Keeper Mallinson on 22/4/2010 at 16:42
Hi guys, my system just went a bit bananas: all of a sudden, it doesn't recognize my secondary pack-mule harddrive. My Computer doesn't list it, and all the shortcuts to folders on that drive are missing. There has been no hardware changes to my computer, other than an open-up to check the fans for dust around the same time. It was suggested to me that I download some disk repair utilities that can recognize and repair disks that Windows can't see. If I should, what program do you recommend, or what other tactic?
Zerker on 22/4/2010 at 21:19
I recently used the (
http://partedmagic.com/) Parted Magic Live CD for some partition table recovery (TestDisk util), and it was great. It's basically just a bundle of as many useful Linux disk utilities as they could find; something there will probably fit the bill. May require a little bit of Linux know-how to use effectively, though.
Keeper Mallinson on 22/4/2010 at 21:53
Thanks. I've downloaded and opened the program. It's listing H:\ (my system drive), but not C:\ (my pack mule). Does this mean there can only be a loose connection in the hardware?
Al_B on 22/4/2010 at 22:57
I suspect from what you've posted it may well be something as simple as that. It's possible to get a failure on the controller board which means that the hard drive isn't detected at all but in my experience it's more likely that the drive is detected but doesn't respond correctly.
Check and (if you can) swap the power and data cables to your hard drive. If you have just the faulty drive plugged in can you detect (e.g. by the sound it makes) whether it's powering up?
Martek on 23/4/2010 at 03:05
If it isn't a loose connection and you are still looking for "disk checking" software, take a look at SpinRite. It has been around for many years and has a great track record.
SpinRite (commercial product) - (
http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm)
Also, for recovering deleted partitions, I have successfully used TestDisk (even just recently when I accidentally deleted the wrong partition when upgrading to W7 - TestDisk allowed me to bring it back, quickly). It also states it can do many other types of fixes; but the partition recovery feature is all I have used:
TestDisk (open source) - (
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk)
hth
Zerker on 23/4/2010 at 22:15
Quote Posted by Keeper Mallinson
Thanks. I've downloaded and opened the program. It's listing H:\ (my system drive), but not C:\ (my pack mule). Does this mean there can only be a loose connection in the hardware?
Uh? The tool I linked is a CD that you'd need to boot from, which contains a bunch of individual tools once you start up. Which specific application were you using?
smallfry on 24/4/2010 at 01:00
All the major disk manufacturers provide free tools for checking disk integrity. Just burn a bootable CD and let it go.
Keeper Mallinson on 24/4/2010 at 06:41
...Wow. It's just been solved.
None of the programs I tried read the drive; it just didn't exist as far as they could tell. The friend who looked at it with me checked all the connections, then ran BIOS (it was listed there), and then rebooted, and again, to a total of five times. He looked at me and said, "By the way... I win." It's just... working now. Five reboots? Really?
Ah well. Now I just have to replace the fan that has no screws... small problem.
Thanks for the advice though!
Martek on 26/4/2010 at 06:09
If simply rebooting it a number of times is enough to "bring it back from the dead", then it can have a high likelihood of happening again.
It may be having trouble spinning up (the numerous reboots finally successfully spinning up) or possibly has a bad power circuit or other defect that can get worse.
You may want to seriously consider a replacement before it fails again and perhaps won't "come back" that time.
Keeper Mallinson on 4/5/2010 at 22:42
Alright, scratch that guys, and sorry. The problem began all over again, and it's exactly the same. Suddenly, my pack-mule drive just isn't being recognized by Windows anymore. When I reboot, a dialogue on a blue screen begins, saying this:
Checking file system on C:
The type fo the file system is NTFS.
One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.
CHKDSK is verifying the files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
File record segment 8908 is unreadable.
File record segment 8991 is unreadable.
...And it goes on for about 50 numbers. Every time, stage 2 fails for one reason or another, the process aborts, Windows begins, and C: (the secondary harddrive) is nowhere to be found.
