[NJDave67]

Guys & Gals....I really need help here. Something happened with my slave HD. It was working fine until yesterday. I noticed my computer was running a little slow then and then after a crash/boot, no more D: drive. The drive spins and doesn't seem to make any strange noises. I purchased a USB 2.0 drive enclusure in attempt to get the computer to recognize it via USB. Still nothing! When I right click on My Computer, click properties, and go to the performance tab, I get a message saying "Some drives are using MS-DOS compatibility" I'm not really sure what that means. When I physically remove the drive from the computer, and right click on the "My Computer" icon (same as above), I don't get that message any longer (I just get the normal message). Could something have happened with the FAT on that drive and can it be fixed. I don't care about the drive as much and the information on it. If I could recover the info some way, that would be perfect. Are there any utility programs out there that I can use to recover the information.

What about starting the computer with a Linux disk? Maybe the Linux OS will recognize the drive and then I can transfer the information onto a safe drive. I heard that on another forum but not sure if it will work.

A Little more background...When the drive is installed, the computer taked at least 3-5 minutes to boot up. With out the drice, it taked the normal time to boot.

I'm running Win 98....I know, I'll be updating just as soon as I can get the information off of this drive.

Please let me know if you need additional information from me.

Thanks a million for any info anyone can provide......Dave :-)

Edited by NJDave67, 14 February 2007 - 09:54 PM.

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The drive is on the way out.

A Linux disk may well do it, but it depends how mechanically sound the duff drive is. Therefore it may well die altogether before you're able to download and burn a Linux Disk.

You need some specialist third-party software that is able to scan the disk at a lower level than Windows does. These do sector scans and what not and are considerably effective at recovering data from drives will sector failures, yet will do no good at all if the drive is suffering from a mechanical failure.

[Neil Jones]

The drive is on the way out.

A Linux disk may well do it, but it depends how mechanically sound the duff drive is. Therefore it may well die altogether before you're able to download and burn a Linux Disk.

You need some specialist third-party software that is able to scan the disk at a lower level than Windows does. These do sector scans and what not and are considerably effective at recovering data from drives will sector failures, yet will do no good at all if the drive is suffering from a mechanical failure.

[shard92]

what I'd recommend ( short of professional recovery.... VERY EXPENSIVE ) would be to download a recovery program ( I use getdataback from runtime systems ) have it installed on the computer then set it up to have your normal primary drive plus the secondary drive and a THIRD drive at least as big as the second drive. Do an image of the second to the third ( getdataback will do this, though you may have to buy it first not sure... been awhile since I've had to do this level of recovery ) then unhook the second drive ( after shutting down of course ) then use the recovery software on the third drive that you imaged your old drive too... if that sounds beyond you then I would recommend seeking help or just plain old cut your losses and learn you need to back up your stuff to other media...