JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 Calling all tech guys -Here's the situation:On my desktop computer, I had a slave drive that I kept all of my documents on. I got a laptop last month and shut down the desktop and waited for my external HD to show up. My intention was to transfer everything to the external HD, so when it showed up I fired up the laptop. Got a bunch of beeps, and then said "Boot Disk Failure, Enter System Disk and press Enter." Or, it would lock up BIOS.Now, there wasn't an operating system on the slave.I pulled out the drive and put it on my dad's computer - same thing happened. However, if I start up the computer without the slave, everything's fine.A MSHer recommended a PE program so I went ahead and made a bootable disk and access the drive from there. BIOS didn't see the slave, however, booted up, and the PE program saw the slave ONCE as a RAW drive. After that, it didn't see it at all.Now, I've tried the freezer trick, and that didn't work. I'm about to give up at this point, but my entire life is on that HD. Any suggestions? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rustpot 1 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 What was the PE program? I had Windows take a dump on me and I used a live boot of Ubuntu Linux to recover files from my OS partition before I wiped it for reinstallation.This is a standard sized hard disk that you've recently put in an enclosure? You're trying to boot from the hard drive and are getting boot errors? I'm somewhat confused as to what hard drive you're trying to get data off of and what computers you've got access to.Best of luck, I know the feeling of losing everything, I've been through several situations where a virus or hardware failure has just wiped the slate clean. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 BartPE60GB hard drive, I haven't put it in an enclosure because I don't have one. I have it connected to my desktop as a slave. Windows is fine as it is installed on the master. However, can't get past BIOS when I try to boot up with the slave connected.All I am looking to do is to transfer the files onto an external HD that I have for my laptop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rustpot 1 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 So your desktop was running peachy, you got a laptop and the desktop sat dormant. Now you try and turn it on and your slave hard drive with valued data is causing a hangup?The bios shouldn't even be trying to access that hard drive during bootup... My dad's laptop had its hard drive fail and it was giving symptoms similar to what you're talking about, not bootable, bios doesn't see it, etc. It may have been an old drive that is just burned out, or leaving it off for so long let something break, or if you moved it at all it might have done it.You can try a Linux PE instead of Windows. Like I said, Ubuntu worked great for me and I ran programs and music off my slave before I got around to formatting my boot drive and putting a fresh Windows install on the system.If worse comes to worse there are services that can recover the data for you. I don't know how expensive it will be, but I've heard of it being done even after physical damage (like bullets or explosions) have rendered drives useless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 That's exactly what the situation is.I have no experience with Linux though. But the whole RAW unformatted drive message I got scared me a bit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chadd 916 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 Instead of running it as a slave have you tried putting it on the secondary IDE controller? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rustpot 1 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 I have no experience with Linux though. But the whole RAW unformatted drive message I got scared me a bit.I didn't have any experience either. I just made a CD from their site and booted from disc. The OS loads, you find the file manager, see if it works. Worth a shot, just a little time and a CD. Linux may see it differently than the Bart boot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cptjeff 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 Take it into a shop, and they can take the drive out and copy the data for you. They'll be able to read the disks for you and copy your files to a new hard drive for your computer, or an external or whatever. Take your computer too, and let them play with it.Hard disk failures are not things you want to mess with and make worse. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chadd 916 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 Take it into a shop, and they can take the drive out and copy the data for you. They'll be able to read the disks for you and copy your files to a new hard drive for your computer, or an external or whatever. Take your computer too, and let them play with it.Hard disk failures are not things you want to mess with and make worse.Assuming it is a drive failure and not a controller failure. As long as you aren't getting "those noises" it's just as likely to be a controller failure as anything else. You can almost always hear when you have an actual disk failure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jarick 5 Report post Posted January 9, 2009 What's failing, the external HDD or the desktop HDD? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chadd 916 Report post Posted January 10, 2009 What's failing, the external HDD or the desktop HDD?secondary desktop HDD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jarick 5 Report post Posted January 10, 2009 How did you hook up the slave drive to the laptop? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ngo_35 1 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 Jr, If you have a friend with a mac try to hook it and see if it will read. (sounds stupid? it actually has potential)Also have you checked the jumpers on the hard drive? It could be that the are set incorrectly or you just have to replace it.You can also give the hd a few taps if you dont hear the plates spinning (when its off of course). Finally take your current external hd out of the enclosure and switch the two drives. If that works you can copy over and copy again when you swap the drives again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 What's failing, the external HDD or the desktop HDD?secondary desktop HDDSecondary IDE did not work, swapped cables and still didn't work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 Jr, If you have a friend with a mac try to hook it and see if it will read. (sounds stupid? it actually has potential)Also have you checked the jumpers on the hard drive? It could be that the are set incorrectly or you just have to replace it.You can also give the hd a few taps if you dont hear the plates spinning (when its off of course). Finally take your current external hd out of the enclosure and switch the two drives. If that works you can copy over and copy again when you swap the drives again.Jumpers are fine. I haven't gotten the enclosure yet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ngo_35 1 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 hmm i'd just bank on the enclosure when it comes then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
camhockey16 5 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 if you have to go the expensive route these guys are highly reccomended - http://www.drivesavers.com/also you could try this and see if it can see any info on the drivehttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
camhockey16 5 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 after reading your description again - i am staring to think it might be a jumper problem still, unless i am misunderstanding something..am i correct that when you have the secondary drive hooked up in your desktop - the computer wont boot? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 The computer worked fine with the current setup, which was the secondary drive as a slave to the master. Nothing was changed. Started it up 3 wks later, and all hell broke loose.Computer works fine with the slave removed. Once slave is connected, computer goes haywire and won't get past/locks up BIOS. Jumpers are set in the proper spots. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RadioGaGa 162 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 Have you tried the drive in another machine? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBLfan 25 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 Have you tried rubbing your belly and patting your head? Love, TBL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 Have you tried the drive in another machine?First thing I did. Locked up BIOS in my dad's computer.Have you tried rubbing your belly and patting your head? Love, TBLYou'll love me this weekend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gwyren 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 JR,Does the drive ever spin up? If so, does it sound normal?If the physical drive is not damaged it could be the controller/pcb. If this is the case one thing I have heard done is to purchase another of the same drive and swap the controllers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3804 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 It spins, it gets hot. It sounds normal but doesn't seem to click/process anything. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
camhockey16 5 Report post Posted January 15, 2009 i have had the same thing happen in another computer and it was because both drives were set to "master" with jumpers - so it was trying to boot off of the hard drive that didnt have an OS.what doesnt make sense is - even if that hard drive was bad - the computer should just see that and then start up normally since original drive still works and has windows on it.are you plugging both drives in on the same cable or on seperate cables? im assuming they were older IDE hard drives and not SATA? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
