[SOLVED] IDE1 and IDE2 problem

5351 Views 25 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Deleted090308, Jun 24, 2008

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Discussion Starter · Jun 15, 2008

Hi All

This is my first post. So be gentle with me.

I have 4 Windows OSes on 4 different drives.
I use osl2000 multibooter, which presents a menu (after the post and bios have finished but before a windows loader gets called). This menu allows me to select a hard drive and then osl2000 boots up to that hard drive for me. This all works fine.

Now the problem.
I have hdd1 and hdd2 on the IDE1 cable (as marked on the MB).
I have hdd3 and hdd4 on the IDE2 cable (as marked on the MB).

When I boot up using hhd1 (on IDE1) I can see all 4 drives in Windows Explorer. Great.
When I boot up using hdd3 or hdd4 (on IDE2) I can only see hdd3 and hdd4 in Windows Explorer. Not so great.

In the past I was using the built in Windows dual boot method and had the same problem on this machine. In that case I only had two drives and the IDE2 boot would not let me see the IDE1 drive.

Has anyone come across this quirk/problem and know what I am talking about and maybe know how to deal with it? Is it just me?

Many thanks

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Deleted090308

· #2 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Welcome to TSF. :wave:

What operating systems are installed? Where (HDD) are they installed?
File systems used?

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Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

IDE-1 MASTER C: = WIN 2000 PRO SP4 = NTFS = 72GB DESKSTAR
IDE-1 SLAVE D: = DATA ONLY = NTFS = 30GB SAMSUNG
IDE-2 MASTER E: = WIN XP PRO = NTFS = 40GB MAXTOR
IDE-2 SLAVE F: = WIN 98 UPGRADE EDITION = FAT32 = 31GB FUJITSU

MB=ATHLON XP 1800+ 720MB RAM

BIOS SETTINGS
ALL DRIVES SET TO AUTO DETECT
1ST BOOT DEVICE = FLOPPY
2ND BOOT DEVICE = IDE 0

I earlier booted to IDE-1 Win2000 and all 4 drives are showing in Explorer.
I have just booted to IDE-2 XP. In Windows Explorer I can only see the XP and Win98 drives.
However, still in XP, I have looked in device manager and all 4 drives are listed.

Thanks for looking at the problem.

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Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

I just booted into Win98. Only the 98 drive shows in Explorer. Sorry I mislead you on the first post where I said I can see the 98 and XP drive from an IDE-2 Win 98 boot. All four drives show in device manager in Win 98 as well.

Steve

Deleted090308

· #5 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Windows 98 can't "see" NTFS partitions - so nothing strange there.

But... XP on IDE-2 should be able to see all partitions in "My computer".
Boot that XP installation and have a look in Disk management - are all partitions visible there?

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Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Yes, Disk Management lists all 4 disk drives. They are all online and 'healthy active', and XP is 'healthy system'.

Deleted090308

· #7 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Good. Try rewriting the partition tables on the IDE-1 drives.
Follow the steps here: http://www.techsupportforum.com/1163140-post1.html
Do that from the XP installation on IDE-2.

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Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Hi Eneles.
Forgive me for being a bit wary and seemingly questioning your good advice. The Win2000 machine on IDE-1 is a crucial developer machine and it takes a couple of days to reinstall everything from a format, so I am nervous of changing any low level stuff on the drive. The Win2000 drive works fine when I boot up to it. So, if it boots up fine can the partition table still be corrupt ? In this next step am I just going to run TestDisk in order to just test and see if there is anything wrong with the partition table ? Sorry to question you, but I can't afford to lose anything just now.

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Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

I decided to trust TestDisk. I run it from XP and looked at the drives I am not seeing on IDE-1.
The Data drive (no OS) drive is shown as * hid. HPFS/NTFS in TestDisk.
The Win2000 drive is shown as * hid. HPFS/NTFS in TestDisk

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Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 16, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

I ran TestDisk and did a WRITE to the partition table, but ONLY on the IDE-1 'Data Only' drive. I'm still too scared to do it on the IDE-1 Win2000 drive. Anyway, after doing that the 'Data Only' drive does not show in a Win XP boot.

Deleted090308

· #11 · Jun 17, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

No need to apologize - I'd be hesitant too. :smile:
The only thing that'll be altered is the MFT, but on second thought that can't be the problem if everything looks OK in Disk management.

Please post a screenshot of XP's Disk management.

How to post a screenshot.

Have you tried opening the C: and D: drives from a command prompt?

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Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 17, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Cannot access the two drives drives via the Command prompt ("The system cannot find the drive specified.").

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Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 17, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

If this is any help ...
I ran TestDisk via XP (on IDE-2) and the IDE-1 drives I could not see were marked *.hid in the Partition column in TestDisk.
I ran TestDisk via Win2000 (on IDE-1) and the IDE-1 drives do not have the ".hid" marker in the Partition column in TestDisk.

Deleted090308

· #14 · Jun 17, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Try assigning drive letters to drive 0 and 1 (right click in Disk management).

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Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 17, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Those options are greyed out in Disk Management.

Deleted090308

· #16 · Jun 18, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Have a look in device manager (enable "Show hidden devices" in the View menu).
Any yellow or red "marks" in device manager?

Under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers >> uninstall the Primary IDE channel.
Reboot and let Windows reinstall the channel.

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Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 18, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

There are no reds or yellows in Device Manager. I uninstalled the Primary IDE channel and rebooted. I did not get the 'found new hardware' message and went straight into the desktop screen as normal. Primary channel is showing in Device Manager. I looked in Disk Manager and all things are the same.

Deleted090308

· #18 · Jun 18, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Very strange... :sigh:

Device manager >> Disk drives >> Right click disk 0 (80GB? Deskstar?) >> Properties >> Volumes >> Populate.

Repeat with Disk 1.

BTW - the disk capacities in Disk management aren't the same as the ones you posted in #3.

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Discussion Starter · #19 · Jun 19, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Apologies for being loose about the hard drive sizes, I just did them off the top of my head. I quickly named the backup drive as 40GB in error a couple of years ago, and have not bothered to change it. Also, Windows, Dos and the Bios all seem to report different sizes.

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Discussion Starter · #20 · Jun 19, 2008

Re: IDE1 and IDE2 problem

Oops, the post got chopped.

I'll upload the populated volume sceenshots.

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