Installed 2nd SATA drive-no page file

[andyshriver]

Please review the following scenario: Machine 1 contains the drive named SATA1. This drive crashed and will not boot. In an attempt to recover data from SATA1, I remove that drive from Machine 1 and place it in Machine 2, a machine indentical to Machine 1. I power up Machine 2 (for which SATA2 is the only HDD) - Machine 2 displays the message "new hardware installed - please restart your computer". I restarted and, after logging in, the message "There is either no page file or your page file is too small...". After clicking "OK" the next thing I see is that "the connection to F:\%network drive% cannot be restored - the device is already in use". After clicking through that message, no icons or taskbar display - just a blue background. After a hard re-boot, chkdsk wants to run, specifying F: as the drive to be checked. Both machines are W2KProSP4 on P$ machines with single SATA drives and 512MG Ram. What can I do to remedy this situation? Am I screwed? I thank you all in advance.

 

[wolluf]

Just clarifying - did you put SATA1 in machine 2, with SATA2 still in place - so 2 SATA drives?

If this is the case - which was first in the boot order? How many optical/other drives in machine 2? How many partitions on SATA2? It sounds like whatever windows is trying to boot has its pagefile defined on a drive that either doesn't exist or can't be written to (eg, SATA1, which if its being treated as C: -ie, recognised in bios - and installation on SATA2 has pagefile on C:, but SATA1 damaged, so pagefile can't be created).

Have you tried just removing SATA1 and see if machine 2 goes back to normal?

Using something like BartPE disk (with appropriate SATA drivers on floppy) might be better way to try to retieve data from damged drive.

 

[andyshriver]

Wolluf,
Thanks for your reply - you were always a wealth of information. In answer to your questions:
1. 2 SATA drives in Machine 2
2. For the boot order, because the drives are SATA, there were no adjustments made to the jumpers. The HDDs are identical in model #, but my impression was (without having changed the settings) that the HDD in the Drive 0 position was SATA2. Each drive contains 2 partitions - the respective system (C partitions and a partition with the volume label,"DISE_BACKUP" for the D: partition.
3. Apart from those drives, there is a CDRW drive, and there is a 3.5" Floppy. There are also several mapped network drives to a Novell Netware 3.12 server (please don't laugh).
4. I tried removing the 2nd (SATA1) drive, and that is when the confusion really started.
Your thoughts?

 

[G0AOZ]

Check the location of the pagefile on the second machine, BEFORE you attach the drive from the first machine. It sounds like the pagefile may be on the second partition, whose drive letter is then being "shifted" when the drive from the first machine is added.

Solution: Temporarily change the pagefile on second machine so it resides on the first partition (C, then close down and attach the HDD from the first machine. Make sure boot sequence selects primary drive.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[andyshriver]

With Machine2 attached to the network (not logged on), I can map to it from another machine. The path is \\Machine2\F$ - if I use C$ (as with any other machine)instead of F$, the path cannot be found. BTW, there is a pagefile.sys of the appropriate size (approx 784MB - the physical RAM is 512MB) on that drive. Is there a way to reassign the drive letter via a command prompt on another machine? Would that solve the problem? Please remember that, once I log in locally to Machine2, the only interaction I am permitted is to click the OK button in the box that advises me that I have no paging file or that it is too small. After that, all I see is the pretty blue background on the desktop - nothing else happens. I really hope this is recoverable...

 

[andyshriver]

OK - I managed to get the C: drive properly redesignated via the registry (over the network). Now that I have the SATA1 drive (the one that crashed in Machine1) installed, Win2KPro Disk Manager says that the partitions on the disk are not formatted. Prior to the crash, of course, that had been (FAT32 - not my choice). BartPE only works with XP and Server 2003 (tried & failed, as it wouldn't recognize W2K install files). Are there any other freeware options, or do I have to buy something? If the latter is my only option, I would welcome suggestions as to what the most effective and economical option would be. Many thanks in advance.

 

[wolluf]

So you now have a working machine with access to the damaged drive, but its showing as not formatted? Which would mean you need a data recovery tool to see if it can recover data from the bad drive.

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

is a freeware tool which might help. Some of the commercial ones have an evaluation mode where you can see it it can recover anything - then buy it if necessary.

Have you tried to access it from a win98 boot floppy - as its fat32 (just to see if that will read it - and if the good drive is fat32 also, copy it).

There's also knoppix - but if the partitions are damaged, you'll need data recovery to stand any chance.