maxtor unreadable?

michaelgilpin · 06-03-2007, 06:39 PM

have a new maxtor ata drive 120 gig been using as slave for couple yearsnow that i want to switch it to the master windows cannot intall on the drive it says drive is unecsesable. now when pluged in as slave drive shows up in device manager as generic drive. but not in my computer or in drive manager. i am running xp pro and am open to any sudgestions. i have tried maxblast for maxtor drives but it cannot find the drive it says there are no maxtor drives connected. i have also double checked the bios settings. getting frustrated with this one.

**twajetmech** · 06-03-2007, 10:31 PM

Hello and welcome to the forum, did you change the jumper on the back of the drive from slave to master and put it on the appropriate spot on the cable ? You may also have to reformat the drive to make it bootable, in which case you'll need to backup any files that are on it you want to keep.

michaelgilpin · 06-04-2007, 04:46 PM

tried changing jumpers and checked cable even tried a different cable. not sure how to format it before it gets to windows. cant access the drive in windows there is nothing on the drive i want to keep.

**twajetmech** · 06-04-2007, 05:17 PM

If you can see the drive listed in the bios then the Maxblast software on a bootable cd or floppy should have no problem erasing and reformatting the drive. If not, there may be some bios setting you need to look at, or consider wiping the drive and formatting the drive under windows disk manager....make sure its a basic drive not a simple, otherwise it will not be bootable.....then place the jumper to the master position and reconnect the drive as a master and see what happens....you may have to clear the cmos for it to take effect.

michaelgilpin · 06-04-2007, 05:58 PM

i can see the drive in the bios and i do have max blast on a bootable cd and it still does not see it i changed the bios settings to what the maxtor website said to. i can't format with disk manager because the disk does not come up in disk manager. can't even format with a windows setup disk

Old Man · 07-04-2007, 10:17 AM

Michael,

Hi. Did you have any luck solving your problem? I seem to have a similar one.

Regards,
Old Man

Tumbleweed36 · 07-04-2007, 12:36 PM

One question for clarity. Did you place it when it is a master on the END of the ribbon cable? You do have to change the jumper, but you also have to change the cable position if you move it to master. Remember, master on the end of the ribbon cable and slave on the middle of the ribbon cable.

Have you removed the old drive? What IDE port is this drive connected to? Tell us what else is on that ribbon cable and how both are jumpered. Remember, it must be either Master/Slave or (not as good) Cable Select/Cable Select. Some times we set the drive, but forget to check the jumpers on the other drive listed on that cable.

7horeau · 07-04-2007, 08:34 PM

Hi;
I just went through the same problem with an eBay 120 Gb Maxtor HDD.
I'm not a computer technician, just an average user. I'll just tell you how I got through the problem and if all else fails you might want to try something similar.

First of all let me say that I think my Abit NF7-S2 Mobo was a contributing factor to my problem. Its awful finicky about how the IDE connections are being allocated.

To make a long story short i booted with a Win98se boot floppy and used fdisk /mbr and fdisk to create and format a Fat32 partition.

Later I used System Commander and Partition Magic from Powerquest to switch to NTSF. I probably could have used the XP installation to reformat to NTFS but I wanted to be able to keep better control over the system transition.

With two maxtor drives, one on IDE channel 1 as master and one on IDE channel 2 as master or slave (using the jumpers), the drives would show in Bios but in windows the secondary drive would be missing. Disconnecting the primary slave (NEC RW ND-3550a DVD burner) would cure the drive problem,but introduce a CD problem.

I finally set everything at cable select and then everything was recognized in order. This was a result of simple trial and error. There is probably a simpler fix but I haven't come across it yet.

06-03-2007, 06:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
michaelgilpin Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 3 OS: win xp pro	maxtor unreadable? have a new maxtor ata drive 120 gig been using as slave for couple yearsnow that i want to switch it to the master windows cannot intall on the drive it says drive is unecsesable. now when pluged in as slave drive shows up in device manager as generic drive. but not in my computer or in drive manager. i am running xp pro and am open to any sudgestions. i have tried maxblast for maxtor drives but it cannot find the drive it says there are no maxtor drives connected. i have also double checked the bios settings. getting frustrated with this one.

06-03-2007, 10:31 PM	#2 (permalink)
twajetmech I helped the forums. Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: LGA, NYC Posts: 2,388 OS: XP-Pro Sp2 & XP-Pro Sp2 Tablet Edition, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: maxtor unreadable? Hello and welcome to the forum, did you change the jumper on the back of the drive from slave to master and put it on the appropriate spot on the cable ? You may also have to reformat the drive to make it bootable, in which case you'll need to backup any files that are on it you want to keep. __________________ PSU Selection/Info // Bench test // Thermal Paste // Memory Selection // Bios Beep Codes // CPU-Z// Posting System Specs

06-04-2007, 04:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
michaelgilpin Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 3 OS: win xp pro	Re: maxtor unreadable? tried changing jumpers and checked cable even tried a different cable. not sure how to format it before it gets to windows. cant access the drive in windows there is nothing on the drive i want to keep.

06-04-2007, 05:17 PM	#4 (permalink)
twajetmech I helped the forums. Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: LGA, NYC Posts: 2,388 OS: XP-Pro Sp2 & XP-Pro Sp2 Tablet Edition, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: maxtor unreadable? If you can see the drive listed in the bios then the Maxblast software on a bootable cd or floppy should have no problem erasing and reformatting the drive. If not, there may be some bios setting you need to look at, or consider wiping the drive and formatting the drive under windows disk manager....make sure its a basic drive not a simple, otherwise it will not be bootable.....then place the jumper to the master position and reconnect the drive as a master and see what happens....you may have to clear the cmos for it to take effect. __________________ PSU Selection/Info // Bench test // Thermal Paste // Memory Selection // Bios Beep Codes // CPU-Z// Posting System Specs

06-04-2007, 05:58 PM	#5 (permalink)
michaelgilpin Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 3 OS: win xp pro	Re: maxtor unreadable? i can see the drive in the bios and i do have max blast on a bootable cd and it still does not see it i changed the bios settings to what the maxtor website said to. i can't format with disk manager because the disk does not come up in disk manager. can't even format with a windows setup disk

07-04-2007, 10:17 AM	#6 (permalink)
Old Man Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 4 OS: Win XP	Re: maxtor unreadable? Michael, Hi. Did you have any luck solving your problem? I seem to have a similar one. Regards, Old Man

07-04-2007, 12:36 PM	#7 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,601 OS: XP Professional	Re: maxtor unreadable? One question for clarity. Did you place it when it is a master on the END of the ribbon cable? You do have to change the jumper, but you also have to change the cable position if you move it to master. Remember, master on the end of the ribbon cable and slave on the middle of the ribbon cable. Have you removed the old drive? What IDE port is this drive connected to? Tell us what else is on that ribbon cable and how both are jumpered. Remember, it must be either Master/Slave or (not as good) Cable Select/Cable Select. Some times we set the drive, but forget to check the jumpers on the other drive listed on that cable. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread. Last edited by Tumbleweed36; 07-04-2007 at 12:46 PM.

07-04-2007, 08:34 PM	#8 (permalink)
7horeau Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 15 OS: xp	Re: maxtor unreadable? Hi; I just went through the same problem with an eBay 120 Gb Maxtor HDD. I'm not a computer technician, just an average user. I'll just tell you how I got through the problem and if all else fails you might want to try something similar. First of all let me say that I think my Abit NF7-S2 Mobo was a contributing factor to my problem. Its awful finicky about how the IDE connections are being allocated. To make a long story short i booted with a Win98se boot floppy and used fdisk /mbr and fdisk to create and format a Fat32 partition. Later I used System Commander and Partition Magic from Powerquest to switch to NTSF. I probably could have used the XP installation to reformat to NTFS but I wanted to be able to keep better control over the system transition. With two maxtor drives, one on IDE channel 1 as master and one on IDE channel 2 as master or slave (using the jumpers), the drives would show in Bios but in windows the secondary drive would be missing. Disconnecting the primary slave (NEC RW ND-3550a DVD burner) would cure the drive problem,but introduce a CD problem. I finally set everything at cable select and then everything was recognized in order. This was a result of simple trial and error. There is probably a simpler fix but I haven't come across it yet.