What is the make and model of the drive. Does BIOS identify it correctly by model number and capacity? Can you feel it spin up?
Unable to access slave drive
Edit: Never mind for now. I nust saw the sticky on the "testdisk" program and I'll try that. Should look before I leap.
Hopefully, I can explain this where someone other than me can understand. Here goes...
There are 2 hard drives.
#1 is the main drive with Windows Vista, partitioned into C, D, E, and F.
#2 is the slave drive, only 1 partition, G.
#2 is the one having problems. One day, my G drive just stopped showing in "my computer". I tried to restart to see if that helped anything (This had happened once before about a month ago and restarting fixed it). This time, while trying to restart the computer hung up on the “shutting down” screen so I had to use the power button. When the computer started back up, it went through the ugly Vista splash screen and hung up showing a black screen. It did this every time I tried.
I then went into the BIOS setup and it showed both drives. I went to boot options and it showed both drives. I ran some kind of “smart” test on the drive through the BIOS setup and it showed everything ok. I restarted and it hung up again. I then tried to restart in safe mode and it hung up after loading drivers. Safe mode with command prompt, same thing. Last known good configuration, nada. Nothing worked.
I finally decided to crack open the case and check the drive. I unhooked the problem drive and restarted the computer. Of course, it started perfectly. I switched cables, ports, all that junk and everything else is fine. It’s definitely something with the hard drive.
After I was able to get the computer started, I had a brilliant <ahem> idea. I let it start up, THEN plugged the drive back in. I then went into the system properties and had it scan for hardware changes. It took a while but it did find the drive. I go to the properties and click on the “populate” button and it finds no partitions or anything. I go to “my computer” and it doesn’t show there. I restart and I go through the same mess again. Won’t shut down, then when I do it manually, it won’t log back on to windows. So here I sit, unable to even do a chkdsk or ANYTHING to see what’s wrong. Any ideas?
Hopefully, I can explain this where someone other than me can understand. Here goes...
There are 2 hard drives.
#1 is the main drive with Windows Vista, partitioned into C, D, E, and F.
#2 is the slave drive, only 1 partition, G.
#2 is the one having problems. One day, my G drive just stopped showing in "my computer". I tried to restart to see if that helped anything (This had happened once before about a month ago and restarting fixed it). This time, while trying to restart the computer hung up on the “shutting down” screen so I had to use the power button. When the computer started back up, it went through the ugly Vista splash screen and hung up showing a black screen. It did this every time I tried.
I then went into the BIOS setup and it showed both drives. I went to boot options and it showed both drives. I ran some kind of “smart” test on the drive through the BIOS setup and it showed everything ok. I restarted and it hung up again. I then tried to restart in safe mode and it hung up after loading drivers. Safe mode with command prompt, same thing. Last known good configuration, nada. Nothing worked.
I finally decided to crack open the case and check the drive. I unhooked the problem drive and restarted the computer. Of course, it started perfectly. I switched cables, ports, all that junk and everything else is fine. It’s definitely something with the hard drive.
After I was able to get the computer started, I had a brilliant <ahem> idea. I let it start up, THEN plugged the drive back in. I then went into the system properties and had it scan for hardware changes. It took a while but it did find the drive. I go to the properties and click on the “populate” button and it finds no partitions or anything. I go to “my computer” and it doesn’t show there. I restart and I go through the same mess again. Won’t shut down, then when I do it manually, it won’t log back on to windows. So here I sit, unable to even do a chkdsk or ANYTHING to see what’s wrong. Any ideas?
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It's a Western Digital WD3200AAJS and I can feel and hear it spinning and BIOS identifies it. Strange.What is the make and model of the drive. Does BIOS identify it correctly by model number and capacity? Can you feel it spin up?
Open Disk Management and verify the drive is listed and check the status.
Also, if it's recognized by the BIOS, you can download the HDD manufacturers disk tools to test the drive. That will rule out HDD issues.
Also, if it's recognized by the BIOS, you can download the HDD manufacturers disk tools to test the drive. That will rule out HDD issues.
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