[krepta8]

I have a Dell Dimension 2400 PC running Windows Media Center Edition that was taken out by a nasty virus. In fact, the OS was corrupted to the point where pushing the power button only gave you a brief message indicating as such. My girlfriend recently passed her old Dell Dimension 8250 with Windows XP Home Edition on to me. I would like to use that computer to revive my old one (as it has better components) and regain access to the data on my old hard drive.

My original plan was to install the hard drive with the destroyed OS as a slave on the 8250, get rid of the virus, and then perhaps reinstall Windows on that drive (although this last step was not necessary). Then I would put that hard drive back in my 2400 and install the 8250 hard drive along with it, either as a primary or slave (depending upon which drive now had Windows). The reason is because the 2400 works better and runs faster, with 512MB RAM compared to 256MB RAM, etc.

The problem is that the label on the hard drive with the corrupt OS says "Limit Capacity to 32GB" on the chart showing the jumper position for slave. The data on the hard drive I am trying to preserve (and eventually gain access to) is almost 80GB worth. Does this mean I cannot install it as I intend? If I do, will I lose my data or simply not be able to access it? I cannot simply transfer data from the 2400 hard drive to the 8250, because the 8250 hard drive can only hold about 38GB with Windows installed. That is why I must rid the 2400 hard drive of the virus and (apparently) reinstall Windows so that it can be a master and not a slave, as it seems to be the only way to access all 80GB of my data again.

Considering this scenario, is there a better way to go about all of this? Or is it safe to do things as I originally planned, and should it work? Thank you.

Priority 1: Preserve the data.
Priority 2: Get rid of the virus.
Priority 3: Gain access to the data and be able to use it again.

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The problem is that the label on the hard drive with the corrupt OS says "Limit Capacity to 32GB" on the chart showing the jumper position for slave.

if it were possible to get an accurate clear picture of this label it would help...HOWEVER...i would be more inclined to assume that that's just an ALTERNATE jumper position for use in older computers...there should be a master, slave, cable select, and the size limit positions on the jumper header

[dsenette]

The problem is that the label on the hard drive with the corrupt OS says "Limit Capacity to 32GB" on the chart showing the jumper position for slave.

if it were possible to get an accurate clear picture of this label it would help...HOWEVER...i would be more inclined to assume that that's just an ALTERNATE jumper position for use in older computers...there should be a master, slave, cable select, and the size limit positions on the jumper header

[dsenette]

The problem is that the label on the hard drive with the corrupt OS says "Limit Capacity to 32GB" on the chart showing the jumper position for slave.

if it were possible to get an accurate clear picture of this label it would help...HOWEVER...i would be more inclined to assume that that's just an ALTERNATE jumper position for use in older computers...there should be a master, slave, cable select, and the size limit positions on the jumper header

[krepta8]

The problem is that the label on the hard drive with the corrupt OS says "Limit Capacity to 32GB" on the chart showing the jumper position for slave.

if it were possible to get an accurate clear picture of this label it would help...HOWEVER...i would be more inclined to assume that that's just an ALTERNATE jumper position for use in older computers...there should be a master, slave, cable select, and the size limit positions on the jumper header

Sorry, but this is literally the best my phone could do. (And I was using a magnifying glass.) The jumper positions are on the middle-left of the image. Here are the positions:

General Pin Setting
|[0]000| |0000| |00[0]0|
|[0]000| |0000| |00[0]0|

Limit Capacity to 32GB
|[00]00| |0[0]00| |0[00]0|
|[00]00| |0[0]00| |0[00]0|

Master...Slave...Cable
(1 Drive)............Select

AHA! I've got it! This little artistic exercise help me figure out that you were right. I thought that because "Slave" was listed under the second pin settings that this was the only option. Now I've figured out that you are correct: those three are alternative settings, and the ones above correspond to the same format--Master, Slave, Cable Select. Thanks a lot! I would have never guessed that without your input.

Finally, I think I read somewhere that it is best to use the "Cable Select" setting for modern computers. Is that true, or should I set it to slave? Does a Dell Dimension 8250 even fall under modern? Thanks.

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[dsenette]

so you got it?

[krepta8]

so you got it?

Yes, but I may still have a few questions. If I do, I will come back. Thank you very much.

[krepta8]

Okay, I have a question. I have properly installed the hard drive, but cannot access the files on it. Windows says I need to format the drive. How do I remedy this (without formatting)? Is there something I have to do with BIOS?

[dsenette]

so the PC detects it and shows it in explorer? but when you try to open it it says that it's not formatted?

[krepta8]

Yes, that's correct. It is shown as drive F. I tried to run a virus scan at first, but the scan "finished" without scanning any files. So I right-clicked on the drive and selected "Explore" and Windows said the drive had not yet been formatted. It then asked if I wanted to format it.

Edit: Is it possible that the virus wiped my entire hard drive and not just the OS? If so, is it possible to recover the data?

Edited by krepta8, 08 January 2009 - 03:39 PM.

[krepta8]

Update: The file system was unrecognized by Command Prompt, so I checked its properties using Windows Explorer. It indicates that it is in RAW format. Does that help at all?

[krepta8]

I have completely resolved this issue! Thanks go to desenette for all of his help.

After researching RAW file formats, I learned that the partition table with the information about the files was probably gone, but, as I suspected, the files were still there. This is why Windows was displaying the disk as being in RAW format.

In order to repair the partition table, I downloaded a free OpenSource tool called TestDisk. (http://www.cgsecurit...g/wiki/TestDisk) Knowing just a bit about the hard drive, the options it gave were easy to choose from. The function "Analyse" allowed the tool to recover the partition table to its previous state, indicated by “Structure OK” when it had completed the scan. Afterwards, I chose "Write" to fix the tables permanently, then rebooted. My hard drive was now restored to its previous condition, virus and all! (Which I promptly squashed. )

I hope this topic helps others in the future. Thanks again to desenette and the Geeks to Go! Forums.

[dsenette]

INTERESTING! yesterday i was doing some research for this issue....this issue is typically unresolvable and you've got to just format the drive (in my experience)...during my research that program kept showing up....but i've never heard of it and all of the mentions of it were similar to yours....100% positive to the point of sounding spammish.....so i was hesitant to suggest it since i've never used it and have no real way to test it on my own....looks like something we need to keep an eye on...

thanks for letting us know and good job of finding your sollution!