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Help me get my HDD back

O

oynaz

Platinum Member
Hi guys

My Windows XP installation has stopped recognizing my second HDD. I cannot see it anywhere - not even GetDataBack can find it. It works fine, though. I booted a Windows XP live CD and copied the entire drive with no problems. The Seagate diagnostics tolls report All OK as well.

I could of course reinstall Windows XP, but it is such a hassle. Does anyone have a suggestion?
 
CHange cables. Try different jumper settings. This does not seem to be a Windows XP problem - belay the reinstall.

Also, try a different power connector.

Check out your drive letter assignments in Admin Tools, etc.
 
It may also be a bad hard drive controller (either on the mobo or seperate card) depending on your setup. Maybe the drivers
for that controller need to be reinstalled.
 
Is it present in the BIOS?
Is it SATA? Is the system drive SATA?
Does it just disappear when it is running hot?
 
Originally posted by: wjal
Is it present in the BIOS?
Is it SATA? Is the system drive SATA?
Does it just disappear when it is running hot?
Click to expand...

My questions too also is it an IDE drive?

 
The main system drive - the my XP installation can see, is a 320 Gb SATA drive. Maxtor, I think.

The one I have problems with is an IDE drive. 80 Gb Seagate. It is present in BIOS.

Though it may be possible, I doubt the drive itself is faulty. It passes the HDD Utilities tests without any problems, and it works fine if I boot up in XP live or Linux. I copied 75 Gb from it to the system drive yesterday without a glitch, so heat does not seem to be the problem either.

Additional info: It worked fine in my XP installation for a time, but I suddenly noticed it had disappeared from My Computer. I may have installed some software which have caused the problem, but I cannot figure out any potential culprits.
 
Under Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management, is the drive there but not assigned a letter? What about in the Device Manager? Anything attached there through the appropriate IDE controller?


 
The disc shows up neither in Disc Management, nor in Device Manager.
Can some power management software have turned it off?
 
Make sure by going to Power Management and putting all drives on "Always On,"

When all else fails, remove the drive and put it in a USB external case - then hot pluig it. That will verify the drive and enable you to access the contents.

Could be a problem with the IDE controller.
 
As stated, I can use the drive if I boot to Windows XP live, so I doubt the problem is hardware related.
 
It could be hardware, firmware or driver related if it is the controller. Are there any other devices on that controller (CD/DVD etc)?

 
The controller driver may be corrupt. Remove the controller in Device Manager and restart the machine; allowing it to be redetected and reinstalled.
 
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