[seedless]

Hey guys

i have a small problem let me put it like this, i have a 80gig westerndigitel partitioned into a 20 gig and 50 gig i use my 20 gig to install my windows operating system and the 50 for storage, i also have a 250 gig maxter hard drive that is completely full with stuff, now everything was working fine, but after i formatted my hard drives and reinstalled windows my partitioned 80 gig hard drive was working fine, but i noticed that my 250 gig was not showing up in My computer, so i whent to the computer management and it was saying that my maxter 250 gig was un allocated now i don't wan to touch it because i have to much priceless data on that hard drive that i don't want to lose, so dose anyone know how i can get around this? also this is not my first time formatting my hard drive i regularly do it each year for performance resins,but this time i don't know what happen.

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You could try running Maxtor's diagnostics on the drive. If you don't have that, go to http://forums.pcper....isplay.php?f=40 Check the sticky post at the top of the forum. It has links to most manufacturers diagnostics (Maxtor is there).

Just a few words of advice. Disk clean up defragmenter (under system tools) should take care of your performance concerns. Turning off indexing is good too. As you have sadly just learned, any time you format and do an clean install, you run the risk of this happening. While you had been lucky in the past, Murphy's law just got you. Sorry.

See where the Maxtor diagnostics take you. You could always take the Maxtor out and put it in another system as a slave drive and recover your data that way.

[austin_o]

You could try running Maxtor's diagnostics on the drive. If you don't have that, go to http://forums.pcper....isplay.php?f=40 Check the sticky post at the top of the forum. It has links to most manufacturers diagnostics (Maxtor is there).

Just a few words of advice. Disk clean up defragmenter (under system tools) should take care of your performance concerns. Turning off indexing is good too. As you have sadly just learned, any time you format and do an clean install, you run the risk of this happening. While you had been lucky in the past, Murphy's law just got you. Sorry.

See where the Maxtor diagnostics take you. You could always take the Maxtor out and put it in another system as a slave drive and recover your data that way.

[seedless]

austin tnx for the reply.

but i got a worse problem before i could load to windows and see the maxter as unallocated, but now i can't even boot up windows if i have the maxter hard drive connected it says checking DMI Pool data and stay there frozen solid do you think i mesd up the mbr on the maxter or partition table?

seedleSs.

Edited by seedless, 13 April 2006 - 11:16 PM.

[wannabe1]

Hi seedless...

This does sound a lot like a damaged boot sector. Disconnect the second hard drive so that only the Primary Master is connected. Then try this REPAIR to your installation of XP. This procedure will not damage or change your current files or settings...it will just repair or replace damaged system files. You will be asked for your Installation CD and may be asked for your product key. Follow the instructions carefully...print them out if you can. Note: This option is not always available on OEM Recovery Cd's

Once this repair has completed, you will have to download all Windows Updates again.

Once the repair has completed, power down and reconnect the second drive. The second drive should then be detected by Windows and (hopefully) all will be well again. Let us know if this helps...

wannabe1

[seedless]

wannabe1 tnx for the reply.

hey will this repair help me fix the MBR or Partition table on the my maxter or is this fix for windows to help it detect the hard drive ?

[wannabe1]

This will rewrite the MBR and straighten out the partition table index...it will also replace the registry hive and system files. The neat thing is...it leaves your data and settings intact. It looks just like an install, but it IS a repair.

Edited by wannabe1, 13 April 2006 - 11:45 PM.

[seedless]

im not as knowledgeable as you i am learning tnx for your patience forgive my arrogance, but how dose this repair fix the hard drive mbr or partition table if it for a hard drive thats not even connected?
and why dose it say on Step 1: Rule out hardware issues. Windows Repair will only fix software problems. ?

seedleSs.

Edited by seedless, 14 April 2006 - 12:06 AM.

[wannabe1]

I don't see questions as arrogance...

Right now, the machine won't boot...we need to fix that first.

You'll need to have the drive you plan to repair connected when you run the repair. It will only work on the drive which contains the root directory as that is the drive which also holds the MBR. When you boot from the cd, the MBR is overwritten by the cd...it will then set the indexing and install the registry hive. After that it copies system files rewriting those already on the root. This is to get your machine running again.

Once this is done, and the 250 gig is reconnected, it should recognize the drive and install it. Not a 100% sure thing, but experience has shown that it works a good share of the time. This is to recover the data drive.

Edited by wannabe1, 14 April 2006 - 12:08 AM.

[seedless]

wannabe1 i think it is the 250 gig maxter that has the mbr or partition table problems not my 80 gig which has windows installed on it, correct me if im wrong.

Edited by seedless, 14 April 2006 - 12:11 AM.

[wannabe1]

The MBR (Master Boot Record) will be on the same drive as the operating system. Your Maxtor will be formatted, but should not have an MBR on it. The space on that drive should be allocated to data storage only unless you have installed an operating system on that drive, too. If that's the case, we'll have our work cut out for us...

You stated the machine won't start...correct? Which drive contains the OS?

Edited by wannabe1, 14 April 2006 - 12:19 AM.

[seedless]

the 80 gig western digital has the OS and the 250 maxter is my storage which has lots of priceless files on it that i wouldn't want to lose, i can load the 80 gig with no problems, but when i have the 250 gig maxter connected that's when i cant load so i was thinking if i do this fix to the 80 gig western with the os and the root how will it fix the mbr or partition table of the 250 gig maxter which is not even connected.

[wannabe1]

There is no MBR on the 250 gig drive if it is a storage drive. If windows is booting properly then we need to look elsewhere for the problem.

This takes us back to austin_o's suggestion. Install the maxtor as a slave in another machine and see if you can see the data.

[seedless]

ok austin_o i ran the maxter power tools jest about everyone of them i didn’t get any errors what so ever i ran the 30 minit test and i also ran the burn in test i guess that’s the one that tells me if i have a partition table and everything passed, but what’s surprising me is that if you recall i was talking about the drive showing up as unallocated, but i notice that only 30 gigs of the 250 hard drive is unallocated which im thinking what if i allocated jest the 30 gigs what something like that work? any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.