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HDD Crash

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by martin.hoer 1 view

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HDD crash
I have an ibm with a k2-350, Maxtor 8.4 gb hdd running w98 original ver.
I was installing a Kanguru CDRW external w-usb cable. Installation went w-o a hitch. Started formating CDRW and computer stalled w-42% of cdrw formatted. Hard freeze ctrl-alt-del would not bring up end task screen. So I did what you are not supposed to
do, turned the switch off and counted to 20 and restarted. Forgot to take 3.5 driver disk out and got the non system disk screen remove and press any key, which I did. The comp now goes thru intial screen w-ibm logo and then
blank screen with blinking cursor and that is it. Booted w-original cd and now
get a vfat error. The program files are on the drive as when you go to dos you
can see them. What do I need or how do I transfer these file to another drive
so I can get my data back? Tape backup went down 2-3 weeks ago and that is why I was installing CDRW.
Thanks for your help.
Martin

15 replies

by rybostyle

sounds to me that when you were formatting a CDRW disk, you were actually formatiing your HD, it got 42% done and crashed, now you bsically have a HALF formatted HD, good luck, I hope you have backups of your data. I would reformat the HD and then see where you are at. Bring it back to spec w/ the recovery CD from your computer.

by martin.hoer

Unless "Nero" cd burner software has something wrong with their format routine that formats other drives on your system this is not what happen. Thank you for your idea though.

by dmiles

One if their is a system start up disk you can use it to get back to your system,on the other hand you will need Norton's Disk Doctor utility to recover the data on the drive,see www.symantec.com to get help with a downloadable version.

by simon beck

Try to sys drive c: with either bootable CD or floppy.

Install Win 98 over the top if you can see the install directory or a CD-ROM. If you can't remember your OEM number it will be in the SYSTEM.DAT file (you have to remove the hidden and system attributes using ATTRIB -h -s)

by martin.hoer

This sounds like it may have helped. Unfortunately I am now not able to mount the drive in any way.I had shut the system off for the night and the next day was unable to mount. Upon further inspection ( I had given up on the idea of getting anythingremotely useful of this drive after being unable to mount it) I took it apart and the r-w head only travels 3/4 of the way across the platters and it is canted. No I did not bouce it off the floor -- even though I would have liked to. I have severaltech friends and they have said this is a rarity. The drive is also running at approx 80% power.
Thanks for the answer.

Martin

by simon beck

Try to sys drive c: with either bootable CD or floppy.

Install Win 98 over the top if you can see the install directory or a CD-ROM. If you can't remember your OEM number it will be in the SYSTEM.DAT file (you have to remove the hidden and system attributes using ATTRIB -h -s)

by randyc5970

before you go to any extremes, boot up with your 98 start up disk (through the floppy drive) once that is done do a scan disk, more than likely you have a lost sector, once this is done do a surface scan - this will take some time, if you have a lost sector or cluster this will clear it up. I just fixed someone PC who had the same symptoms this way. Good Luck

by martin.hoer

This sounds like it may have helped. Unfortunately I am now not able to mount the drive in any way.I had shut the system off for the night and the next day was unable to mount. Upon further inspection ( I had given up on the idea of getting anythingremotely useful of this drive after being unable to mount it) I took it apart and the r-w head only travels 3/4 of the way across the platters and it is canted. No I did not bouce it off the floor -- even though I would have liked to. I have severaltech friends and they have said this is a rarity. The drive is also running at approx 80% power.
Thanks for the answer.

Martin

by bww5195

If you have another hard drive that you can use, I would set it up as master on your pc and hook up your old hard drive as slave. As long as the OS on the new master drive will recognize the original (slave) drive, you can copy your data from that drive to the current master.

by martin.hoer

This was in my game plan but.............I had shut the system off for the night and the next day was unable to mount. Upon further inspection ( I had given up on the idea of getting anything remotely useful of this drive after being unable to mountit) I took it apart and the r-w head only travels 3/4 of the way across the platters and it is canted. No I did not bouce it off the floor -- even though I would have liked to. I have several tech friends and they have said this is a rarity. The drive is also running at approx 80% power.
Thanks for the answer.

Martin

by stanli

It is tough to troubleshoot with half the information, but, if you are getting an IBM message at startup, and a flashing cursor at the top right of the screen, then, you are quite likely running IBM hardware.

That being the case, you will need the IBM Startup Disk. It has been awhile since I worked on those, so I am not sure what the name of the Utilities Disk is. But a call to their Tech Support people should help.

Remember, IBM is one of those companies that, believe it or not, still locks you into their proprietary hardware. If that drive was not made by IBM, it may not work.

Good luck.

by martin.hoer

Unfortunately I am now not able to mount the drive in any way.I had shut the system off for the night and the next day was unable to mount. Upon further inspection ( I had given up on the idea of getting anything remotely useful of this drive after being unable to mount it) I took it apart and the r-w head only travels 3/4 of the way across the platters and it is canted. No I did not bouce it off the floor -- even though I would have liked to. I have several tech friends and they have said thisis a rarity. The drive is also running at approx 80% power.
Thanks for the answer.

Martin

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