How can I read old HD in new PC? 3

[bullhlms]

I just bought a new PC with WinXPhome (NTFS). I took the HD from my old PC (Win98SE, FAT32) and installed it so that I could access my old files. It shows "Healthy (active)" in computer management, but I can't assign a drive letter and can't access the data on it. Must I create a dual-boot system to access this data, or is there a simpler way? PC runs fine, just no access to old HD.
Thanks for any help.
Bill

 

[bcastner]

You should have no problems. There is no cause for a FAT32 volume to do a dual boot.

Begin by checking the BIOS. It sounds as if it is not reporting the drive properly to XP. Check the drive jumpers.

Then Start button, Run, diskmgmt.msc

The action you want is to rescan the hardware. You can force the same scan in Device Manager.

It should then report correctly.

Please report back.

 

[bullhlms]

Thanks Bcastner,
The BIOS is set to auto detect. I did the rescan; no change. Disk management shows the drive as Disc 1, healthy, active, and online. But the option to change drive letter is greyed out, and it does not appear on "My computer". I moved the jumper before connecting the drive.
I have previously rescanned and attempted to assign a letter in (pseudo)DOS.

 

[bcastner]

You cannot under XP change the drive letters:

. of the active partition boot volume
. of the system volume

This is not exactly true, you can do some tricks in the registry. But I caution you that this is unsupported.

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...rt/kb/articles/Q223/1/88.ASP&NoWebContent=1#2

 

[bullhlms]

bcastner,
I don't believe this is the active partition boot volume or system volume; it has NO drive letter, and the XP (OS) is NOT on it. It does not currently have a drive letter. I just want to assign it a letter so that I can read it.
Bill (bullhlms on Yahoo messenger.)

 

[bcastner]

The only other issue is a jumper or cabling issue. XP natively can read a FAT32 filestore or lower, and any NTFS volume, although there could be permissions issues in this case.

Honestly, what you are trying to do is perfectly possible without issue and sounds more and more like a cable/jumper issue. Some things I have found as "gotchas":

. if the original drive is Western Digital, they have an odd jumper configuration where you have to identify it is either Master or slave in a dual drive configuration. The standard Master/Slave jumpers are for single drive configurations;

. if your IDE cable chain is straight-thru, which is common for modern drives, you need the older ATA33 crossed connection jumper at times. Add the drive on the secondary IDE channel as Master on that channel, using the original Win98 cable. Transfer the contents, and replace with the new box cables your CD Rom that used to occupy that space.

This is not a Windows issue per se. It is a hardware issue. And if you repeat the problem as a new thread in forum751 with the exact make and model # information I think you can get this resolved.

 

[bullhlms]

Thanks again, bcastner.
The drive is a WD. I'll try setting up as master or slave in a dual drive configuration.
Bill

 

[bcastner]

Then I suspect the issue is a jumper setting. Single Master or Slave [v]vs.[/v] Master/Slave in a dual drive configuration.

The only hard thing is that I could not find an additional jumper the last time and wrapped a snipped paper clip around the pins.

 

[bullhlms]

bcastner,

I found the "Master" was jumpered for "cable", so I changed the slave to cable. System attempted to boot from CDROM----no go. RE-jumpered as before, and system started. Then jumpered for dual master/slave and though slave is recognized, I can't assign a letter to it (same as initial condition). I got the jumper info from the WD WEB site. Neither drive needs 2 jumpers; I thought you needed two.

Bill

 

[edfair]

For chuckles, how about putting the 98 (as CS) on the end without the XP and see if it tries to boot. Just to verify that everything is what is expected.
Then the XP back to the end (as CS) and verify that it still boots. Then the 98 in the middle and see if everything shows in hardware and whether it makes any difference.
You might also want to get into the BIOS and look at the CMOS to verify that the auto detection got the right parameters. Or even change it back to auto and force another detection.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[billy71]

I have used CS (cable select) for the master on Dell and jumpered the other (middle connector) as Slave, even have the slave loaded with XP and the OS never shows on the slave. The drive letter should be automatic without any further changes. I have used Fat32 also in this configuration on the Slave.

 

[bullhlms]

Edfair,
Thanks for jumping in. I searched around the WD site and found another place where they recommend the CS jumper AND the dual master/slave jumper------it didn't help. The BIOS seems to autodetect both drives correctly, and during power up the "missing" one is detected. It shows in Disk management as "Disk 1, basic, 9.55G, online.
9.54G, FAT32, healthy(active). 16M unallocated."

 

[edfair]

And the cable is 80 conductor with the blue header in the M/B? Cable selected master XP should be on the end and the cable selected slave 98 should be in the middle. Just checking to clear the thought processes.
I'm with Bill, it ought to be working.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[Freestone]

Did you have a program called GoBack running punder Windows 98? If so, then that's your problem as GoBack alters the Partition Type to one XP doesn't recognize.

 

[bullhlms]

Goback was running under Win98. Is that really the problem? What's the solution?
BTW cable is 80 line, and "missing" drive is in middle.

 

[Freestone]

Ack, yet another victim of GoBack...

There are various fixes, and please, any one familiar with GoBack, feel free to jump in with other/better suggestions.

1. I assume GoBack has an uninstall, and if so, you could always put your old drive back as primary master, boot 98 up again and uninstall GoBack.

2. Install the drive in another system that's running GoBack and transfer data through networking or some other method.

3. My least favorite choice, install GoBack on your current OS.

 

[Freestone]

I missed the fact that the drive with GoBack was from an older system. Would placing it back into its original system make option 2 above more viable?

 

[bcastner]

If GoBack was not uninstalled prior to moving the drive, this could well be the issue.

It makes an odd entry in the partition table (odd to XP or other Windows OS) that makes the drive unrecognizable.

There are some clever low-level hacks to resolve this, but the sanest course is to reinstall GoBack. The drive will then be recognized fully.

I would then suggest removing GoBack. But that is just an opinion. Your drive issue will resolve with the reinstallation of GoBack.

 

[bullhlms]

Hi all,
I disconnected the primary drive and removed the jumpers from my old drive. Made several trys at normal boot without success. (End up on a DOS-looking screen.) Was given a chance to disable or restore using GoBack. Tried restore without noticable success, but the disable is tempting. I was able to boot "safely". Maybe I'll just copy files to floppy, as I doubt that I can access my LAN or CD writer while safe. Then again, I might try setting my WINXP drive as secondary, but since it's NTFS I suppose it would be invisible. Win98 supported USB---------is there any chance I could use it to save files?
Is disabling GoBack at boot-up the way to go?
ps: I posted to the hardware/disks forum this aft, but have had no replies there yet.
again thanks to all of you for your help.
Bill

 

[Freestone]

You would want to boot your old drive in your old system, not in your new one. After a succesful boot, you would then remove GoBack, then place drive back in new system.