Solve : Trying to rejuvinate a hard drive?

1.	Solve : Trying to rejuvinate a hard drive?
Answer» The 1st conundrum i had with this issue was deciding where it belonged in the forums.The problem is with a piece of hardware (namely a harddrive). However it is my SUSPICION that it will be software that will(if it can be solved) solve it. I have this 80GB Hd that was the one and only HD in the computer.I knew it's operating system winxp home was corrupted. The effect of that was that after many unsuccessful attempts to solve the software issues i opted to remove the HD and installed another with win98SE already on it.I got my computer back and then installed a 2ND HD and did a fresh install of win xp PRO on that hd. Both are continuing to work perfectly and i have no intention of trying to reintroduce the gummed up HD back into that computer. However i would really like to regain the use of that HD and install it into another computer. My logic (could be erroneous) tells me that as it is still corrupted somehow it will not function in any computer i would install it in even as a slave. Am i right in that assumption? Is there anyway i can completely remove all the data from that HD and reformat and install whatever i want on it? I truly believe the problem is not mechanical with the HD it is software corrupted.Hope I'm in the right tent on this one. truenorthThe details you give are a bit lacking in substance. Is it a PATA or SATA drive? On the suspect hdd what is the file system? You say it had XP Home installed but is the file system Fat32 or NTFS? Also, which manufacturer? REGARDLESS, you will have to install the hdd in some computer to format it, even if you use a usb adapter or external hdd enclosure. The first thing to do is run the manufacturer's diagnostic program(s) to show if the hdd is recoverable. If the hdd fails the test, use it as a doorstop. Quote from: TrueNorth Is there anyway i can completely remove all the data from that HD and reformat and install whatever i want on it? If there are state secrets on the hdd by all means use one of the many overwriting progs to delete the data but format should suffice if not. You should format it Fat32 which is acceptable to Win.9x, XP and Vista (check out that last one). If the existing file system is NTFS you will have to use some kind of bootdisk to format it, my favorite option is a Win98 boot disk on which I install DELPART to delete partitions but there are numerous methods. Good luckDusty, Thank's for coming on board. This is a link to a description of the HD i am referring to.http://www.ultratec.co.uk/stocklists/Search-ResShopnew.asp?model=ST380020A Hopefully this will answer some of your QUESTIONS. As to other parts of your questions. Is there some way given i cannot access the HD via any computer currently how do i determine the file system it has on it?I do have external cases and did try to use it in one but another post relates to my problems with the cases involving many more HD's than this one. I am somewhat reluctant to try the case route until i can determine what the problem is with the 3 cases i have particularly with a HD i know to be (software) defective. I have no idea what is or was on the HD (other than the operating system) .It was the one installed at mfg. by the computer Mgr.I have absolutely no need to recover any of the data.If i cannot access the HD how do i perform any type of diagnostic on it? Hope this helps. truenorthMy recommendation is to install the suspect hard drive as Master on ide1, have no slave, and use an 80-wire 40-pin connector. Then run the Seagate diagnostics (download either the DOS or Windows VERSION {or both} from here). If the Seagate diagnostic program cannot find the drive then it's toast. FYI there are many ways to attempt to access a drive such as: 1. Slave the drive to a known good system drive. 2. Run NTFS4DOS. 3. The Ultimate Boot cd (UBCD). 4. A Linux based boot cd (Knoppix). All of which are FREE options. Seagate diagnostics, items 2, 3 and 4 do NOT require you to boot from the hdd, they run from the disks/ramdrive. Good luck

Answer»

The 1st conundrum i had with this issue was deciding where it belonged in the forums.The problem is with a piece of hardware (namely a harddrive). However it is my SUSPICION that it will be software that will(if it can be solved) solve it.
I have this 80GB Hd that was the one and only HD in the computer.I knew it's operating system winxp home was corrupted. The effect of that was that after many unsuccessful attempts to solve the software issues i opted to remove the HD and installed another with win98SE already on it.I got my computer back and then installed a 2ND HD and did a fresh install of win xp PRO on that hd. Both are continuing to work perfectly and i have no intention of trying to reintroduce the gummed up HD back into that computer.
However i would really like to regain the use of that HD and install it into another computer. My logic (could be erroneous) tells me that as it is still corrupted somehow it will not function in any computer i would install it in even as a slave. Am i right in that assumption? Is there anyway i can completely remove all the data from that HD and reformat and install whatever i want on it? I truly believe the problem is not mechanical with the HD it is software corrupted.Hope I'm in the right tent on this one. truenorthThe details you give are a bit lacking in substance. Is it a PATA or SATA drive? On the suspect hdd what is the file system? You say it had XP Home installed but is the file system Fat32 or NTFS? Also, which manufacturer?

REGARDLESS, you will have to install the hdd in some computer to format it, even if you use a usb adapter or external hdd enclosure. The first thing to do is run the manufacturer's diagnostic program(s) to show if the hdd is recoverable. If the hdd fails the test, use it as a doorstop.

Quote from: TrueNorth

Is there anyway i can completely remove all the data from that HD and reformat and install whatever i want on it?

If there are state secrets on the hdd by all means use one of the many overwriting progs to delete the data but format should suffice if not.

You should format it Fat32 which is acceptable to Win.9x, XP and Vista (check out that last one). If the existing file system is NTFS you will have to use some kind of bootdisk to format it, my favorite option is a Win98 boot disk on which I install DELPART to delete partitions but there are numerous methods.

Good luckDusty, Thank's for coming on board. This is a link to a description of the HD i am referring to.http://www.ultratec.co.uk/stocklists/Search-ResShopnew.asp?model=ST380020A Hopefully this will answer some of your QUESTIONS. As to other parts of your questions. Is there some way given i cannot access the HD via any computer currently how do i determine the file system it has on it?I do have external cases and did try to use it in one but another post relates to my problems with the cases involving many more HD's than this one. I am somewhat reluctant to try the case route until i can determine what the problem is with the 3 cases i have particularly with a HD i know to be (software) defective. I have no idea what is or was on the HD (other than the operating system) .It was the one installed at mfg. by the computer Mgr.I have absolutely no need to recover any of the data.If i cannot access the HD how do i perform any type of diagnostic on it? Hope this helps. truenorthMy recommendation is to install the suspect hard drive as Master on ide1, have no slave, and use an 80-wire 40-pin connector. Then run the Seagate diagnostics (download either the DOS or Windows VERSION {or both} from here).

If the Seagate diagnostic program cannot find the drive then it's toast.

FYI there are many ways to attempt to access a drive such as:
1. Slave the drive to a known good system drive.
2. Run NTFS4DOS.
3. The Ultimate Boot cd (UBCD).
4. A Linux based boot cd (Knoppix).
All of which are FREE options. Seagate diagnostics, items 2, 3 and 4 do NOT require you to boot from the hdd, they run from the disks/ramdrive.

Good luck

Solve : Trying to rejuvinate a hard drive?

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