Unable to use external HDD

[Woody]

My apologies if this is a regular question or has been asked
before but with over 314K messages on this group it may take me a
long time to find it.


My laptop only has a 60Gb internal drive (running XP SP2) so I
use a USB 160Gb external HDD purely for data storage - it is not
bootable. Yesterday it worked perfectly.

I gave it to my son to download a file (he is running Windows 7)
and he reckons it took over an hour for the disc to be recognised
but he could not read it. If I now plug it into my machine it
sits there for a minute or so then a 'disc not formatted' message
appears centre screen.

Would I be correct in guessing this is a corrupted MBR and if so
can I use the Recovery Console to put it right? Do I use fixmbr
or fixboot and can I steer it (i.e. fixbbot j to the HDD in
question?

If not what do I do? There is about 95Gb of data on it of which I
need to recover about half. In the past I have used a Linux live
cd to recover files from a crashed Windows hard disc (I used
Knoppix) but will that work with NTFS? I do have another external
HDD that I can use to copy to and then back again if necessary.

I would be grateful for any help, else I see an expensive data
recovery bill coming up!

TIA

 

[John Dulak]

My apologies if this is a regular question or has been asked
before but with over 314K messages on this group it may take me a
long time to find it.


My laptop only has a 60Gb internal drive (running XP SP2) so I
use a USB 160Gb external HDD purely for data storage - it is not
bootable. Yesterday it worked perfectly.

I gave it to my son to download a file (he is running Windows 7)
and he reckons it took over an hour for the disc to be recognised
but he could not read it. If I now plug it into my machine it
sits there for a minute or so then a 'disc not formatted' message
appears centre screen.

Would I be correct in guessing this is a corrupted MBR and if so
can I use the Recovery Console to put it right? Do I use fixmbr
or fixboot and can I steer it (i.e. fixbbot j to the HDD in
question?

If not what do I do? There is about 95Gb of data on it of which I
need to recover about half. In the past I have used a Linux live
cd to recover files from a crashed Windows hard disc (I used
Knoppix) but will that work with NTFS? I do have another external
HDD that I can use to copy to and then back again if necessary.

I would be grateful for any help, else I see an expensive data
recovery bill coming up!

TIA

Woody:

I am not sure what is going on but there are a few things you can try.

1.) Try shutting your laptop COMPLETELY down, plug in the USB external
drive (With power adapter plugged in if it uses one) and then turn on
the laptop. Hardware recognition may be more robust on a cold start
and the problem drive may be recognized.

2.) Try your Knoptix rescue CD. All recent versions of linux can
recognize, read from and be made to write to NTFS file systems.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/drive-failure-yagotta-try-knoppix-first/3214

3.) if you really want to tinker with the MBR you should read this first:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058#XSLTH4342121123120121120120

HTH & GL

John

--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - 40.4913ºN,79.904ºW - http://tinyurl.com/2qs6o6

 

[Woody]

Woody:

I am not sure what is going on but there are a few things you
can try.

1.) Try shutting your laptop COMPLETELY down, plug in the USB
external drive (With power adapter plugged in if it uses one)
and then turn on the laptop. Hardware recognition may be more
robust on a cold start and the problem drive may be recognized.

2.) Try your Knoptix rescue CD. All recent versions of linux
can recognize, read from and be made to write to NTFS file
systems.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/drive-failure-yagotta-try-knoppix-first/3214

3.) if you really want to tinker with the MBR you should read
this first:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058#XSLTH4342121123120121120120

HTH & GL

John

Thanks for that John. The external HDD comes up with the same
response on both of two laptops and my desktop all running XP
SP2, hence why I fear it is a MBR problem (if a disc that does
not have Windoze install per se even has one) or a corrupted
directory. The drive has not been roughly handled so I doubt it
is a mechanical issue.

I have read that NTFS keeps a second copy of the MBR - does this
apply to data-only discs?

 

[123Jim]

My apologies if this is a regular question or has been asked before but
with over 314K messages on this group it may take me a long time to find
it.


My laptop only has a 60Gb internal drive (running XP SP2) so I use a USB
160Gb external HDD purely for data storage - it is not bootable. Yesterday
it worked perfectly.

I gave it to my son to download a file (he is running Windows 7) and he
reckons it took over an hour for the disc to be recognised but he could
not read it. If I now plug it into my machine it sits there for a minute
or so then a 'disc not formatted' message appears centre screen.

Would I be correct in guessing this is a corrupted MBR and if so can I use
the Recovery Console to put it right? Do I use fixmbr or fixboot and can I
steer it (i.e. fixbbot j to the HDD in question?

If not what do I do? There is about 95Gb of data on it of which I need to
recover about half. In the past I have used a Linux live cd to recover
files from a crashed Windows hard disc (I used Knoppix) but will that work
with NTFS? I do have another external HDD that I can use to copy to and
then back again if necessary.

I would be grateful for any help, else I see an expensive data recovery
bill coming up!

TIA

[System Idle Process] is merely acting as a sort of placeholder during "free
time"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Idle_Process

I understand it as marking how much processor capacity is available .. or
how much processor capacity is un-used.