Invisible hard drive

[ak48]

Hi, I put a old seagate 1.7 gig hard drive on my computer. It is set as slave and the bios detects it correctly but I can't access it. I tried another hard drive and it worked fine. Is there anything I can do? If it helps I'm using an Intel PIII 550 with a Tyan Trinity 400 Motherboard, ATA-66.
Thank you.

 

[KimberTech]

Do you know if anything is ON it?
Is it formatted and ready for data?

Kimber I pledge to share any information I have and advise to the best of my knowledge based on the information provided. If I have helped, please vote my post helpful.

 

[ak48]

I have no idea, I just got this hard drive with a bunch of old stock... I don't even know if it works or not... How can I format it if I can't access it?

 

[KimberTech]

I didnt ask you to format it...just if it was formatted.

Does your bios see it properly? Autodetect is sometimes inaccurate and can cause these problems sometimes.
Just double check the settings to make sure the sectors etc match what the drive calls for.

Are you able to use a boot disk and set the drive to master on your machine, just for troubleshooting purposes?
I find normally that removing any possible problems helps to speed the process.

Hope this helps

Kimber

 

[ak48]

I checked the autodetect and it's fine. I set the drive as master and I still can't access it. Anything else I should try? Thanx.

 

[KimberTech]

You didnt specify whether or not you tried the drive as master while booting from a diskette.
If the drive were mine, my next option would be to boot from the diskette, and if the machine sees it...try fdisk.
If fdisk sees the drive you may be able to do something with it.

I have only run into this situation once before, and the drive was a spare old one. What I did was to hook the drive into an old machine and do a low level format....however this can also ruin the drive completely....you take that chance.

If I have missed anything in this troubleshooting I am sure some of the other forum members will remind us.

Good luck!

Kimber

 

[KimberTech]

PS..

Could be a file system or disk compression thing.
If FDISK wont find it....FILE under G...

Kimber

 

[ak48]

Ok, tried to boot from diskette, FDisk sees the disk and says it has no partition. When I try to create one, FDisk Checks the disk integrity up to 3%, fall back to 0% and then freezes... I'm not sure what you mean by "file under G". I know what a low-level format is but I never did one. If this is my last resort I don't mind trying it it's an old drive anyway. But why do you need to put the drive on an old machine to do it and how do you do it? Thanx a lot for all the help.

 

[DorothyDix]

If FDISK only looks at 3% and stops,try turning OFF the option for large disk compatibility in the beginning.Other than that,if it still only sees 3%,file it under G by throwing it in the GARBAGE


PAUL

 

[ak48]

I see So even a low level formal won't help here?

 

[KimberTech]

Double check the bios settings based on the specs for your drive, and once again try to access and fdisk. Watch for settings such as disk type etc.

Do you have access to another computer to try the drive in? It is a long shot, but we are almost out of options.

Looks like you have a possible lemon. Go ahead and try the low level format if you still dont get anywhere. You have nothing to lose.

Apologies for dating myself and not being more clear....file under G does indeed mean...the garbage...thanks Paul.

 

[ak48]

Doesn't work in another computer either and the bios settings are right... Looks like I'm screwed. As I said before I never did a low level format so if someone could give me a hand with this I would appreciate it.

 

[KimberTech]

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html

Read the information thoroughly and follow the easy instructions.
Only use the original equipment manufacturers software for this purpose, as they have designed this for the hard drives they make.

I should clarify, though, that the term I have used "low level format" is not the same animal as it used to be.
I should have called it a "zero fill" operation. Basically it changes the disk so that it reflects all zeros.
Once you have run the utility, try fdisk again.
If it fails, you have a garbage drive.
Let me know how it turns out. I like feedback ...positive or otherwise.

Good luck!

Kimber

 

[ak48]

Hi, I tried the Seagate Disk Wizard utility and when I started it up it said "The disk is not formatted for use on this computer. Do you want to format it now?". The program formatted the hard drive and I thought everything was fine because I could now access the drive. But then I tried to format it and I got an error msg : "Insuficient memory" ... Then I tried a low level format but the computer froze and so tragically died my hard drive. Thanx for the help but I guess there was nothing to do.

 

[KimberTech]

AWW...and after all that..

All is not lost though, now you know what to do in the future if you run across a problem drive.

Happy to have helped, even if we didnt get anywhere with it.

Kimber