Hard drive problem...please help!!

[Drakula]

I recently got a 200GB Western Digital SE drive. I planed to move some stuffs from my other hard drives onto there. So I did all the format and stuffs. But after I move the files from my other hard drive onto the 200GB, the files seems to disappear. I cannot see any files but one in Windows. I used the command prompt and see if the files are still there, they seems to be there. I tried to use the chkdsk from Windows but it would not let me run. So I rebooted the system and now the whole hard drive is recognize as unformatted. Can someone help me with the problem? Please help!!

My system basic specs:
Windows 2000 professional with SP4
AMD Athlon XP 2100+
Abit KR7A-Raid
512MB DDR RAM
Creative Live! 5.1 Platinum
80GB Seagate (boot drive)
And some of the essential stuffs like LAN card and such

 

[leolaw]

Just a question: did you use the floppy disc that Western Digital provided? I am not sure if it is neccessary to do that, but thatz how I solve the Western Digtial HD last time when my friends ask me. IF the files are still on the HD, try to move'em back to the old HD and use the Western Digital floppy disc to format the HD ( I think the software on the floppy disc is called : "EZ-install" or " Data Lifeguard Tools" something like that.

 

[Drakula]

The files on the hard drive are gone. If I could have move them back to the other hard drive, I would not be posting this thread. And I do not think the Western Digital EZ-Install work with Windows 2000.

 

[godfire]

I have a similar problem and would love to get some help on it. Same drive, basically same problem - after transferring a bunch of files to it, Windows gives me some "unreadable/corrupt" error messages on some folders/files. I restart and the drive is gone - unallocated, apparently, in chunks that appear to be the same size as the used/unused space before. What should be done? Can I recover my files?

 

[imported_Phil]

BIOS issue? Maybe not detecting the full capacity or working at 40-bit instead of 48-bit so the top size limit is 137Gb?

A BIOS update might solve it, worth a try.

 

[godfire]

I'll try updating the bios...but why would it work fine all this time and then suddenly stop working?

Oh, also, I just remembered - I don't know if this is related at all, but a few days ago I tweaked my RAM from 2.5 to 2. I've changed it back just to be safe.