Hi all.. hope someone can help me. The other day prior to installing some new program offered here, decided to first do a system restore point. Well, DUH, it showed both the C: and F: drive. I only wanted a restore point on the C: drive, so, DUMB me, I clicked on the F: and then delete.
Now it IS totally gone! Don't know how to get it back. I tried system restore with different date, nada. It flat out doesn't show as even being on here. Been googling and no help there. Tried hitting F8 to restore to when it last worked right, still no F: drive. Tried control panel/new hardware, nope. Someplace I saw mention of bios, but don't know what to do for that... any brainiacs on here??
Should I unplug it and then replug it in to find new hardware??
I need help finding my spare HD!
(56 posts) (12 voices)-
copmom
MemberPosted 16 years ago # -
I'll take a double...just because :)
I am going to take a wild guess and assume you tried a "Cold Boot?"
Posted 16 years ago # -
FreewareFan
MemberHey, copmom. I'll do the best I can to help you, but I need some more information first. Would I be assuming correctly that your F: drive is an external drive, because you said something about plugging and unplugging it?
Assuming that it is an external drive, then yes, unplug it, then plug it back in. Then click on your Start button, and then go up and click on your My Computer button. Your external drive should now show on the resulting window that comes up. If it does, then click on it's icon, and make sure that your data is still on the drive.
One possiblilty when you do the above, is that the computer may rename your external drive from F: to something else, like maybe G:.... I doubt that will happen, but keep it in mind.
Let me know, I'll keep checking back to see what you say...
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberThanks FWF.. nope it's not an external drive. It's an internal SATA. Have C:, then D=DVD; E=DVD/RW;
then G, H, & I are my smart card reader slots.I do also have an external but that's not even plugged in at all, just stored in a safe place. Just keep that for a backup IF I remember to do that!
This all worked fine Monday, that's the day I last posted invoices, and I always back up to the C and F. Today was posting and no F: to back up to.. that's when I discovered it.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Sometimes things occur, and I don't know how...Suddenly my external H drive was gone. I didn't know why, I didn't know where and it didn't left a note behind, without a trace...
I shut down the puter, unplugged the H-drive, threatened to buy a new one, replugged, rebooted - and voilá - my H-drive came back -rather sheepish. That was for about a month. I bought a new 500 GB drive and put it on the table alongside - it works !
The same with the little man, don't know how, don't know where, but he is back (didn't buy a new one, don't know how, don't know where ) - SKOALAs to your C-drive : take a corkscrew (or perhaps a screwdriver ?), open your puter's back, take your drink ( I'll pay ) pour it into ... oh no - chuck-a-lug - SKOAL
anonymous
Posted 16 years ago # -
I am not making light of what has happened...but I think we need a "light moment" as we wait for the cure.
If Only Life Was Like A Computer
• If you messed up your life, you could press “Ctrl, Alt, Delete” and start all over.
• If you needed a break from life, you could click on “Suspend” and hit “any key” to continue life when ready.
• To get even with neighbors, you could turn up the Sound Blaster.
• To “add/remove” someone from your life, you could click Settings and Control Panel.
• To improve your appearance, you could adjust the Display settings.
• If life got too noisy, you could turn of the speakers.
• When you lost your car keys, you could click “Find.”
• “Help” with the chores is just a click away.
• You wouldn't’t need auto insurance. You could use your diskette to recover from a crash.
• You could click on “Send” and the kids would go to bed immediately.
• To feel like a new person, you could click on “Refresh.”
• To undo a mistake, you could click on “Back.”
• If your wardrobe was getting old, you could just click “Update.”I really need this one.. “Help” with the chores is just a click away. :)
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberHere's another light moment while waiting!
This is about the way I've gotten taking care of my computer!!Way To Go, Ensign
A young ensign is working late at the Pentagon one evening. As he
clocks out of his office at about 8 P.M. he sees the Admiral standing
by the classified document shredder in the hallway, a piece of paper
in his hand."Do you know how to work this thing?" the Admiral asks. "My
secretary"s gone home and I don"t know how to run it.""Yes, sir," says the young ensign, who turns on the machine, takes the
paper from the Admiral, and feeds it in."Thanks," says the Admiral, "I just need one copy..."
Posted 16 years ago # -
FreewareFan
MemberOK, copmom, now we're getting somewhere! You said "Thanks FWF.. nope it's not an external drive. It's an internal SATA." This means only one thing, and that is that the F: drive that you cannot find, was really a partition on your one and only internal SATA drive.
I'm not sure if you know what a partition is? Basically, it's when you take one drive, and divide it up into sections. In your case, it would seem the drive was divided into two sections, the C: section, and the F: section.
I'm finding it hard to understand how you deleted the F: partition through the system restore function, but let's get some more information.
I'd like you to do the next things in the exact order given, OK? Here we go:
1.)Click the Start button.
2.) Right click the My Computer selection. When that context menu pops up, left click on Manage.
3.) Go down the list of options, and left click on Disk Management.
4.) When that window pops up, maximize it, and see what information is listed in the line for Disk 0 (that should be your SATA drive information)
Write back and tell me exactly what information is reported going across the section for Disk 0
We will then go from there....
Posted 16 years ago # -
A "Cold Boot" is shutting the computer TOTALLY OFF, count to 10 slowly then turn it back on.
But listen to FWF. He knows more about this stuff than I do. I do the software in the family; the hubby is in charge of the hardware.
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberFWF.. there is no partition.. I have 2 separate individual SATA HD's in my machine. One, C: was a 160 GB .. the other is around 250GB as I recall, but here's what you requested:
Disk O says:
Basic 149.01 GB
55 MB FAT
Healthy (EISA config
C: 145.72 GB NTFS
Healthy Sustem
3.24 GB FAT 32
Heathy (unknown partition)Posted 16 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruAre you by any chance using Vista? The same thing happened to me when I installed vista. My solution was to reinstall XP and shelve Vista till the upcoming service pack is released.
Theres the possibilitythat the ide cable may have become detached. Have you been nside the computer and made sure all the cables are firmly in place?
later
WR
ps I'm having problems of my own after the computer crashed this morning. I lost a load of data, thankfully the program from the other day limited the damage (EAZ-FIX)
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberNo Vista for me! WinXP SP2.. have already unplugged and replugged, shut down and turned on, etc.
And that's one of the reasons I did originally do that stupid restore point and clicked on F: to delete that.. didn't want a problem like folks were talking about in Eaz-Fix... luckily I did NOT install that one. I'm going to try another shut down and turn on, this time when I did it, got:
Drive 1 not found Seriaa ATA, SATA-2 strike F1 to continue; F2 to run set up utility.
Even tried in control panel Add Hardware. GrrrrrrrrrPosted 16 years ago # -
FreewareFan
MemberOK, copmom, I thought from what you said, that you only had one drive.
Do the same thing again, and see if you have any information for a drive that has about 250gigs of space. See if it shows up in Disk Management at all, and what information it reports.
I'll keep checking back.
Posted 16 years ago # -
FreewareFan
MemberYou said" Drive 1 not found Seriaa ATA, SATA-2 strike F1 to continue; F2 to run set up utility."
Well, sounds to me like you've completely removed all master boot record information from that drive, copmom. Which means that unless you want to run a recovery program, all information on that drive is gone. Hope you had a backup?
ANyway, reboot, and when that same notification comes up, you're going to have to press F2 and run the setup utility. That's where you format the drive, and get the system to recognize it.
It should have step by step instructions as you go, or better yet, in your users manual there should be a section that walks you through the procedure.
Let me know..
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom, just found a new, very promising software for your problem.
Give it a tryPosted 16 years ago # -
FreewareFan
MemberWell, the setup program differs from motherboard to motherboard manufacturer. That's why I said it would be best to refer to the manual that came with the motherboard. Now, if you bought your computer already made, then that information is most likely in the user manual. I'm not sure there, since I have built my own computers for the last 10 years or so..
You never did tell me if any information on Drive 1 showed up in Disk Management??? I doubt it did, but if by some chance it does, it will make your task easier.
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberNope, nothing showed on drive 1 in disk management except: "on board IDE HD not present"
This is a Dell, out of warranty of course, and didn't get a user manual. Although there are several Dell files on here. Did poke around on those a but already. I did manage to get the installation disks from them, such as utilities and winXP etc. in case I ever had to format, but that had nothing to do with a 2nd HD.
I did even set back to factory defaults but that didn't do anything either. I did buy the 2nd HD from them and added it to my system since I needed more room as well as a backup!
And, no, in setup there's no place to format anything. Dang, that stinking windows restore point did a real number on me! Well, if nothing else, you all will know NOT to hit delete on your drives in system restore!
Guess I could swap the C and F drive cables and reboot and see what happens. If I really mess up and you never see me again, you'll know I've really blown it! But I'll wait to do that when I'm fresh in the AM! At least I can get online and do all my normal things and if needed can use RW-DVD's for temporary backups.Posted 16 years ago # -
FreewareFan
MemberI would advise you to just leave your original drive (C:) alone, for the time being. Let's just see if we can get your second drive back online first, without playing the 'swap cables' game.. :-)
OK, you said " I did buy the 2nd HD from them and added it to my system since I needed more room as well as a backup!"
copmom, all you have to do at this point, is to do the exact same thing you did when you installed that second drive you bought. You see, your computer doesn't even know that second drive is hooked up right now. So, just do what you did when you originally installed the drive, and you should be good to go, as far as that drive showing up again.
I'll check back in the morning, see how things are going.. Luck!
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberAs I recall, all I did was insert the 2nd HD in a space for it, plugged in the SAT cables into the MB and HD and turned the machine on. All the cables are snug, for that matter, didn't mess with them at all when this first disappeared. I've been Googling all this time. Will report back in the AM.. getting late here and I do still have this terrible cold. Can't breath through my nose at all, and coughing. I know where I got it! The mail carrier! Heard he missed a few days this past week since he was really sick, well germs live 72 hrs., and we did take the mail in! Does that sound logical, or paranoid? Can't win for losing!
Posted 16 years ago # -
hi, copmom...
did you try going to the Device Manager...right click on your computer, or just the disk drive...then click on scan for hardware changes?...
it may show your drive as an unknown, or something similar (ex: unrecognized), so you can right click for properties & troubleshoot or enable?...Posted 16 years ago # -
Silver9990
MemberJust out of curiosity, can you post a full screenshot of the Disk Management Console window?
If you need a place to upload it you can use http://www.topsecretgovernment.info/
Posted 16 years ago # -
RunesageMagik
MemberLooks like I slept through a train wreck, and I won't be around much of today, not that I'd dare try to walk someone through a data recovery.
I believe it is important not to save/write anything to the "deleted" disk or reformat it until you've tried a few free software recovery appls and see if you can reaccess it. You risk overwriting files.Links to freeware that might help you restablish contact with the F drive, recover data and partition the drive (in no particular order) -
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/system/fwdatarecovery.html
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/tool/FreeTools.html
http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/tool/FreeTools.html#PARTINFOMostly shareware, some freeware though (scroll down look on right for "FREEWARE"): http://pcwin.com/result/freeware_file_recovery/index1.htm
http://pcwin.com/Utilities/FreeUndelete/index.htm
Sounds like baloogaware... http://pcwin.com/Utilities/Myplaycity_Data_Recovery/index.htm
This is shareware, but scroll down to "Related Software" - http://pcwin.com/Utilities/File___Disk_Management/NT_File_Recovery/index.htmhttp://www.s2services.com/partitionmgrsfreeware.htm
http://www.download32.com/cute-partition-manager-i30238.html
http://www.download32.com/visual-subst-i34998.htmlIMHO, you should head to a real tech/geek site and post a help request (along with as many system specifics and details of what you did as possible)
http://www.castlecops.com/
http://computing.net/forums/
http://www.d-a-l.com/index.php
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/index.php
http://techrepublic.com.com/5221-6230-0.html
http://forums.cnet.com/
http://www.geekforum.org/
http://forums.techguy.org/
http://www.opentechsupport.net/forums/
http://help.lockergnome.com/general/index.php
http://forum.mopo.ca/
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/At the very least, it may be possible to recover files off your F drive a little at a time and migrate them to a new drive. I bot a large external plus an HD enclosure - #3 from here - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Nav=|c:2779|
My next purchase will be - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2204144&sku=W10-3110 (though most likely via a Best Buy or Office Depot during another deep discount holiday sale)
Good luck, copmom.UPDATE: I forgot to add this since you say the system's not recognizing the drive -
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=%22hard+drive%22+isn%27t+recognizedhttp://en.allexperts.com/q/Hard-Drive-Problems-2113/
http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/topic9714.htmlPosted 16 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.