Why can't my hard drive be accessed

[stormbind]

Is it formatted, dynamic, active? Right click the drive for options. Right click partitions for more options.

I would be more specific but WinXP came out after I left tech.support and I feel blind folded

 

[zulu9812]

Thanks so much for all your help. The drive is formatted to NTFS, I believe the it to be a physically healthy disk, which worked perfectly in a previous Windows configuration, but won't in this.

 

[stormbind]

It says that the drive is Healthy (Active)

I think, but will need to check as it's been such a long time: you can have only one active (aka boot) partition. Any additional active partitions will be invisible in My Computer.

Can you disable 'active' from the Disk Management console?

I will ask a friend who still works in tech.support, and who is far more familiar with WinXP than I, but they aren't online atm.. so I'll reply again (maybe tommorow).

 

[zulu9812]

all 3 of my hard drives are 'active'

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Possibly MS has changed their terminology, but on a FAT32 setup Fdisk will only let you set one disk as "active", ie. bootable. Most BIOS these days can boot from any disk anyway so it's not really an issue anymore. And I've no idea how NTFS does things anyway.

 

[stormbind]

I'm a little bamboozalled as to why it isn't working: still not asked anyone yet.

However, the setup should be as shown. It would be less-efficient to have the DVD as master, and a potential problem due to some manufacturers cutting corners.

1M : Bootable HDD
1S : HDD

2M : HDD
2S : DVD

The slave should also be the furthest along the ribbon. Temporarilly disconnect the DVD and see if that helps.

 

[zulu9812]

The slave should also be the furthest along the ribbon. Temporarilly disconnect the DVD and see if that helps.

Really? I thought that the slave connector was the one in the middle? Also, the problem hard drive isn't on the same IDE cable as the DVD drive; it's the slave to the master system drive.

 

[stormbind]

Really? I thought that the slave connector was the one in the middle? Also, the problem hard drive isn't on the same IDE cable as the DVD drive; it's the slave to the master system drive.

Looking at my PC, I do indeed have the master on the last connection

My memory must be faulty. I would exchange it, but we all have to work with the hand we are dealt

 

[Crazy Eddie]

If you have the drives configured master/slave then it doesn't matter which order they are plugged into the cable, although a lot of people seem to recommend putting the master on the end regardless, which is the correct arrangment for cable select. (for an 80 IDE cable anyway, 40's are rarely wired for cable select and those that were, were apparently wired the opposite way)

One other thing I've thought of Zulu, is the master drive a Western Digital by any chance?

 

[zulu9812]

One other thing I've thought of Zulu, is the master drive a Western Digital by any chance?

The master drive (which is the system drive, with the O/S) is a Hitachi Deskstar. The slave data drive (the one I can't access) is a Western Digitial.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Ah, just a thought. WD's have two different jumper settings depending on whether there is a slave device fitted or not.

 

[zulu9812]

But in this case, the WD is the slave device

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Yes, you said. I was just explaining why I was asking in case anyone was curious.

 

[zulu9812]

Oh, ok

ten smegging characters

 

[stormbind]

Have you tried it as the master device?

There's a file at C:/boot.ini that tells the bootloader which partitions are bootable. It may be worth checking in there to make sure the address of the added HDD is not listed.

 

[zulu9812]

this is my boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

I'm not 100% certain, but I think that's referring solely to the 1st hard drive, i.e. the system drive.

 

[stormbind]

Yeah, that's fine. It was a shot in the dark anyway

 

[zulu9812]

Someone on another forum told me to do this and it worked

It's possible you may have to regain file ownership on the drive in question if it is formatted with NTFS.

First you need to disable Simple File Sharing if it is not already:

My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View tab -> Scroll to the bottom of the list of advanced settings and un-check Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) -> Click OK.

Next go to the drive and right click on it and select Properties -> Security tab -> Advanced button -> Owner tab -> Select a new owner from the list and put a check in Replace owner on sub containers and objects -> Ok -> Ok

Thanks for your help, everybody