Drive shows up as not formatted - why?

[Jeff Heikkinen]

A while ago one of my three hard drives stopped being readable in
Windows XP. Usually when I click on it in Explorer I get a message
saying it's not formatted. However, I tried the same drive in a
different computer for a day and it works fine - everything on it was
there and readable.

So to me, that sounded like a bum IDE cable. No go - I replaced it
yesterday but it's still unreadable on my regular computer.

Sharing this IDE channel is my DVD burner, and I'm beginning to wonder
if that's the culprit. Shortly after I noticed this problem the burner
started acting up. While before, it *never* failed to burn a disc
correctly, now I've had several in a row that my burning software says
were successful, but which turned out to be useless coasters (Windows
says the discs may be corrupted or some such.) And today, on one burn,
I had a spindle malfunction - that is, according to the error message I
got, the device that physically spins the CD or DVD temporarily flaked
out. I'll mention that this drive can *read* disks just fine (except my
recent burn attempts) and it also used to work just fine with the same
IDE channels and jumpers it's using right now.

I'm thinking the burner is probably dying, but my real question is,
could that ALSO be what's causing the hard drive on the same channel to
not be readable?

 

[Mr. Grinch]

I'm thinking the burner is probably dying, but my real question is,
could that ALSO be what's causing the hard drive on the same channel to
not be readable?

So if I read you right, if you eliminate the burner from the picture, you
have no issues with the hard drive? You did not mention what your settings
where (master / slave). Also, have you tried another cable? I'd want to
eliminate those two factors first because they are easy to change.

Also I'd want to eliminate any software issues. Some burning software
installs "drivers" to access the burners. I've had issues with these
"drivers" causing stability problems on my system and problems using the
other burner (one's a DVD burner, the other's a CD burner on the same cable).
Uninstalled the software, the problem went away. Other software that does
this, I tried to uninstall it, but it left portions of the driver behind, and
this generated eventlog errors.

Point being, you never know exactly what software installs are doing to your
system. So if you could try a "vanilla" OS install, with nothing except
perhaps the MS critical updates or service packs, and test the hard drive
again, you'd be one step closer to determining if this is a HW or SW issue.
My system is dual-boot Windows ME and Windows Server 2003. So if I boot into
ME and the problem with the drive is gone, I start looking at software
problems rather than hardware. Also, when I build my system, I make several
partition images along the way. First is the base install, next includes MS
Updates, next includes drivers, next has basic apps, next has full apps, next
has "extras" or everything I consider "current production + test". Something
blows up, I revert to previous image and see if it still blows up.

Another option might be to try the suspect drive in another PC. Or, put the
two devices on separate ATA chanels or controllers.

 

[Jeff Heikkinen]

Mr. Grinch, worshipped by llamas the world over, wrote...

So if I read you right, if you eliminate the burner from the picture, you
have no issues with the hard drive?

Well, I tried the HD in a different computer, and it worked. Since I
wrote my previous message, I tried it in the original computer but
without the burner, and here's the bit where I go nuts and start
sticking straws in my hair - it works under Windows 98 but not under
Windows XP! XP still says it's not formatted, yet it works fine under
98 (and I took the opportunity to copy everything I care about into a
folder on one of my other drives, so if I really do need to format the
problem drive, no loss).

You did not mention what your settings
where (master / slave).

They are both on the secondary channel, and in the normal course of
events the burner is the master (I've seen CD drives that only worked
when set as master, so that's where I usually put them) and the HD is
the slave. I will try fiddling with this as soon as I finish sending
this message.

My other channel has two hard drives on it which I would rather not mess
with, neither of which has ever given me any grief.

Also, have you tried another cable?

Yes, I did - I specifically said so in my previous message. It had no
effect.

I'd want to
eliminate those two factors first because they are easy to change.

Always a good way to go.

Also I'd want to eliminate any software issues. Some burning software
installs "drivers" to access the burners. I've had issues with these
"drivers" causing stability problems on my system and problems using the
other burner (one's a DVD burner, the other's a CD burner on the same cable).

It shows up as a generic DVD burner, but it does come with Pinacle
software which among other things creates a virtual drive by default. I
got rid of that feature the other day as it did strike me as a potential
source of conflicts, and I never used it anyway. The thing is, it was
working fine until recently - if the software were to blame, I would
generally expect the problem to have been there all along, not to
suddenly appear for no obvious reason a couple of weeks ago after months
of working fine. Still, I've seen stranger things.

Uninstalled the software, the problem went away. Other software that does
this, I tried to uninstall it, but it left portions of the driver behind, and
this generated eventlog errors.

What would be the easiest way to tell if this were the case?

Point being, you never know exactly what software installs are doing to your
system. So if you could try a "vanilla" OS install, with nothing except
perhaps the MS critical updates or service packs, and test the hard drive
again, you'd be one step closer to determining if this is a HW or SW issue.
My system is dual-boot Windows ME and Windows Server 2003. So if I boot into
ME and the problem with the drive is gone, I start looking at software
problems rather than hardware.

Which sounds a lot like my situation.

Also, when I build my system, I make several
partition images along the way. First is the base install, next includes MS
Updates, next includes drivers, next has basic apps, next has full apps, next
has "extras" or everything I consider "current production + test". Something
blows up, I revert to previous image and see if it still blows up.

I'm not really set up for that to be practical, which is not to deny
that it's a very good idea.

Another option might be to try the suspect drive in another PC.

The first thing I said in my previous message was that I'd tried this,
and it did indeed work in the other computer.

Or, put the
two devices on separate ATA chanels or controllers.

I am reluctant to try this for reasons already mentioned.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

So if I read you right,

LOL,
Who's to tell when you snipped the message to be able to hear yourself talk better.

if you eliminate the burner from the picture, you
have no issues with the hard drive? You did not mention what your settings
where (master / slave).

Also, have you tried another cable?

Well, I think that answers that question quite conclusively.

I'd want to eliminate those two factors first because they are easy to change.

Also I'd want to eliminate any software issues. Some burning software
installs "drivers" to access the burners. I've had issues with these
"drivers" causing stability problems on my system and problems using the
other burner (one's a DVD burner, the other's a CD burner on the same cable).
Uninstalled the software, the problem went away. Other software that does
this, I tried to uninstall it, but it left portions of the driver behind, and
this generated eventlog errors.

Point being, you never know exactly what software installs are doing to your
system. So if you could try a "vanilla" OS install, with nothing except
perhaps the MS critical updates or service packs, and test the hard drive
again, you'd be one step closer to determining if this is a HW or SW issue.
My system is dual-boot Windows ME and Windows Server 2003. So if I boot
into ME and the problem with the drive is gone, I start looking at software
problems rather than hardware. Also, when I build my system, I make several
partition images along the way. First is the base install, next includes MS
Updates, next includes drivers, next has basic apps, next has full apps, next
has "extras" or everything I consider "current production + test". Something
blows up, I revert to previous image and see if it still blows up.

Another option might be to try the suspect drive in another PC.

Don't you love it when people snip in messages that they haven't even read.

Hey Grinch, remember

"which you also failed to parse. If you can't be
bothered to understand the content and context in
which it's used why bother replying in the first place" ?

You probably have been staring in the mirror when you wrote that, right?