dell 4600 xp pro SP3 new SATA how to access "dead" ide as 2nd/slave drive?

I have a Dell 4600 running XP pro sp3. The stock 40G IDE HDD "died" showing a "boot device not mounted" error. CHDISK says disk ok, FXBOOT accomplished nothing.

I installed a 150G WD Caviar Black SATA as the SATA primary (sata port 0) with a clean XP pro install SP2, 3 and updates installed. It is running ok, except for a "master drive 0 not found, F2 for setup or F1 to continue" message on startup. It continues just fine, I'm posting using this comp.

My theory was to reinstall the IDE and recover the files, since the IDE is no longer the boot drive, but I can't see the IDE drive. At least this is the reverse of what seems to be the usual problem of invisible SATA drives.

The IDE jumper was left at cable select.

Drive config was set as follows:

SATA primary --HDD

SATA secondary--OFF

PRI Master--OFF

PRI Slave--AUTO (displays as Unk. Device)

Secondary Master--cd-rom

Secondary Slave--cd-rom

IDE UDMA--ON

I'm hoping I muffed a drive config setting somewhere. Any advice?

TIA,

Bob

 

Also seem to have lost my audio device, controllers are there, but no devices listed and it's integrated audio.

 

If you are just trying to get the data off the IDE drive try putting it on the secondary IDE channel as master (temporarily disconnect the first DVDROM). If still not recognized set the jumper to Master rather than Cable Select as sometimes this makes a difference.

Once you get the data backed up you can figure out the configuration problems. (Have you tried turning on the Primary IDE Master or did you have problems with that configuration?)

 

Moving it to the DVDROM position allows it to be recognized, but I receive a "drive not formatted" message when I click on the drive icon. Is this still a config issue? I'm looking at recovery software at the moment.

 

Although, we haven't addressed the real configuration problem I believe the drive not formatted error is due to the drive going bad not a matter of the connections.

TestDisk is good at finding lost partitions but requires a bit of reading to figure out how to use it.

Partition Wizard is a better interface but I'm not sure how good it is at partition recovery but it does have that function. http://www.partitionwizard.com/help/partition-recovery.html

Either is more likely to see any data on the drive than regular Windows Explorer. I'd give them a shot and see what they can do.

 

Thanks Eh, any recommendations on either a freeware partition recovery or one that can be used on more than one computer? I have three on the desk in front of me.

Crap. Speaking of partitions, I just noticed my 500G SATA drive was partitioned into 128G C: and 337G unallocated space. What I get for playing with things 3AM on work nights:-o Merge merge merge!

 

TestDisk is free. Just not a pretty interface. I'd just run it through the first couple screens like in this example http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step and see if it finds any partitions. You don't have to commit to any changes.

Try the same thing with the free version of Partition Wizard and see if it finds anything. Remember you don't have to commit to any changes but you can see if they will read your old partitions.

 

Sweet! Thanks! I think I'll do the scan tonight, too tired to risk anything else.

 

WOOHOO! Everything is there

 

Update: A buddy ran a scan& fix and recovered a few files, but none of our docs or bookmarks. I'm not sure what he ran or if it was clear what we wanted as he did get my wife's files (the genealogy and dont bother with the documents) and none of my stuff (the docs and bookmarks bookmarks bookmarks) I think we lost an upload of pics that hadnt been backed up on dvd yet.

So I want to try again. The drive spins but is still not recognised by this comp

Would a Usb/external adapter be the way to avoid settings issues on this old dell currently booting with a SATA?

Should I run the recovery with my wife's new laptop as opposed to a 2.66 P4?

Recommendations on recovery software? It doesnt have to be freeware, but to send it off would be $165, I'm not sure this drive is worth that.

Any opinions on Google's backup service?

Thanks,

Bob

 

carbonite online backup is what im familer, and it works great for my boss and i on both laptops.

 

Try minitool powerdata recovery (free for home users). Use it with the IDE attached as in your post #4 (which if I understand lets BIOS see the drive). It is by the same people as Partition Wizard. So if Partition Wizard saw the files then it should as well.

I think you would try the damaged partition recovery option an if that doesn't work try the lost partition recovery. You have plenty of space on the SATA drive so you could copy the whole Documents and Settings folder to make sure you have just about everything you want to save.