?
Anna

 

[Anna]

Col...
1. First of all, we'll assume that there's no problem with your "source"
HDD, i.e., it boots without incident and functions without any problems.
That's right, yes?

2. You mention that during the disk-cloning process you "got a sector
error
or some sort...". But I take it that the disk-cloning process wasn't
aborted
as a result of that message, i.e., the process presumably completed. Is
that
correct?

3. You infer that the problem you're now experiencing, i.e., the
non-recognition of your secondary HDD, was possibly due to booting to your
system with the cloned HDD connected immediately following the
disk-cloning
operation. It's hard to imagine that had any effect on your current
non-recognition problem involving that secondary-connected HDD. While you
are correct that with most disk-cloning programs a boot problem involving
the newly-cloned HDD *may* occur when the user boots to his/her source HDD
with the newly-cloned HDD connected immediately following the disk-cloning
operation, that situation (should it occur) should have no effect on the
system detecting that drive when it's connected as a secondary HDD in the
system.

4. While I understand that you've indicated prior use of the problem drive
with no problems experienced, it really would be wise to check out the
disk
with the WD HDD diagnostic utility.

5. Assuming the disk is non-defective, (and I'm assuming it's a PATA HDD)
have you tried connecting the drive to your secondary IDE channel, either
as
Master or Slave on that channel? And, of course, you're certain the jumper
is correctly set.

6. Any chance of installing the drive in another PC? Or do you have a USB
external enclosure which you could use with the disk?
Anna

Hi Anna:

I am so delighted to see you answering my question, as you were the one
back in Feb 2008 that answered my original questions when I purchased this
HDD. Your reply then was the most informative and provided me with the
much
needed info. In fact, it was you who alerted me about it being imperative
to
shutdown immediately after completion of clone and remove backup HDD. I
still have a lot to learn about HDD's as you can probably tell.

1. My current system boots fine and I ran an analysis last night with
Spinrite and no problems were detected. I have it connected to the end of
IDE cable with jumper in the no 4 and 6 position..

2. Yes the disk cloning process completed with no problems even though I
did get some kind of sector problem notice. Using Acronis it shutdown the
computer upon completion of clone. The cloned drive was detected as Drive
"F" which was my next available letter. However, I forgot to remove the
HDD
as you advised me to do so.

3. I just assume that the problem that I currently have was caused by not
removing the HDD upon completion of clone, as I have cloned it previously
with no problems using both WD and Acronis software.

4. I tried to use Spinrite to check this HDD, but could not get Spinrite
to
work even though it's a bootable CD, as you probably know. As I recall
Spinrite did identify the HDD in BIOS, but the HDD did not show up
otherwise
where I could select it to run a repair or analysis. As I mentioned in my
original post the HDD does not show up in Disk Management.

5. I have tried connecting it using cable select method as Primary Slave
with the jumpers in position 1 and 2 on both HD's. Also tried connecting
it
as Primary Master with jumper in 4 and 6 position. I don't know what a
PATA
HDD is, but as I recall it's a SATA HDD.

6. My other two computers are laptops so I do not have a source to connect
this HDD. However, I do have an adapter kit for connecting USB 2.0 to
SATA/IDE cable and plan to do so later today. I will reply back to you the
results, as I now wonder if I am getting power to this HDD.

I am hoping that I can find a solution and I am most delighted to have
you
back assisting me. I know if anyone can resolve this you can.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom:
1. For the reasons I previously stated, I really don't think a disk-cloning
operation that went awry for one reason or another would have any effect on
the "destination" HDD not being detected when the latter is connected as a
secondary HDD and there's no problem with the "source" HDD in that it boots
& functions without any problems. It seems to me something else is amiss
here.

2. Again, I really do think it would be prudent for you to check out the
problem disk with the HDD diagnostic utility that's freely available from
Western Digital's site. Here are the links for the files to create both the
floppy disk & CD versions of the WD diagnostic utility...
Floppy -
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=2&lang=en
CD - http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=30&lang=en

3. The HDD in question is a PATA (IDE) drive, not a SATA drive. I'm assuming
you've correctly jumpered your HDDs. Again, it would be wise to connect the
problem disk on your secondary IDE channel just to determine if the problem
lies with the primary slave position on the primary IDE channel. I'm
assuming, of course, that your motherboard is equipped with two IDE
channels.

Anyway, let's see how it goes after you use your USB adapter to determine if
the drive is recognized through that means. BTW, our experience with a
fairly wide variety of those type of devices has been quite negative - to
the point where we generally do not recommend them to users. We've found
them most erratic with a high incidence of failure either initially or at
some future point in their use. On the other hand a number of users have
indicated they're quite satisfied with them.
Anna

 

[ColTom2]

Hi Anna:

I used my USB to SATA/IDE cable Adapter kit and connected it to my Toshiba
laptop, as I have done in the past with no problems using this kit.

I felt somewhat elated when I booted the laptop in that the power light
went on with the kit and I could here the HHD running. At least I knew that
I did not have a power failure of some sort with the HDD.

Next I got the "Add Hardware" pop up indicating USB Mass Storage Device
which made me even feel better.

However, when I opened My Computer to see where it was located "Nothing"
was there. No USB Device, No Device, again nothing.

I opened Device Manager and it appears under Disk Drives as "USB Device".
It even appears in Local Disk (C Properties as USB Device Type Disk Drive.
However, the Location showed "0" if that means anything to you.

In the past as I recall when I opened My Computer using the kit with a
HDD it has always appeared in My Computer and I could recover files etc if
need be, but not this time. Again....nothing, which really blows my mind.

You mentioned in your reply in paragraph 2 about using the WD Diagnostic
Utility, but if I cannot find the HDD how could I ever use it? It would in
my mind, as I mentioned previously, be like my trying to use Spinrite which
is a bootable CD and it could not find the HHD. Spinrite not only can find a
HHD problem, but most of the time repair or resolve it.

Again I am at a total loss, but my knowledge of HHD's is certainly limited.
I have just never encountered or even heard of a problem like this and
hopefully some of you experts can advise me further. Could not removing the
HHD after cloning caused some sort of internal problem with the HHD?

Again I was so glad to see you reply to my posting, as in my mind I
thought, how would I ever find you again!

Thanks for all your past and present support! Got any more "Rabbits" in your
hat? Hope so....

Tom

Col...
1. First of all, we'll assume that there's no problem with your "source"
HDD, i.e., it boots without incident and functions without any problems.
That's right, yes?

2. You mention that during the disk-cloning process you "got a sector
error
or some sort...". But I take it that the disk-cloning process wasn't
aborted
as a result of that message, i.e., the process presumably completed. Is
that
correct?

3. You infer that the problem you're now experiencing, i.e., the
non-recognition of your secondary HDD, was possibly due to booting to your
system with the cloned HDD connected immediately following the
disk-cloning
operation. It's hard to imagine that had any effect on your current
non-recognition problem involving that secondary-connected HDD. While you
are correct that with most disk-cloning programs a boot problem involving
the newly-cloned HDD *may* occur when the user boots to his/her source HDD
with the newly-cloned HDD connected immediately following the disk-cloning
operation, that situation (should it occur) should have no effect on the
system detecting that drive when it's connected as a secondary HDD in the
system.

4. While I understand that you've indicated prior use of the problem drive
with no problems experienced, it really would be wise to check out the
disk
with the WD HDD diagnostic utility.

5. Assuming the disk is non-defective, (and I'm assuming it's a PATA HDD)
have you tried connecting the drive to your secondary IDE channel, either
as
Master or Slave on that channel? And, of course, you're certain the jumper
is correctly set.

6. Any chance of installing the drive in another PC? Or do you have a USB
external enclosure which you could use with the disk?
Anna

Hi Anna:

I am so delighted to see you answering my question, as you were the one
back in Feb 2008 that answered my original questions when I purchased this
HDD. Your reply then was the most informative and provided me with the
much
needed info. In fact, it was you who alerted me about it being imperative
to
shutdown immediately after completion of clone and remove backup HDD. I
still have a lot to learn about HDD's as you can probably tell.

1. My current system boots fine and I ran an analysis last night with
Spinrite and no problems were detected. I have it connected to the end of
IDE cable with jumper in the no 4 and 6 position..

2. Yes the disk cloning process completed with no problems even though I
did get some kind of sector problem notice. Using Acronis it shutdown the
computer upon completion of clone. The cloned drive was detected as Drive
"F" which was my next available letter. However, I forgot to remove the
HDD
as you advised me to do so.

3. I just assume that the problem that I currently have was caused by not
removing the HDD upon completion of clone, as I have cloned it previously
with no problems using both WD and Acronis software.

4. I tried to use Spinrite to check this HDD, but could not get Spinrite
to
work even though it's a bootable CD, as you probably know. As I recall
Spinrite did identify the HDD in BIOS, but the HDD did not show up
otherwise
where I could select it to run a repair or analysis. As I mentioned in my
original post the HDD does not show up in Disk Management.

5. I have tried connecting it using cable select method as Primary Slave
with the jumpers in position 1 and 2 on both HD's. Also tried connecting
it
as Primary Master with jumper in 4 and 6 position. I don't know what a
PATA
HDD is, but as I recall it's a SATA HDD.

6. My other two computers are laptops so I do not have a source to connect
this HDD. However, I do have an adapter kit for connecting USB 2.0 to
SATA/IDE cable and plan to do so later today. I will reply back to you the
results, as I now wonder if I am getting power to this HDD.

I am hoping that I can find a solution and I am most delighted to have
you
back assisting me. I know if anyone can resolve this you can.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom:
1. For the reasons I previously stated, I really don't think a disk-cloning
operation that went awry for one reason or another would have any effect on
the "destination" HDD not being detected when the latter is connected as a
secondary HDD and there's no problem with the "source" HDD in that it boots
& functions without any problems. It seems to me something else is amiss
here.

2. Again, I really do think it would be prudent for you to check out the
problem disk with the HDD diagnostic utility that's freely available from
Western Digital's site. Here are the links for the files to create both the
floppy disk & CD versions of the WD diagnostic utility...
Floppy -
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=2&lang=en
CD - http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=30&lang=en

3. The HDD in question is a PATA (IDE) drive, not a SATA drive. I'm assuming
you've correctly jumpered your HDDs. Again, it would be wise to connect the
problem disk on your secondary IDE channel just to determine if the problem
lies with the primary slave position on the primary IDE channel. I'm
assuming, of course, that your motherboard is equipped with two IDE
channels.

Anyway, let's see how it goes after you use your USB adapter to determine if
the drive is recognized through that means. BTW, our experience with a
fairly wide variety of those type of devices has been quite negative - to
the point where we generally do not recommend them to users. We've found
them most erratic with a high incidence of failure either initially or at
some future point in their use. On the other hand a number of users have
indicated they're quite satisfied with them.
Anna

 

[Anna]

Anna wrote...
Tom:
1. For the reasons I previously stated, I really don't think a
disk-cloning
operation that went awry for one reason or another would have any effect
on
the "destination" HDD not being detected when the latter is connected as a
secondary HDD and there's no problem with the "source" HDD in that it
boots
& functions without any problems. It seems to me something else is amiss
here.

2. Again, I really do think it would be prudent for you to check out the
problem disk with the HDD diagnostic utility that's freely available from
Western Digital's site. Here are the links for the files to create both
the
floppy disk & CD versions of the WD diagnostic utility...
Floppy -
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=2&lang=en
CD -
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=30&lang=en

3. The HDD in question is a PATA (IDE) drive, not a SATA drive. I'm
assuming
you've correctly jumpered your HDDs. Again, it would be wise to connect
the
problem disk on your secondary IDE channel just to determine if the
problem
lies with the primary slave position on the primary IDE channel. I'm
assuming, of course, that your motherboard is equipped with two IDE
channels.

Anyway, let's see how it goes after you use your USB adapter to determine
if
the drive is recognized through that means. BTW, our experience with a
fairly wide variety of those type of devices has been quite negative - to
the point where we generally do not recommend them to users. We've found
them most erratic with a high incidence of failure either initially or at
some future point in their use. On the other hand a number of users have
indicated they're quite satisfied with them.
Anna

Hi Anna:

I used my USB to SATA/IDE cable Adapter kit and connected it to my
Toshiba
laptop, as I have done in the past with no problems using this kit.

I felt somewhat elated when I booted the laptop in that the power light
went on with the kit and I could here the HHD running. At least I knew
that
I did not have a power failure of some sort with the HDD.

Next I got the "Add Hardware" pop up indicating USB Mass Storage Device
which made me even feel better.

However, when I opened My Computer to see where it was located "Nothing"
was there. No USB Device, No Device, again nothing.

I opened Device Manager and it appears under Disk Drives as "USB
Device".
It even appears in Local Disk (C Properties as USB Device Type Disk
Drive.
However, the Location showed "0" if that means anything to you.

In the past as I recall when I opened My Computer using the kit with a
HDD it has always appeared in My Computer and I could recover files etc if
need be, but not this time. Again....nothing, which really blows my mind.

You mentioned in your reply in paragraph 2 about using the WD Diagnostic
Utility, but if I cannot find the HDD how could I ever use it? It would in
my mind, as I mentioned previously, be like my trying to use Spinrite
which
is a bootable CD and it could not find the HHD. Spinrite not only can find
a
HHD problem, but most of the time repair or resolve it.

Again I am at a total loss, but my knowledge of HHD's is certainly
limited.
I have just never encountered or even heard of a problem like this and
hopefully some of you experts can advise me further. Could not removing
the
HHD after cloning caused some sort of internal problem with the HHD?

Again I was so glad to see you reply to my posting, as in my mind I
thought, how would I ever find you again!

Thanks for all your past and present support! Got any more "Rabbits" in
your
hat? Hope so....

Tom

Tom:
The WD links I provided above will allow you to download and create a
*bootable* floppy disk and/or a *bootable* CD on which will be installed the
WD HDD diagnostic utility program. So you'll be using one or the other (I
believe your Sony desktop PC is equipped with a floppy disk drive as well as
an optical drive) to boot to the floppy or CD while your "problem" HDD is
connected in the system. It would be a good idea to temporarily disconnect
your primary HDD (and any other storage device) at this time.

Please understand that this WD diagnostic utility will only report if the
disk is defective. It is *not* designed as a data recovery program. Do the
Quick test and if that checks out OK do the Extended test.

Did you ever try connecting the disk on your secondary IDE channel as I
suggested?
Anna

 

[ColTom2]

Hi Anna:

Thanks so much for your timely reply.

I will create the WD Diagnostic Utility bootable CD and give it a try as
you have suggested. The reason that I have doubts are it says in the
instructions for use "You will see the following options:
a.. SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines which
drive you will be working on."
If no drive is identified how can I use this utility?

No I have not tried connecting the disk on my secondary IDE channel
because I meant to ask you about this and forgot, Do you mean by this
connecting the HDD to the middle IDE connector instead of the connector on
the end? I am unfamiliar with the term "secondary IDE" so if you could
explain I would appreciate.

Last is something that I just thought about and I don't know if it makes
any difference or not. In the past I have always used the adapter kit with
laptop HHD's and when I connected the WD HHD this time I did not use a
jumper. I did not know what position, if required, to place the jumper. So
if this could possibly make a difference please advise me accordingly.

Thanks again,

Tom

Anna wrote...
Tom:
1. For the reasons I previously stated, I really don't think a
disk-cloning
operation that went awry for one reason or another would have any effect
on
the "destination" HDD not being detected when the latter is connected as a
secondary HDD and there's no problem with the "source" HDD in that it
boots
& functions without any problems. It seems to me something else is amiss
here.

2. Again, I really do think it would be prudent for you to check out the
problem disk with the HDD diagnostic utility that's freely available from
Western Digital's site. Here are the links for the files to create both
the
floppy disk & CD versions of the WD diagnostic utility...
Floppy -
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=2&lang=en
CD -
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=30&lang=en

3. The HDD in question is a PATA (IDE) drive, not a SATA drive. I'm
assuming
you've correctly jumpered your HDDs. Again, it would be wise to connect
the
problem disk on your secondary IDE channel just to determine if the
problem
lies with the primary slave position on the primary IDE channel. I'm
assuming, of course, that your motherboard is equipped with two IDE
channels.

Anyway, let's see how it goes after you use your USB adapter to determine
if
the drive is recognized through that means. BTW, our experience with a
fairly wide variety of those type of devices has been quite negative - to
the point where we generally do not recommend them to users. We've found
them most erratic with a high incidence of failure either initially or at
some future point in their use. On the other hand a number of users have
indicated they're quite satisfied with them.
Anna

Hi Anna:

I used my USB to SATA/IDE cable Adapter kit and connected it to my
Toshiba
laptop, as I have done in the past with no problems using this kit.

I felt somewhat elated when I booted the laptop in that the power light
went on with the kit and I could here the HHD running. At least I knew
that
I did not have a power failure of some sort with the HDD.

Next I got the "Add Hardware" pop up indicating USB Mass Storage Device
which made me even feel better.

However, when I opened My Computer to see where it was located "Nothing"
was there. No USB Device, No Device, again nothing.

I opened Device Manager and it appears under Disk Drives as "USB
Device".
It even appears in Local Disk (C Properties as USB Device Type Disk
Drive.
However, the Location showed "0" if that means anything to you.

In the past as I recall when I opened My Computer using the kit with a
HDD it has always appeared in My Computer and I could recover files etc if
need be, but not this time. Again....nothing, which really blows my mind.

You mentioned in your reply in paragraph 2 about using the WD Diagnostic
Utility, but if I cannot find the HDD how could I ever use it? It would in
my mind, as I mentioned previously, be like my trying to use Spinrite
which
is a bootable CD and it could not find the HHD. Spinrite not only can find
a
HHD problem, but most of the time repair or resolve it.

Again I am at a total loss, but my knowledge of HHD's is certainly
limited.
I have just never encountered or even heard of a problem like this and
hopefully some of you experts can advise me further. Could not removing
the
HHD after cloning caused some sort of internal problem with the HHD?

Again I was so glad to see you reply to my posting, as in my mind I
thought, how would I ever find you again!

Thanks for all your past and present support! Got any more "Rabbits" in
your
hat? Hope so....

Tom

Tom:
The WD links I provided above will allow you to download and create a
*bootable* floppy disk and/or a *bootable* CD on which will be installed the
WD HDD diagnostic utility program. So you'll be using one or the other (I
believe your Sony desktop PC is equipped with a floppy disk drive as well as
an optical drive) to boot to the floppy or CD while your "problem" HDD is
connected in the system. It would be a good idea to temporarily disconnect
your primary HDD (and any other storage device) at this time.

Please understand that this WD diagnostic utility will only report if the
disk is defective. It is *not* designed as a data recovery program. Do the
Quick test and if that checks out OK do the Extended test.

Did you ever try connecting the disk on your secondary IDE channel as I
suggested?
Anna

 

[Anna]

Tom:
The WD links I provided above will allow you to download and create a
*bootable* floppy disk and/or a *bootable* CD on which will be installed
the
WD HDD diagnostic utility program. So you'll be using one or the other (I
believe your Sony desktop PC is equipped with a floppy disk drive as well
as
an optical drive) to boot to the floppy or CD while your "problem" HDD is
connected in the system. It would be a good idea to temporarily disconnect
your primary HDD (and any other storage device) at this time.

Please understand that this WD diagnostic utility will only report if the
disk is defective. It is *not* designed as a data recovery program. Do the
Quick test and if that checks out OK do the Extended test.

Did you ever try connecting the disk on your secondary IDE channel as I
suggested?
Anna

Hi Anna:

Thanks so much for your timely reply.

I will create the WD Diagnostic Utility bootable CD and give it a try as
you have suggested. The reason that I have doubts are it says in the
instructions for use "You will see the following options:
a.. SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines
which
drive you will be working on."
If no drive is identified how can I use this utility?

No I have not tried connecting the disk on my secondary IDE channel
because I meant to ask you about this and forgot, Do you mean by this
connecting the HDD to the middle IDE connector instead of the connector on
the end? I am unfamiliar with the term "secondary IDE" so if you could
explain I would appreciate.

Last is something that I just thought about and I don't know if it makes
any difference or not. In the past I have always used the adapter kit with
laptop HHD's and when I connected the WD HHD this time I did not use a
jumper. I did not know what position, if required, to place the jumper. So
if this could possibly make a difference please advise me accordingly.

Thanks again,

Tom

Tom:
I guess I should have pointed the following out in my last post but I
thought you would be familiar with the boot priority order, i.e., the
motherboard's BIOS setting that allows the user to inform the system which
device should be booted to first, then second, etc. etc.

So it's possible for the user to "instruct" the system to *first* attempt a
boot to a bootable floppy disk (assuming the system is equipped with a
floppy disk drive) or to a bootable CD (DVD) *before* attempting a boot to a
HDD.

In some PCs (it can differ from system to system) the system has been set up
by the manufacturer so that when the system is powered-on and proceeds
through the bootup process, if it detects a bootable CD (DVD) has been
installed the system will automatically boot to that CD (DVD) without any
user intervention.

In other cases the user must select an option to boot from the bootable CD
(DVD) since the system defaults to a boot from a HDD. Hopefully your User
Manual will indicate the process for setting the boot priority order.
Presumably, when the SELECT DRIVE option you mention is accessed you will
have a choice of which device to boot from first. Should this be the case
where you will be using a bootable CD to boot to, you would select your
optical drive as first in boot priority order.

I suppose it goes without saying that only your problem HDD should be
installed/connected at this time - no other storage devices.

In any event setting the boot priority order is not a complicated task and
your User Manual should be informative re this procedure.

As to my suggestion re connecting the "problem" HDD to a secondary IDE
channel...

Again, I was under the impression you were familiar with the "innards" of
your desktop machine and therefore needed no further details re that
process. Anyway, I was presuming that your Sony motherboard was equipped
with two IDE channels - primary & secondary to which devices such as your
HDDs and optical drive(s) are connected. I believe you indicated your
"problem" HDD had been connected on the primary IDE channel as a slave to
your boot HDD. I thought it might be worthwhile to connect it to your
secondary IDE channel (either as master or slave on that channel) to
determine if that connection resolves the problem. It's a long-shot but
sometimes worth a try.

In any event perhaps at this point-in-time it might be best to put that
suggestion aside. For one thing it's possible (although unlikely) that your
Sony motherboard came equipped with only a single IDE channel. And you'll
need another IDE data (ribbon) cable to make the connection. And the process
can be a bit complicated with some Sony motherboards due to their
(frequently) non-standard configuration.

So hold off on that and first use the WD HDD diagnostic utility to determine
if you might simply be dealing with a defective HDD.
Anna

 

[ColTom2]

Hi Anna:

I appreciate your diligence with me and I now fully (hopefully) understand
what you wish me to do.

My computer boot priority is set to boot to CD (DVD) lst, A - Floppy
second, and HDD third presently. A bootable CD i.e. Spinrite has no trouble
booting to it and I made the WD Diagnostic Utility boot CD last night, but
haven't changed the HHD to where I can use it yet. I will do this today. I
do not think that I will have a problem in this regards getting the WD
bootable CD to boot to it. I just hope that the WD Diagnostic Utility can
find the drive. As I mentioned previously the bootable Spinrite could not
find the drive and my thoughts were that is if it couldn't then most likely
the WD Diagnostic Utility would not either. However, I will give it a shot
and see.

I now know what you were talking about with the Secondary IDE channel and
my Sony motherboard does indicate both Primary and Secondary channels. So I
can also check this out as you have asked me to do after trying to run the
WD Diagnostic Utility. I had seen this Primary and Secondary many times
before and I just did not relate to what you were saying due to my ignorance
in this matter. You are a great teacher and you written explanations are
great....it's the student that's the problem.

One other thing that I thought about later last night that I am going to
try to do also is use the adapter kit again and connect it to my Sony in
lieu of laptop. With everything showing up when I connected it to the laptop
except the drive letter I thought about connecting it a described and then
going to Disk Management and see if I could assign it a drive letter, which
I could not do before. Maybe connecting with USB will allow me to do this.
If I can assign it a drive letter then I am going to Format the HDD
immediately afterwards in hopes that all will be returned to normal with it.

I will let you know how I come out as soon as I can do all this with time
permitting today.

Thanks again,

Tom

Tom:
The WD links I provided above will allow you to download and create a
*bootable* floppy disk and/or a *bootable* CD on which will be installed
the
WD HDD diagnostic utility program. So you'll be using one or the other (I
believe your Sony desktop PC is equipped with a floppy disk drive as well
as
an optical drive) to boot to the floppy or CD while your "problem" HDD is
connected in the system. It would be a good idea to temporarily disconnect
your primary HDD (and any other storage device) at this time.

Please understand that this WD diagnostic utility will only report if the
disk is defective. It is *not* designed as a data recovery program. Do the
Quick test and if that checks out OK do the Extended test.

Did you ever try connecting the disk on your secondary IDE channel as I
suggested?
Anna

Hi Anna:

Thanks so much for your timely reply.

I will create the WD Diagnostic Utility bootable CD and give it a try as
you have suggested. The reason that I have doubts are it says in the
instructions for use "You will see the following options:
a.. SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines
which
drive you will be working on."
If no drive is identified how can I use this utility?

No I have not tried connecting the disk on my secondary IDE channel
because I meant to ask you about this and forgot, Do you mean by this
connecting the HDD to the middle IDE connector instead of the connector on
the end? I am unfamiliar with the term "secondary IDE" so if you could
explain I would appreciate.

Last is something that I just thought about and I don't know if it makes
any difference or not. In the past I have always used the adapter kit with
laptop HHD's and when I connected the WD HHD this time I did not use a
jumper. I did not know what position, if required, to place the jumper. So
if this could possibly make a difference please advise me accordingly.

Thanks again,

Tom

Tom:
I guess I should have pointed the following out in my last post but I
thought you would be familiar with the boot priority order, i.e., the
motherboard's BIOS setting that allows the user to inform the system which
device should be booted to first, then second, etc. etc.

So it's possible for the user to "instruct" the system to *first* attempt a
boot to a bootable floppy disk (assuming the system is equipped with a
floppy disk drive) or to a bootable CD (DVD) *before* attempting a boot to a
HDD.

In some PCs (it can differ from system to system) the system has been set up
by the manufacturer so that when the system is powered-on and proceeds
through the bootup process, if it detects a bootable CD (DVD) has been
installed the system will automatically boot to that CD (DVD) without any
user intervention.

In other cases the user must select an option to boot from the bootable CD
(DVD) since the system defaults to a boot from a HDD. Hopefully your User
Manual will indicate the process for setting the boot priority order.
Presumably, when the SELECT DRIVE option you mention is accessed you will
have a choice of which device to boot from first. Should this be the case
where you will be using a bootable CD to boot to, you would select your
optical drive as first in boot priority order.

I suppose it goes without saying that only your problem HDD should be
installed/connected at this time - no other storage devices.

In any event setting the boot priority order is not a complicated task and
your User Manual should be informative re this procedure.

As to my suggestion re connecting the "problem" HDD to a secondary IDE
channel...

Again, I was under the impression you were familiar with the "innards" of
your desktop machine and therefore needed no further details re that
process. Anyway, I was presuming that your Sony motherboard was equipped
with two IDE channels - primary & secondary to which devices such as your
HDDs and optical drive(s) are connected. I believe you indicated your
"problem" HDD had been connected on the primary IDE channel as a slave to
your boot HDD. I thought it might be worthwhile to connect it to your
secondary IDE channel (either as master or slave on that channel) to
determine if that connection resolves the problem. It's a long-shot but
sometimes worth a try.

In any event perhaps at this point-in-time it might be best to put that
suggestion aside. For one thing it's possible (although unlikely) that your
Sony motherboard came equipped with only a single IDE channel. And you'll
need another IDE data (ribbon) cable to make the connection. And the process
can be a bit complicated with some Sony motherboards due to their
(frequently) non-standard configuration.

So hold off on that and first use the WD HDD diagnostic utility to determine
if you might simply be dealing with a defective HDD.
Anna

 

[BR549]

Hi Anna:

I am so delighted to see you answering my question, as you were the one
back in Feb 2008 that answered my original questions when I purchased this
HDD. Your reply then was the most informative and provided me with the
much
needed info. In fact, it was you who alerted me about it being imperative
to
shutdown immediately after completion of clone and remove backup HDD. I
still have a lot to learn about HDD's as you can probably tell.

1. My current system boots fine and I ran an analysis last night with
Spinrite and no problems were detected. I have it connected to the end of
IDE cable with jumper in the no 4 and 6 position..

2. Yes the disk cloning process completed with no problems even though I
did get some kind of sector problem notice. Using Acronis it shutdown the
computer upon completion of clone. The cloned drive was detected as Drive
"F" which was my next available letter. However, I forgot to remove the
HDD
as you advised me to do so.

3. I just assume that the problem that I currently have was caused by not
removing the HDD upon completion of clone, as I have cloned it previously
with no problems using both WD and Acronis software.

4. I tried to use Spinrite to check this HDD, but could not get Spinrite
to
work even though it's a bootable CD, as you probably know. As I recall
Spinrite did identify the HDD in BIOS, but the HDD did not show up
otherwise
where I could select it to run a repair or analysis. As I mentioned in my
original post the HDD does not show up in Disk Management.

5. I have tried connecting it using cable select method as Primary Slave
with the jumpers in position 1 and 2 on both HD's. Also tried connecting
it
as Primary Master with jumper in 4 and 6 position. I don't know what a
PATA
HDD is, but as I recall it's a SATA HDD.

6. My other two computers are laptops so I do not have a source to connect
this HDD. However, I do have an adapter kit for connecting USB 2.0 to
SATA/IDE cable and plan to do so later today. I will reply back to you the
results, as I now wonder if I am getting power to this HDD.

I am hoping that I can find a solution and I am most delighted to have
you
back assisting me. I know if anyone can resolve this you can.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom, I guess Anna understands what your talking about but for the benefit of
myself and others that may be trying to follow this post I would like you to
clarify what you stated about the positions of the jumpers on this WD PATA
hard drive. You refer to positions 1 and 2 and then positions 4 and 6. I
have no idea what you are talking about. That particular WD drive has a 10
pin connector between the power and data cable. It consists of 2 rows of 5
pins and they are labelled right to left, 1 thru 9 on the top and 2 thru 10
on the bottom. Jumpers are placed connecting the upper and lower set of
pins. Jumpering pins 1 and 2 together (2 pins closest to the power plug) is
the Cable Select jumper position. Single drive by itself has no jumpers
installed and would normally be a master only installed at the end of the
cable. Master with a slave attached is jumpered pins 5 to 6, the slave
drive would be jumpered pins 3 to 4. This information was obtained on the
WD website. So would you clarify what you mean by positions 1 and 2 or 4
and 6.
Thanks

 

[ColTom2]

Hi Anna:

I ran the WD HDD Diagnostic Utility or tried to run I should say. I ran
the Extended Test and really don't believe that it ran, as I got a screen
with a lot of data on it almost immediately. It started out with Item1 - Raw
Read Error Rate Value 47, Thresh 51, Worst 47 with an "*" to the right of
it. Following this was a number of other topics which I suppose could have
been applicable data, but I never could select Test Results and that is why
I don't think that it was able to run.

I noticed where it gave me the option to run a Full Erase - writes zeros
to entire drive and I thought this might be of value to try. It ran for over
4 hours and the progress bar was at approx 95% complete when I got this
Error Notice: IRQ Timeout, Error/Status Code: 0112.

I then tried the bootable Spinrite and it loaded, but indicated the drive
was bad and to close the program out.

I did try, as I previously mentioned to use the Adapter kit, but it could
not find the drive in DiskManagement where I could possibly assign the next
available drive letter.

BTW my secondary IDE channel's are assigned CD/DVD to Master and CR-ROM
to Slave so I really did not know if they could have been a player or not in
the process.

So it's looks as if I have a defective HDD that is not repairable. I
suppose the question now that I have foremost is what caused the problem of
cloning this HHD. It's hard to believe that just by not disconnecting as I
should have that it ruined the HDD, but now it looks as if this was the
case.

Anyway I certainly want to thank you for all your time and effort and say
how much I appreciated all that you did. My plans now are to buy another HHD
and try the cloning once again. Here is an alternate email address for me
that you can contact me direct. It's not my main or regular address, but one
that I use for public use. (e-mail address removed) I would love to have you
contact me where I would have your address in the future....just in case. I
will reply with my main email address back to you if you do so.

Thanks so much!

Tom

Tom:
The WD links I provided above will allow you to download and create a
*bootable* floppy disk and/or a *bootable* CD on which will be installed
the
WD HDD diagnostic utility program. So you'll be using one or the other (I
believe your Sony desktop PC is equipped with a floppy disk drive as well
as
an optical drive) to boot to the floppy or CD while your "problem" HDD is
connected in the system. It would be a good idea to temporarily disconnect
your primary HDD (and any other storage device) at this time.

Please understand that this WD diagnostic utility will only report if the
disk is defective. It is *not* designed as a data recovery program. Do the
Quick test and if that checks out OK do the Extended test.

Did you ever try connecting the disk on your secondary IDE channel as I
suggested?
Anna

Hi Anna:

Thanks so much for your timely reply.

I will create the WD Diagnostic Utility bootable CD and give it a try as
you have suggested. The reason that I have doubts are it says in the
instructions for use "You will see the following options:
a.. SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines
which
drive you will be working on."
If no drive is identified how can I use this utility?

No I have not tried connecting the disk on my secondary IDE channel
because I meant to ask you about this and forgot, Do you mean by this
connecting the HDD to the middle IDE connector instead of the connector on
the end? I am unfamiliar with the term "secondary IDE" so if you could
explain I would appreciate.

Last is something that I just thought about and I don't know if it makes
any difference or not. In the past I have always used the adapter kit with
laptop HHD's and when I connected the WD HHD this time I did not use a
jumper. I did not know what position, if required, to place the jumper. So
if this could possibly make a difference please advise me accordingly.

Thanks again,

Tom

Tom:
I guess I should have pointed the following out in my last post but I
thought you would be familiar with the boot priority order, i.e., the
motherboard's BIOS setting that allows the user to inform the system which
device should be booted to first, then second, etc. etc.

So it's possible for the user to "instruct" the system to *first* attempt a
boot to a bootable floppy disk (assuming the system is equipped with a
floppy disk drive) or to a bootable CD (DVD) *before* attempting a boot to a
HDD.

In some PCs (it can differ from system to system) the system has been set up
by the manufacturer so that when the system is powered-on and proceeds
through the bootup process, if it detects a bootable CD (DVD) has been
installed the system will automatically boot to that CD (DVD) without any
user intervention.

In other cases the user must select an option to boot from the bootable CD
(DVD) since the system defaults to a boot from a HDD. Hopefully your User
Manual will indicate the process for setting the boot priority order.
Presumably, when the SELECT DRIVE option you mention is accessed you will
have a choice of which device to boot from first. Should this be the case
where you will be using a bootable CD to boot to, you would select your
optical drive as first in boot priority order.

I suppose it goes without saying that only your problem HDD should be
installed/connected at this time - no other storage devices.

In any event setting the boot priority order is not a complicated task and
your User Manual should be informative re this procedure.

As to my suggestion re connecting the "problem" HDD to a secondary IDE
channel...

Again, I was under the impression you were familiar with the "innards" of
your desktop machine and therefore needed no further details re that
process. Anyway, I was presuming that your Sony motherboard was equipped
with two IDE channels - primary & secondary to which devices such as your
HDDs and optical drive(s) are connected. I believe you indicated your
"problem" HDD had been connected on the primary IDE channel as a slave to
your boot HDD. I thought it might be worthwhile to connect it to your
secondary IDE channel (either as master or slave on that channel) to
determine if that connection resolves the problem. It's a long-shot but
sometimes worth a try.

In any event perhaps at this point-in-time it might be best to put that
suggestion aside. For one thing it's possible (although unlikely) that your
Sony motherboard came equipped with only a single IDE channel. And you'll
need another IDE data (ribbon) cable to make the connection. And the process
can be a bit complicated with some Sony motherboards due to their
(frequently) non-standard configuration.

So hold off on that and first use the WD HDD diagnostic utility to determine
if you might simply be dealing with a defective HDD.
Anna

 

[ColTom2]

All that you said is the same data that I previously got sometime back from
WD's website except I also found that for a 10 pin Single (Neutral Position)
to use Jumper 4 and 6. Leaving the 10 pin blank is also for the Single
(Standard Installation).

By 1 and 2 jumper positions I was referring to the Cable Select.

What you said is true and I am sorry to have confused you.

ColTom2

Hi Anna:

I am so delighted to see you answering my question, as you were the one
back in Feb 2008 that answered my original questions when I purchased this
HDD. Your reply then was the most informative and provided me with the
much
needed info. In fact, it was you who alerted me about it being imperative
to
shutdown immediately after completion of clone and remove backup HDD. I
still have a lot to learn about HDD's as you can probably tell.

1. My current system boots fine and I ran an analysis last night with
Spinrite and no problems were detected. I have it connected to the end of
IDE cable with jumper in the no 4 and 6 position..

2. Yes the disk cloning process completed with no problems even though I
did get some kind of sector problem notice. Using Acronis it shutdown the
computer upon completion of clone. The cloned drive was detected as Drive
"F" which was my next available letter. However, I forgot to remove the
HDD
as you advised me to do so.

3. I just assume that the problem that I currently have was caused by not
removing the HDD upon completion of clone, as I have cloned it previously
with no problems using both WD and Acronis software.

4. I tried to use Spinrite to check this HDD, but could not get Spinrite
to
work even though it's a bootable CD, as you probably know. As I recall
Spinrite did identify the HDD in BIOS, but the HDD did not show up
otherwise
where I could select it to run a repair or analysis. As I mentioned in my
original post the HDD does not show up in Disk Management.

5. I have tried connecting it using cable select method as Primary Slave
with the jumpers in position 1 and 2 on both HD's. Also tried connecting
it
as Primary Master with jumper in 4 and 6 position. I don't know what a
PATA
HDD is, but as I recall it's a SATA HDD.

6. My other two computers are laptops so I do not have a source to connect
this HDD. However, I do have an adapter kit for connecting USB 2.0 to
SATA/IDE cable and plan to do so later today. I will reply back to you the
results, as I now wonder if I am getting power to this HDD.

I am hoping that I can find a solution and I am most delighted to have
you
back assisting me. I know if anyone can resolve this you can.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom, I guess Anna understands what your talking about but for the benefit of
myself and others that may be trying to follow this post I would like you to
clarify what you stated about the positions of the jumpers on this WD PATA
hard drive. You refer to positions 1 and 2 and then positions 4 and 6. I
have no idea what you are talking about. That particular WD drive has a 10
pin connector between the power and data cable. It consists of 2 rows of 5
pins and they are labelled right to left, 1 thru 9 on the top and 2 thru 10
on the bottom. Jumpers are placed connecting the upper and lower set of
pins. Jumpering pins 1 and 2 together (2 pins closest to the power plug) is
the Cable Select jumper position. Single drive by itself has no jumpers
installed and would normally be a master only installed at the end of the
cable. Master with a slave attached is jumpered pins 5 to 6, the slave
drive would be jumpered pins 3 to 4. This information was obtained on the
WD website. So would you clarify what you mean by positions 1 and 2 or 4
and 6.
Thanks

 

[ColTom2]

Hi Anna:

I have ordered a new WD HHD the same as I currently have (WD2500BB 250
GB).

I think that the existing HD should be identified as the Primary Master
and the new HHD to be cloned should be identified as the Primary Slave. Just
to be sure please tell me where the Jumper pins should be on both. Also what
position on the IDE cable should each HHD be i.e. Middle or End.

The reason that I ask the cable position is that I have read where the
middle connector is black and the end connector is gray at the WD website.
However, the IDE cable in my Sony the connector cables are just opposite.
The black connector is in the middle and the end connector is gray. What
difference does it make as to the color rather than the location?

I just want to be sure that I have the new HHD properly connected for
Automatic cloning with Acronis.

I know that I have asked a lot of you in this and the preceding postings.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom:
The WD links I provided above will allow you to download and create a
*bootable* floppy disk and/or a *bootable* CD on which will be installed
the
WD HDD diagnostic utility program. So you'll be using one or the other (I
believe your Sony desktop PC is equipped with a floppy disk drive as well
as
an optical drive) to boot to the floppy or CD while your "problem" HDD is
connected in the system. It would be a good idea to temporarily disconnect
your primary HDD (and any other storage device) at this time.

Please understand that this WD diagnostic utility will only report if the
disk is defective. It is *not* designed as a data recovery program. Do the
Quick test and if that checks out OK do the Extended test.

Did you ever try connecting the disk on your secondary IDE channel as I
suggested?
Anna

Hi Anna:

Thanks so much for your timely reply.

I will create the WD Diagnostic Utility bootable CD and give it a try as
you have suggested. The reason that I have doubts are it says in the
instructions for use "You will see the following options:
a.. SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines
which
drive you will be working on."
If no drive is identified how can I use this utility?

No I have not tried connecting the disk on my secondary IDE channel
because I meant to ask you about this and forgot, Do you mean by this
connecting the HDD to the middle IDE connector instead of the connector on
the end? I am unfamiliar with the term "secondary IDE" so if you could
explain I would appreciate.

Last is something that I just thought about and I don't know if it makes
any difference or not. In the past I have always used the adapter kit with
laptop HHD's and when I connected the WD HHD this time I did not use a
jumper. I did not know what position, if required, to place the jumper. So
if this could possibly make a difference please advise me accordingly.

Thanks again,

Tom

Tom:
I guess I should have pointed the following out in my last post but I
thought you would be familiar with the boot priority order, i.e., the
motherboard's BIOS setting that allows the user to inform the system which
device should be booted to first, then second, etc. etc.

So it's possible for the user to "instruct" the system to *first* attempt a
boot to a bootable floppy disk (assuming the system is equipped with a
floppy disk drive) or to a bootable CD (DVD) *before* attempting a boot to a
HDD.

In some PCs (it can differ from system to system) the system has been set up
by the manufacturer so that when the system is powered-on and proceeds
through the bootup process, if it detects a bootable CD (DVD) has been
installed the system will automatically boot to that CD (DVD) without any
user intervention.

In other cases the user must select an option to boot from the bootable CD
(DVD) since the system defaults to a boot from a HDD. Hopefully your User
Manual will indicate the process for setting the boot priority order.
Presumably, when the SELECT DRIVE option you mention is accessed you will
have a choice of which device to boot from first. Should this be the case
where you will be using a bootable CD to boot to, you would select your
optical drive as first in boot priority order.

I suppose it goes without saying that only your problem HDD should be
installed/connected at this time - no other storage devices.

In any event setting the boot priority order is not a complicated task and
your User Manual should be informative re this procedure.

As to my suggestion re connecting the "problem" HDD to a secondary IDE
channel...

Again, I was under the impression you were familiar with the "innards" of
your desktop machine and therefore needed no further details re that
process. Anyway, I was presuming that your Sony motherboard was equipped
with two IDE channels - primary & secondary to which devices such as your
HDDs and optical drive(s) are connected. I believe you indicated your
"problem" HDD had been connected on the primary IDE channel as a slave to
your boot HDD. I thought it might be worthwhile to connect it to your
secondary IDE channel (either as master or slave on that channel) to
determine if that connection resolves the problem. It's a long-shot but
sometimes worth a try.

In any event perhaps at this point-in-time it might be best to put that
suggestion aside. For one thing it's possible (although unlikely) that your
Sony motherboard came equipped with only a single IDE channel. And you'll
need another IDE data (ribbon) cable to make the connection. And the process
can be a bit complicated with some Sony motherboards due to their
(frequently) non-standard configuration.

So hold off on that and first use the WD HDD diagnostic utility to determine
if you might simply be dealing with a defective HDD.
Anna

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna:

I ran the WD HDD Diagnostic Utility or tried to run I should say. I ran
the Extended Test and really don't believe that it ran, as I got a screen
with a lot of data on it almost immediately... (SNIP)
So it's looks as if I have a defective HDD that is not repairable. I
suppose the question now that I have foremost is what caused the problem
of
cloning this HHD. It's hard to believe that just by not disconnecting as I
should have that it ruined the HDD, but now it looks as if this was the
case.

Anyway I certainly want to thank you for all your time and effort and say
how much I appreciated all that you did. My plans now are to buy another
HHD
and try the cloning once again. Here is an alternate email address for me
that you can contact me direct. It's not my main or regular address, but
one
that I use for public use. (e-mail address removed) I would love to have you
contact me where I would have your address in the future....just in case.
I
will reply with my main email address back to you if you do so.

Thanks so much!

Tom

Tom:
It's hard to imagine that a disk-cloning operation that went awry caused a
disk to become defective. It's just possible it was nothing more than a bad,
sad coincidence in that the disk had become defective shortly before you
undertook the disk-cloning operation or possibly shortly thereafter. I don't
suppose we'll ever know.

Anyway, good luck with the new HDD. At least you'll have a current warranty
covering the disk.

Please forgive me if I do not communicate with you via email. It's just a
personal preference on my part that I rarely depart from. I'll be glad to
offer any help to you (and others) via this and similar newsgroups should I
believe I'm competent to do so and have the time to do so.
Anna

 

[Paul]

Hi Anna:

I have ordered a new WD HHD the same as I currently have (WD2500BB 250
GB).

I think that the existing HD should be identified as the Primary Master
and the new HHD to be cloned should be identified as the Primary Slave. Just
to be sure please tell me where the Jumper pins should be on both. Also what
position on the IDE cable should each HHD be i.e. Middle or End.

The reason that I ask the cable position is that I have read where the
middle connector is black and the end connector is gray at the WD website.
However, the IDE cable in my Sony the connector cables are just opposite.
The black connector is in the middle and the end connector is gray. What
difference does it make as to the color rather than the location?

I just want to be sure that I have the new HHD properly connected for
Automatic cloning with Acronis.

I know that I have asked a lot of you in this and the preceding postings.

Thanks,

Tom

In terms of ribbon cables, you fill the end position first. If you only
have one hard drive to connect, it goes on the end connector. When you have
two drives, you fill both positions.

If you had a single drive and connected it to the middle connector, you'd
adversely affect signal integrity, and virtually everything transferred on
the cable would be corrupted.

So regardless of connector color, you fill from the end first.

Mobo --------------X--------X
|
Master ("Master Only")
Cable Select (CS)

Mobo --------------X--------X
| |
Slave Master ("Master with Slave")
Master Slave
CS CS

Those diagrams give some jumper options. The ones in quotes are for
Western Digital, and they choose to be different. With the two drives
in place, there are three ways of jumpering, depending on your personal
preference. Manufacturers use Cable Select, to enable easy assembly
of their computers - with CS, the staff don't have to touch the jumpers.
CS works with 80 wire cables. Not all 40 wire cables support CS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_select#Cable_select

Paul

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna:

I have ordered a new WD HHD the same as I currently have (WD2500BB 250
GB).

I think that the existing HD should be identified as the Primary Master
and the new HHD to be cloned should be identified as the Primary Slave.
Just
to be sure please tell me where the Jumper pins should be on both. Also
what
position on the IDE cable should each HHD be i.e. Middle or End.

The reason that I ask the cable position is that I have read where the
middle connector is black and the end connector is gray at the WD website.
However, the IDE cable in my Sony the connector cables are just opposite.
The black connector is in the middle and the end connector is gray. What
difference does it make as to the color rather than the location?

I just want to be sure that I have the new HHD properly connected for
Automatic cloning with Acronis.

I know that I have asked a lot of you in this and the preceding postings.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom:
It's probably best to use the Cable Select jumper position for both HDDs.
Don't be concerned with the color of the connectors on the IDE data (ribbon)
cable. As you suspect, it's their position that's important.

The HDD connected to the *end* connector will serve as Primary Master.
Presumably you'll connect your current HDD containing the OS and all data to
that connector.

The HDD connected to the *middle* connector will serve as Primary Slave. So
you'll be connecting your new HDD to that connector.

You probably know this already but in case not, here's the link to the
jumper settings for your HDDs...
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=932&p_created=#jumper
As you will note the setting for CS are jumper positions 1 & 2.

I should mention that on some systems - usually containing a very old
motherboard - we experienced a number of systems that balked at drives
connected (jumpered) CS although (supposedly) they technically met the
specifications for accommodating that jumpered configuration. So the user
was forced to use the Master/Slave jumper positions rather than CS. However
as I recall we never ran into that problem with Sony machines. They behaved
very properly in that respect.
Anna