Got a big problem.
I put my HD where I had some data into my bro's PC. Turned the computer on, HD was found in BIOS, started Win XP. This was very slow and hung up.
Took my HD out, but then WinXP didn't start at all.
In FDISK my Bro's HD was labeled strange, not the original label but weird signs.

I put my HD into my PC back, everything worked fine. But when I put my bro's HD, which i had destroyed, into my PC to at least recover data, win2000 started very slow. CPU is always busy. It takes 5 minutes to start win2000. My bro's HD is detected, but when I access it, win2000 says HD is not formatted.
Also in DOS-Mode it is still labeled strange. I tried to access data with EDIT in DOS, but the directories und files very corrupted. Again strange signs.
I guess that's the problem. But how can I fix it? URGENT!

Ohhh Struth..... remember to change your jumpers on your HD when you put it into another PC (it needs to be a slave HD - see the top of the HD or instructions on it or in its manual (if you have one), then detect it in the BIOS. Did you remember to change the jumpers?

As to the life of your Bro's HD the quickest easiest way is just to format it and start again, sounds like his HD has taken a serious beating lol ;), you could try and set it as a slave and put it into your pc (to get the files off it, that is if you can access it and you want to risk it ;) )

Sorry this is limited help (I could only provide a prevention).

Jumpers were set correctly. I can't figure out what crashed my brothers HD when I put mine into his PC. :confused:

I don't care about my HD, but about my brothers HD.
I put his HD in my PC as a slave, but can't access it due to the strange labeling I guess. Windows starts and operates really slow, when that HD is connected. CPU is busy all the time. (Probably atempts to access the HD.)
Tried to DOS-format it already, but won't work either.
So I'm stuck. If I low-level-format it with software from IBM, then I might get rid of the problem, but also all data is lost. :eek:
I wanna do everything possible to rescue the data.

Tried to format it with Partition Magic. - Doesn't work
Tried to run Recovery software. - PC takes for ever due to the busy CPU. Eventually it hangs up itself. :mad:


Any idea how I could get the directories and filenames back? Or label it back to its regular name?

Hello letschke,

My mind almost scrambled when I read what you had done.

I’m trying to think if there are ever any circumstances when it’s safe to move a hard drive from one set of PC hardware to another.
Perhaps if they were made of absolutely IDENTICAL items.
But lets live in the real world!

When your brother installed his operating system [into his HDD’s primary DOS partition] the “setup.exe” programme detected HIS hardware and suitable drivers were installed ON HIS HDD to operate that hardware and suitable configuration settings [peculiar to his hardware and drivers] were entered into his configuration files and/or registry. This would all be done to the HDD jumpered as the [primary] master.

Now let’s assume you do something bad [but simple].
You remove his HDD and put your HDD [jumpered as master] in it’s place.
The Operating System on this drive was not installed on this PC and therefore the drivers and their configuration settings installed are all made to suit another, different, set of hardware. They certainly don’t suit this hardware and I dread to think what the results of that would be.

Now let’s assume you add your HDD to his so both are in the PC.
How did you set the jumpers?
With his as master and yours as slave, or vice-versa; or did you jumper them both as master?
The problem is that both have primary DOS partitions and both have operating systems installed.
His OS is Windows XP and yours is Windows 2000, right?

I’ve read of a situation where both drive’s would be masters with primary partitions and OS’s and the BIOS doesn’t know which to boot from.
If you set yours as the master and his as the slave, then his is not partitioned as an extended DOS partition.

I don’t really know enough about this topic to keep you straight.
My best advice would be to put the drives back where they should be.
If either doesn’t work it will need fixed.

Does neither have a system of backup and emergency restore using a “Disaster Recovery” floppy?

Just read the two posts that got in before me.
I think Win XP and Win 2000 use different file systems so when one OS is running it couldn’t read the other systems files even if they were in an extended partition [which they’re not].
I imagine the OS going crazy trying to deal with a partition which should be an extended partition and isn’t.
I think that to work, both drives should have been partitioned on the one PC.

Hi Sylvander,

My brothers HD and mine are both identical IBM 60 BG drives. So there shouldn't be a problem with the driver.

And only my brothers HD had an OS installed when I put my HD in his PC. My HD had just data on it, as it was always located in my PC to store my data.
But both drives were probably primary partitions. Might have causes the problem, although in my PC two primary partitions worked fine.

Anyway, the problem now is to access my brothers HD.
Any ideas?

I can think of three things that may cause the problem, and none of them are really related to adding your drive to his machine.....

1. Physical defect with his drive, somehere near the beginning, this could have gone unnoticed if the machine had not been booted for a while.....

2. Corruption of the boot/partition information (this one could maybe be related, but if the drives were jumpered his-master, yours-slave then the possibilities fore that being the cause are low), possibly by incorrect BIOS info or a power problem......

3. Virus.......

You can try running the repair console from the XP disk...

I would try the manufacturer's diagnostic software, and a good virus scan.....I am leaning toward physical or viral and not related to anything you did...

Probably not a physical defect and not a virus.

I guess that the FAT table was damaged. But since there is always a copy I could restore it maybe.
Does anyone know how to do this?

I think it is also important to note that NO PC is the same (thats my opinion) as basically your PC is setup to your requirements (settings, display, software etc..) and his is setup the way he wants his, just because it contains the same hardware, doesnt mean to say that Windows and the BIOS settings are the same. Even the same hardware can act differently (its that weird thing of technology...creeepppyy :eek: )

Good Luck,

Olie

Hello letschke,

Read this
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/struct_Partitions.htm

You had two drives connected.
Both drives had primary partitions, which seems to be ok, but only ONE should be set as ACTIVE.
They should both, however, have been partitioned in the one PC so that the FAT had settings in it specifying the location of the other partition.

You had BOTH set as ACTIVE primary partitions and neither had any reference to the other in its File Allocation Table [FAT].

You misunderstood what I was saying about drivers. Perhaps I didn’t say it explicitly enough.
It’s not just about the drivers [or configuration settings] for the HDD.
When the OS is installed, drivers are installed [and configuration settings are fixed] for ALL “DEVICES” needed to successfully operate this PC [and (probably) no other PC].
That’s a great list as seen in “Device Manager”.
e.g.
CD-Rom’s, HDD’s, Display Adapters, Floppy Disk Controllers, HDD Controllers, Keyboard, Modems, Monitors, Mouse, Network Adapters; Sound, Video & Game Controllers; System Devices.

The particular combination of all these devices are unlikely to exist on a nearby PC and the drivers and configuration settings for them are installed on that PC’s HDD.
Therefore [even if you leave partitioning and formatting considerations to one side] that HDD, with it’s installed Operating System, should only be used on that PC.

I think you may be right about the FAT. I’ll see if I can find any info on that.

Hello letschke,
Here are some extracts.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/struct.htm
“Every hard disk must have a consistent "starting point" where key information is stored about the disk, such as how many partitions it has, what sort of partitions they are, etc.”
The master boot record contains the following structures:
Master Partition Table: This small table contains the descriptions of the partitions that are contained on the hard disk. There is only room in the master partition table for the information describing four partitions. Therefore, a hard disk can have only four true partitions, also called primary partitions. Any additional partitions are logical partitions that are linked to one of the primary partitions. One of the partitions is marked as active, indicating that it is the one that the computer should use for booting up.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/struct.htm
DOS (and the operating systems that depend on it for booting, which includes all consumer Windows operating systems) will only recognise the active primary partition. Any other primary partitions will be ignored.
Within the extended DOS partition, the logical drives are stored in a linked structure. The extended partition's information is contained in the master partition table (since the extended partition is one of the four partitions stored in the master boot record). It contains a link to an extended partition table that describes the first logical partition for the disk. That table contains information about that first logical partition, and a link to the next extended partition table, which describes the second logical partition on the disk, and so on. The extended partition tables are linked in a chain starting from the master partition table.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/struct.htm
Each partition has its own volume boot sector which contains the following:
Disk Parameter Block: this is a data table that contains specific information about the volume.
Volume Boot Code: This is code that is specific to the operating system that is using this volume and is used to start the load of the operating system. This code is called by the master boot code that is stored in the master boot record, but only for the “primary partition” that is set as active. For other partitions, this code sits unused.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q69013&
FDISK /MBR Rewrites the Master Boot Record

Good luck.

Is this an NTFS or a FAT32 drive?

Most often when you connect two drives with active partitions either the drive jumpered as master will boot first or neither will boot. Unless you actully do something to write to the boot record it wll not change just trying to boot two active partitions.

DO NOT use fdisk /mbr on an NTFS drive......also DOS utilities will not work!

XP is the first consumer version of Windows that does not rely on DOS at all (ME had DOS hidden but it still ran "on top" of it) and 2k is not/was not intended to be a consumer version of Windows........so neither of them depend on DOS for booting.

Also, all mass-marketed machines, do not have individual installs of the operating system.......they use "cloning" techniques, one master machine is made, then the install is "ghosted" to all the machines in that run (the install is usually stopped at the point that license info needs to be entered, so when the end user turns on the machine, they enter the info and it completes the install...some manufacturers use customised install files so some of that process is automated), this is a case of similar systems (same hardware in many machines using essentially the same drive....).

There are two different tables on a hard drive...the File and the partition....and there are differences between how FAT file systems and NTFS handle that info.

NTFS info: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/index-c.html

FAT info: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/fat-c.html

So, using the XP disk you may be able to use its equivalent to fdisk to repair the current disk structure, but do this after eliminating the possiblity of a physical problem (which could also include a damaged cable...replace the cable first, make sure nothing is over-clocked and make sure that the BIOS is set to auto-detect the drive geometry....)

Running the manufacturer's diagnostics is a good idea whenever you are faced with an inexplicable drive problem.

A viral problem is always a real threat....even when running an AV. Since you can't access the drive there is no real way of checking it.

Sylvander: Thanx so far. But do you have some info of how to restore the fat table?

mjc: All drives are FAT32. Can't use the XP disk because I have no access to it. But I will try again to put the HD in its original PC and restore the structure.
Any idea how?
And what is the equivalent to fdisk in XP?

You will want to boot to the CD and select repair...then from the command line type in fixboot, then follow the onscreen instructions.