Formated HD 4.3 GB Seagate, installed win98,same time upgrated to win 2000, installed modem drivers and printer drivers. Everything was working fine, on the internet, did windows update, downloaded latest audio and video drivers. Formated 40GB Maxtor HD (two partitions). On IDE 1 cable I have 4.3 HD as Primary master, primary slave is LG 52X cd-rom, on IDE 2 cable I connected 40GB HD. With the help of Maxtor floppy disk, selected Advance option to copy entire partition from source (4.3HD) drive to destination (40gb HD) drive. On the screen I could see only this 40GB HD two partitions as C & D: but not 4.3 HD which is on IDE 1 cable. Disconnected IDE 2 cable and 40 GB HD from sys. Booted sys nothing happens, not even POST. Checked all cable and power connections all ok. Before this 4.3 HD with win 2000 was working, now it does not, this is a strange thing, any suggestions, thanks in advance.

sys:intel 900 Mhz,Celeron.

Special request to Sylander: During our previous conversations, you were not comfortable using Maxtor floppy disk for copies purposes, which supposed to work like 'Ghost' software. Should I use 'Ghost' in future for coping HDs instead???????;)

Hello mohamed.

1. Does your BIOS support “Large Hard Disk Drives”?
That’s drives greater than 8.4 GB.
Mine didn’t and I decided to use “Drive Overlay Software” to solve the problem.
My old [Western Digital Corp] drive was less than 8.4 GB and the new [Samsung] drive was greater than 8.4 GB.
To make the transfer [the moving of all software] from the old to the new drive I downloaded from the “Western Digital Corporation” website here http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp a couple of programmes named “Data Lifeguard” [which included “BIOS Check” & “Ez-Install”] to a self booting floppy.
The old drive started as the primary master and the new drive as the primary slave.
I believe it was supplied partitioned and formatted but I’m not sure.

a. “BIOS Check” tested the BIOS to see if it was “properly controlling the drive”.
If the old drive had been greater than 8.4 GB and the BIOS was failing to control it then “WDC” would supply “EZ-BIOS Disk Handler” “Drive Overlay Software” to control it. However, since I intended to make the new Samsung the new primary master I needed their version of “Ontrack Disk Manager” “Drive Overlay Software”.

b. I believe I installed the WDC “EZ-BIOS” initially so that the primary slave, Samsung drive greater than 8.4 GB could be controlled and later when I switched the drives over I had to replace it with the “Disk Manager” software. I had to read and follow the instructions VERY CAREFULLY. It was rather complex but it all went smoothly when I followed the instructions.

c. A WDC programme named “EZ-Install” was used to copy over the contents of the old drive to the new drive. I cannot remember if this resulted in a move of data from one drive to the other [which is what I’d expect] or whether this resulted in a copy on each drive, one of which needed to be deleted. I would imagine it would make the necessary partitions and mark the new primary partition as “active” and mark the old active primary partition as now being an extended partition [no longer an active primary partition]. Seems complicated does it?

e. I now switched off the PC, took off the cover and switched the master/slave jumpers over. I think I then booted to the Samsung version of “Ontrack Disk Manager” to install their “Drive Overlay Software” and it reported that it had found incompatible software and did I wish to replace it. I said yes and it was replaced.

f. I now rebooted the PC and it worked fine.

I cannot reasonably comment, on the operation of the software you are using, because I know nothing about it, what it does or how.
Hopefully, the account above may be of help.
I think you need to gain some detailed understanding of partitioning, file systems, BIOS control of HDD’s and how the software you are using works.

I know very little, if anything, about "Ghost", but it does sound like it's made for the job.

Hey mohamed,
while upgrading to Windows2000, did you convert your 4.3 GB HDD to NTFS. If thats the case, its likely that the Maxtor Boot Disk doesn't support NTFS partition so it didn't detect the first HD.

Well the problem is different now, since your comp is not being able to post/boot. You gotta solve this first. Make sure that the CPU is seated properly in its slot, take it out and push it back in again. Check the memory as well. Reset the BIOS, either use the jumper or remove the battery for a while and try to start the comp. Check the heat-sink, powe supply cables, remove all the expansion cards, modems, sound cards, Floppy, HDD, CD-ROM Drive, try with just a VGA card, a stick of RAM and see if it boots. If that doesn't help you have to cross check the components with another working set. Keep posting your developments.

I've been using Norton Ghost for long, and I must say it is reliable. Using ghost you can actually copy partitions without resizing/repartitioning the destination partition.

If possible, its always better to avoid third party partitioning and formatting tools.

Hi Sylvander, please tell me how to check if BIOS support 'large hard disk drives'or not. My HD are Maxtor and disk comes with it will have this info? Until recently I was using 40GB HD on this same sys. Which means mobo supports large hds. After formating 40gb hd, I installed win2k on it last night and it is working now, no copying this time. Now my problem is how to recover this 4.3 GB HD which was fine until I tried to copy to another. I can format 4.3 HD and start all over again, but I am just curious to know where I went wrong. Yes, I should try to learn more about partitioning, file systems, BIOS control. That is why other day went and bought hardware bible book ( I don't know when I am going to finish reading it).:D

Hi CuratoR:yes, when I upgrade to win2k it did took care of that part. Trust me, nothing wrong with the sys. because I started all over again with 40 GB HD, this time soon after formating, I install win2k on it and with all the drivers up date, it is working fine on this very same sys. I made an 'emergency repair disk' using win2k this time. And let me see if I could use this disk and check 4.3 GB HD why suddenly never boots. I will try this week end, still does not work, format and start all over again with this one too, but the mistry never solved. This time I will try with Ghost and see what happens. This is how I keep myself busy at home.:cool:

Hello mohamed.

If your BIOS didn’t support HDD’s over 8.4GB you’d see your 40GB drive displayed as only 8.4GB and if you didn’t enable FAT32 [you used FAT16] you could only make a number of 2GB maximum partitions up to that limit.
I don’t know about Windows 2000.
I downloaded and installed the “Maxtor” utilities onto a floppy and read the text files.
They made no mention of tests for BIOS support of large HDD’s, nor any explanation of the copying facility. I haven’t got the time to study it in detail.

If I were trying to bring the 4.3GB drive into use I’d treat it as the separate drive it is.
Shut down, remove the 40GB drive, connect the 4.3GB drive [jumper’d as master], boot to a startup disk, partition and format, install the software.
I’m sure there are more sophisticated setup’s possible using dual boot arrangements but I know little to nothing about that.

“I am just curious to know where I went wrong” you said.
I think this Maxtor utility software [like all the others] is designed to install a new, upgraded [bigger, faster] HDD. So it will move [or copy] the software from the master to the slave, partitioning and formatting the new drive as it does this. But here’s the important thing; it will REDESIGNATE the old “Active Primary Partition” as an “Extended Partition” and The new drive now has the “Active Primary Partition”. So even if there is a copy of the operating system on the “old” drive, the PC cannot boot from it because it is NOT in a Primary Partition marked as “active”. Not only that, but partitions are “chained” to each other in a logical sequence. The “Master Boot Record” in the “Active Primary Partition” chains to the “Logical Partition” in the “Extended Partition”. [I hope I have the terminology correct]

Hi Sylvander.
Nice to hear from you. When ever I do a copy from one HD to another, I normally keep them separetely on two different IDE cables. Source HD will be in IDE 1 as primary master, and destination HD will be on IDE 2 as secondary master. And never have problems to boot from eighter of them, never used two same time, both HDs are in portable caddles and I use separately. One I kept both HD on the same cable just see what happens while I copy from one to another. Well, you know by now "nothing happened - just got error messages" since then I use two separate IDE cables like I mention earlier.:cool:
This time I will try with 'Ghost' since I bought the software and I will keep you posted. We learn as we go on.
That 4.3 GB HD is a very old hard drive which my friend was trashing it but I took it from him to play and I gave him my spare 15 GB Maxtor HD as he wants to store songs on it and does not want to spend too much $$ on a new HD. Since I am tried of playing with old HD, let me trash it now. In conclusion: I formated 40 GB HD, installed win2k on it and formated another 5.3 GB HD installed win2k on it, only difference this time was "no copying"
:D
Will be in touch. Thanks again for educating me.;)

Here's some info.

The “Partition Sector” holds the “Master Boot Record” which includes the “Boot-Strap Programme” and the “Partition Table” [I think (someone correct me if I’m wrong)].
The following makes more sense if so modified.

QUOTE [from the AVG help files]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Partition Table
The very first sector on a hard disk is known as the Partition Sector or Partition Table, or sometimes the Master Boot Record. It contains a short program (the “boot-strap”) which loads part of the operating system into memory after the computer has been turned on.

The partition sector is the principle target for many viruses as it is the only place from which they can load before the operating system does. It also contains a table, which describes how the hard disk is partitioned in the partition table.
INSERTED------------------------------------------------------------
1st Physical Drive comprises:

1st Logical Disk:
PARTITION TABLE
Boot Sector
File Allocation Table
Root Directory
Data Area

3rd Logical Disk:
Boot Sector
File Allocation Table
Root Directory
Data Area

2nd Physical Drive comprises:

2nd Logical Disk:
PARTITION TABLE
Boot Sector
File Allocation Table
Root Directory
Data Area

4th Logical Disk:
Boot Sector
File Allocation Table
Root Directory
Data Area

The 2nd logical disk partition table is chained from the 1st logical disk partition table.
INSERTED------------------------------------------------------------

An infected partition sector is a problem because:
a. You do not know it is there. Microsoft's FDISK.EXE, a program for partitioning hard disks, does not display the boot strap code and most users do not have a utility program to view the contents of the partition sector.
b. You cannot delete it the way any infected file can simply be deleted. The partition sector cannot be removed; it must be repaired. Formatting (using program FORMAT.EXE) does not help; many have taken the drastic measure of formatting their disk in the hope of removing the virus.

However, FORMAT.EXE (supplied with MS-DOS and Windows'95) will erase all data, but leave the partition sector intact. You could loose your data and an infected partition sector can, and often does, make your hard disk inaccessible. In this case, if you are lucky, you may lose just the operating system but recover your data by booting from a diskette. However, all too often it leads to a complete loss of data.

Boot Sector
From the diagram, you can see that at the beginning of every logical drive is a boot sector (do not confuse this with the Master Boot Record or Partition sector). The boot sector contains information about the drive and a short program, which loads the operating system. This area can also be the target of a virus, but the majority infect the partition sector.

A boot sector is found on both logical drives and diskettes. Because diskettes do not have a partition sector their boot sector is the only possible target for this type of virus.

FAT Table
Fixed behind the boot sector is a data area called the FAT (File Allocation Table) where information about the location of all files is stored. The structure of the FAT is complex and is not important to this help file. It is just a data area from which a virus cannot replicate. The data in the FAT is indispensable and makes an ideal target to damage. If this small area of a few tens of sectors is amended improperly or erased, then data will be lost because the operating system will lose track of where each file is stored.

Root Directory
The root directory is placed after the FAT. It holds a limited number of entries (files and directories) unlike sub-directories (folders), which are limited only by the hard disk space. Sometimes, the root directory is used by older viruses for storage.

File Area
The rest of the disk, the largest part, is allocated for your use - your FILES. This is where your programs, data and directories are saved (apart from the root directory, of course).

END OF QUOTE

Hi Sylvander!!!!!
First things what I did was "printed", thanks again, my friend. This print out goes into my 'tech info' folder.:D