Missing 2nd Hard Drive After Reformat

[Lynn]

Hi there,

Well, if there's a problem, I'll find it, but this is a new and extremely
exasparating one for me.

Just reformatted my C: Drive with Windows XP Pro. After installing a few
bits of software for hardware from disk (Nero, Monitor, Fax Modem) I then
discovered that I was missing my 2nd hard disk drive (normally assigned as
D. I then find that my CD-ROM and DVD drives have the incorrect letters
mapped to them. Both hard drives are internal. No external drives here.

Upon checking in Control Panel... System,... I see the two hard drives are
present (both in Safe and Normal mode). However, the one drive ST340214A has
Disable as an option, whereas the other hard drive, ST360015A has no Disable
feature.

How do I tell the system to map my 2nd hard drive (which I think is the 15A)
back to being D: drive? The CD-ROM is currently D: (should be E:, and the
DVD drive is currently E: (should be F:. The C: and A: drives are both
correct (main hard disk C: and 1.44 MB Floppy A:.

I have never personally seen this problem before and really have no idea on
how to proceed so I would really appreciate guidance here.

What would happen if I reformat again? Would the 2nd hard disk re-appear? I
need that disk drive back as it has a few years of data stored on it which I
need! I know I reformatted the (correct) C: drive.

As yet, I have only re-formatted C:, and then put on the software for my fax
modem, Nero/InCD, then NVidia graphics card drivers, and lastly the monitor.
No printer or scanner software installed (not connected yet), and definitely
didn't reach my XP Pro SP2 disk!

I'd really appreciate help here please! Thanks to you all in hopeful
anticipation of solving the problem here.

TTFN...

Lynn

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi there,

Well, if there's a problem, I'll find it, but this is a new and extremely
exasparating one for me.

Just reformatted my C: Drive with Windows XP Pro. After installing a few
bits of software for hardware from disk (Nero, Monitor, Fax Modem) I then
discovered that I was missing my 2nd hard disk drive (normally assigned as
D. I then find that my CD-ROM and DVD drives have the incorrect letters
mapped to them. Both hard drives are internal. No external drives here.

Upon checking in Control Panel... System,... I see the two hard drives are
present (both in Safe and Normal mode). However, the one drive ST340214A has
Disable as an option, whereas the other hard drive, ST360015A has no Disable
feature.

How do I tell the system to map my 2nd hard drive (which I think is the 15A)
back to being D: drive? The CD-ROM is currently D: (should be E:, and the
DVD drive is currently E: (should be F:. The C: and A: drives are both
correct (main hard disk C: and 1.44 MB Floppy A:.

I have never personally seen this problem before and really have no idea on
how to proceed so I would really appreciate guidance here.

What would happen if I reformat again? Would the 2nd hard disk re-appear? I
need that disk drive back as it has a few years of data stored on it which I
need! I know I reformatted the (correct) C: drive.

As yet, I have only re-formatted C:, and then put on the software for my fax
modem, Nero/InCD, then NVidia graphics card drivers, and lastly the monitor.
No printer or scanner software installed (not connected yet), and definitely
didn't reach my XP Pro SP2 disk!

I'd really appreciate help here please! Thanks to you all in hopeful
anticipation of solving the problem here.

TTFN...

Lynn

Your first check must be to watch your BIOS messages
early during the boot phase. Can you see both disks?

The next step should be to find out if the file structure
on your second disk is intact. Here is how to do it:
1. Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com.
2. Run this command: ntfsdos /L:MNOP
3. Check if you can see your files and folders on drives M:, N:, O: or P:.

 

[Lynn]

Hi there,

Made the 98 boot disk. Typed in the command line and got error messages.
CDR101 Not Ready reading D: drive. I put in exactly what you had said, but
it gave an error on D:

Also same error on reading E:. F: drive gave Invalid.

Upon further investigation, after trying to run a reformat again, I now see
Drives C: and F: instead of C: and D:. Therefore reformat cancelled. Is it
possible to re-map F: to D:? Is it also possible to recover the data on the
D: drive (backup)?

Both drives are showing as Healthy (under Administration). One is System,
the other is blank.

Thanks in advance for suggestions on what else I can try.

Lynn

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

In your first post you wrote that you were unable to
see your second disk. In your second post you write
"One is System, the other is blank.". From this I conclude
that you have since reformatted the missing drive. This
does not sound very encouraging. Here are a few tools
that ***might*** restore the data on the formatted disk:

http://www.restorer2000.com/r2k.htm
http://www.hddrecovery.com.au
http://bootmaster.filerecovery.biz
http://www.runtime.org/ (GetDataBack)
http://www.runtime.org/ (has a trial version)
www.acronis.com (RecoveryExpert)

 

[Anna]

Hi there,

Well, if there's a problem, I'll find it, but this is a new and extremely
exasparating one for me.

Just reformatted my C: Drive with Windows XP Pro. After installing a few
bits of software for hardware from disk (Nero, Monitor, Fax Modem) I then
discovered that I was missing my 2nd hard disk drive (normally assigned as
D. I then find that my CD-ROM and DVD drives have the incorrect letters
mapped to them. Both hard drives are internal. No external drives here.

Upon checking in Control Panel... System,... I see the two hard drives are
present (both in Safe and Normal mode). However, the one drive ST340214A
has
Disable as an option, whereas the other hard drive, ST360015A has no
Disable
feature.

How do I tell the system to map my 2nd hard drive (which I think is the
15A)
back to being D: drive? The CD-ROM is currently D: (should be E:, and the
DVD drive is currently E: (should be F:. The C: and A: drives are both
correct (main hard disk C: and 1.44 MB Floppy A:.

I have never personally seen this problem before and really have no idea
on
how to proceed so I would really appreciate guidance here.

What would happen if I reformat again? Would the 2nd hard disk re-appear?
I
need that disk drive back as it has a few years of data stored on it which
I
need! I know I reformatted the (correct) C: drive.

As yet, I have only re-formatted C:, and then put on the software for my
fax
modem, Nero/InCD, then NVidia graphics card drivers, and lastly the
monitor.
No printer or scanner software installed (not connected yet), and
definitely
didn't reach my XP Pro SP2 disk!

I'd really appreciate help here please! Thanks to you all in hopeful
anticipation of solving the problem here.

TTFN...

Lynn

Lynn:
From your description of the processes you undertook it's not entirely clear
(at least to me!) precisely what transpired, so let me ask you a few
questions and then we can go on from there if you want...

1. You say you "reformatted" your C: drive. I assume from this that you made
a fresh install of the XP OS, yes? And that drive was formerly your
day-to-day working booting HD, correct?

2. When you "reformatted" your C: drive and made a fresh install of the OS
using the XP installation CD, during the installation process your second
drive (the D: drive) would have been listed. Do you recall seeing it and
more importantly, do you recall performing *any* action on that drive?

3. Prior to the reinstall of the OS as noted above, I take it there were do
drive recognition problems affecting your D: drive, right? It was used as a
data storage device and functioned fine, yes? Again, no problems with that
drive, yes?

4. But I guess you had some problems with your XP OS and that's why you
decided to make a fresh install of the OS. Can you briefly describe what the
problem(s) were?

5. After you reinstalled the OS, the boot drive is booting without a problem
and functions without any problems, notwithstanding the drive
non-recognition problem you're having with your second HD, right?

6. You're *absolutely* sure that your secondary drive is connected/jumpered
correctly. All the cables are securely attached. You didn't make any
physical changes either before, during, or after the OS reinstall process,
right?

7. You say both drives are shown in Device Manager, so it would seem there's
no problem in your motherboard's BIOS detecting the second drive. (The
reason there's no Disable option on one of your drives is because that's
your boot drive, your C: drive).

8. Access Disk Management and tell us what you see, if anything, with
respect to your second hard drive.
Anna

 

[Lynn]

No, sorry, didn't mean to confuse. When I went to Admin. options and
lookced under Computer Management and then Disk Manager I can see both
drives; however, C: (Disk 0) is present and shows as Healthy (System), 55 GB
NTFS. Then Disk 1 has no letter assigned, 37 GB, Healthy (Active). When I
went to reformat again, I had drives C: and F: instead of the usual C: and
D:. I cannot find a way to access F: at all. If I click on Device Manager
under Comp Mgmt and System Tools, I see both hard drives.

I guess I need to find a way to access this 2nd hard drive somehow.
Whether there's anything on it is currently unknown.

Ideas please? Thanks so much!

Lynn

 

[Lynn]

Lynn:
From your description of the processes you undertook it's not entirely clear
(at least to me!) precisely what transpired, so let me ask you a few
questions and then we can go on from there if you want...

1. You say you "reformatted" your C: drive. I assume from this that you made
a fresh install of the XP OS, yes? And that drive was formerly your
day-to-day working booting HD, correct?

Correct. C: is my Programs and OS drive.

2. When you "reformatted" your C: drive and made a fresh install of the OS
using the XP installation CD, during the installation process your second
drive (the D: drive) would have been listed. Do you recall seeing it and
more importantly, do you recall performing *any* action on that drive?

I don't recall performing any action on the D: drive, but now I'm no longer
sure.

3. Prior to the reinstall of the OS as noted above, I take it there were do
drive recognition problems affecting your D: drive, right? It was used as a
data storage device and functioned fine, yes? Again, no problems with that
drive, yes?

D: drive had all my backed up data on it, no programs run from it.

4. But I guess you had some problems with your XP OS and that's why you
decided to make a fresh install of the OS. Can you briefly describe what the
problem(s) were?

I had problems with Windows Explorer where it wouldn't recognise Fonts,
Printers or Scanners. I thought this was due to the installation of some MS
Beta software, specifically the Windows OneCare Live. After I removed the
software the problems seemed to go away; however, I noticed in the past few
days that they had returned. This time I wondered if it was due to the
installation of Windows XP Winter Fun Packs. I had other issues with
Outlook 2003 so I decided to reformat. I backed everything up to my D:
drive and then proceeded to reformat with my XP Pro CD.

5. After you reinstalled the OS, the boot drive is booting without a problem
and functions without any problems, notwithstanding the drive
non-recognition problem you're having with your second HD, right?

Everything seems fine with C: drive. Just can't access D: drive. See
responses to Pegasus that I just posted recently.

6. You're *absolutely* sure that your secondary drive is connected/jumpered
correctly. All the cables are securely attached. You didn't make any
physical changes either before, during, or after the OS reinstall process,
right?

Believe me, when it comes to opening the CPU I leave that to someone else.
I touch NOTHNG.

7. You say both drives are shown in Device Manager, so it would seem there's
no problem in your motherboard's BIOS detecting the second drive. (The
reason there's no Disable option on one of your drives is because that's
your boot drive, your C: drive). I believe you're right here.

8. Access Disk Management and tell us what you see, if anything, with
respect to your second hard drive.

Again, see post just submitted to group.
Thanks again!
Lynn

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

No, sorry, didn't mean to confuse. When I went to Admin. options and
lookced under Computer Management and then Disk Manager I can see both
drives; however, C: (Disk 0) is present and shows as Healthy (System), 55 GB
NTFS. Then Disk 1 has no letter assigned, 37 GB, Healthy (Active). When I
went to reformat again, I had drives C: and F: instead of the usual C: and
D:. I cannot find a way to access F: at all. If I click on Device Manager
under Comp Mgmt and System Tools, I see both hard drives.

I guess I need to find a way to access this 2nd hard drive somehow.
Whether there's anything on it is currently unknown.

Ideas please? Thanks so much!

Lynn

I guess it comes back to the test I recommended in my previous
reply. Let me repeat my instructions, this time in more detail.

1. Get your Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com.
2. Copy ntfsdos.exe (www.sysinternals.com) to it.
3. Boot the machine with this floppy. After turning on the
PC, press F8 repeatedly until you see the DOS boot menu.
4. Select "Safe Mode command prompt only".
5. Type this command: A:\ntfsdos /L:MNOP.
6. Report the result.
7. Type these commands:
dir M:\
dir N:\
(repeat for every drive reported in Step 6)

If any of the responses are different from the above
or if you see error messages, report them!

This test will tell you what readable file systems you have
on any of your drivers. It won't attempt to repair anything.

 

[Anna]

then discovered that I was missing my 2nd hard disk drive (normally
assigned
as D. I then find that my CD-ROM and DVD drives have the incorrect
letters mapped to them. Both hard drives are internal. No external
drives
here.
are present (both in Safe and Normal mode). However, the one drive
ST340214A
clear (at least to me!) precisely what transpired, so let me ask you a few
made a fresh install of the XP OS, yes? And that drive was formerly your

Lynn responds...
Correct. C: is my Programs and OS drive.
Lynn responds...
I don't recall performing any action on the D: drive, but now I'm no longer
sure.

no drive recognition problems affecting your D: drive, right? It was used
as
a data storage device and functioned fine, yes? Again, no problems with
that

Lynn responds...
D: drive had all my backed up data on it, no programs run from it.

the problem(s) were?

Lynn responds...
I had problems with Windows Explorer where it wouldn't recognise Fonts,
Printers or Scanners. I thought this was due to the installation of some MS
Beta software, specifically the Windows OneCare Live. After I removed the
software the problems seemed to go away; however, I noticed in the past few
days that they had returned. This time I wondered if it was due to the
installation of Windows XP Winter Fun Packs. I had other issues with
Outlook 2003 so I decided to reformat. I backed everything up to my D:
drive and then proceeded to reformat with my XP Pro CD.

problem and functions without any problems, notwithstanding the drive

Lynn responds...
Everything seems fine with C: drive. Just can't access D: drive. See
responses to Pegasus that I just posted recently.

connected/jumpered correctly. All the cables are securely attached. You
didn't make any

Lynn responds...
Believe me, when it comes to opening the CPU I leave that to someone else.

I touch NOTHNG.
there's no problem in your motherboard's BIOS detecting the second drive.
(The

Lynn responds...
I believe you're right here.

Again, see post just submitted to group. (follows)

When I went to Admin. options and lookced under Computer Management and then
Disk Manager I can see both drives; however, C: (Disk 0) is present and
shows as Healthy (System), 55 GB NTFS. Then Disk 1 has no letter assigned,
37 GB, Healthy (Active). When I
went to reformat again, I had drives C: and F: instead of the usual C: and
D:. I cannot find a way to access F: at all. If I click on Device Manager
under Comp Mgmt and System Tools, I see both hard drives.

I guess I need to find a way to access this 2nd hard drive somehow.
Whether there's anything on it is currently unknown.

Thanks again!
Lynn

Lynn:
When you say "I went to refomat again", are you referring to *another* new
format & install of the OS, or is this just a reference to the original
re:install?

Does Disk Management *now* list both drives, i.e., your C: drive and then
Disk 1, and the latter has no drive letter assigned to it? Or are you
indicating that *now* both drives are shown as drives C: & F:?

The Disk 1 you mention, indicates it's a 40 GB hard drive. Is that the
missing HD?

Please be clear as to precisely what DM is showing at this moment.
Anna

 

[Lynn]

Hi there,

Here's my update. Turns out the problem has to do with Norton GoBack. It
was installed on C: and then (a few weeks later) the drive was re-formatted.
I had a tech. friend check the system and was advised the drive is working
properly; it is just being "hidden" and is therefore inaccessible. I was
also told that all the files seem to be there! I have e-mailed Symantec as
the program files are stored on the problem 2nd drive, subsequently I can do
nothing until I can redownload the software again. Hoping that they'll come
through with a solution.

Thanks for your suggestions. Much appreciated!

 

[Keith]

Hi there,

Here's my update. Turns out the problem has to do with Norton
GoBack. It was installed on C: and then (a few weeks later) the
drive was re-formatted. I had a tech. friend check the system and was
advised the drive is working properly; it is just being "hidden" and
is therefore inaccessible. I was also told that all the files seem
to be there! I have e-mailed Symantec as the program files are
stored on the problem 2nd drive, subsequently I can do nothing until
I can redownload the software again. Hoping that they'll come
through with a solution.

Thanks for your suggestions. Much appreciated!

Do yourself a big favor and remove Norton.Isnt it amazing how many problems
turn out "to do with norton"

 

[Lynn]

Hi there,

I understand perfectly what you mean; however, I believe that, for the time
being at least I have to use Norton just so I can get access to my 2nd hard
drive.

L.