Problem getting data off old IDE boot drive, conflicts with new boot drive

jpe20

Hi folks,

I have an old boot disk (c:\) which has a non-working copy of windows xp on it and I am having alot of trouble getting data off the drive.

I have tried the following ...
(1) A usb enclosure in which I have tried using it as an extra drive though windows seems to report problems communicating with the device. I have tried various Master/slave combinations on the external unit and tried it on another PC so I have now given up on the idea of using the external USB enclosure.

(2) Tried putting it back in my pc with the new disk along side. My new drive (maxtor) is located on PRIMARY channel SLAVE. I set the old (SAMSUNG) drive to MASTER and too connected that up to the PRIMARY channel and set that to MASTER.

In the 1st instance this failed to boot my new windows xp (which works fine without the old boot drive installed). Fails on the win xp loader page. I suspect there is some sort of conflict with two seemingly labelled C: drives. So how do I remove the "boot" nature of the old samsung disk so that I can access it as drive \ without any of these double c:\ disk conflicts???

Any tips appreciated.

Remember I only want to do a simple data transfer (not all of the data just certain folders etx ).

The original boot disc contains a corrupted win xp installation on it due to a later resolved memory and graphics card failure.

I am aware of possibly using commands in the recovery console like fixmbr/fixboot and map though I am too inexperienced to fiddle with this and don't know if it would remove the "boot nature" of my old drive.

Jules

winny_2

Your new boot drive with Windows should be set to MASTER and the old drive set to SLAVE.

I personally always set my cd and hard drives to cable select. This way the first ide connector on the cable is the master and the second one is the slave. This makes it easier to reposition them in future without messing about with jumpers.

Anyway, once you can boot off your new drive you should be able to access your old one, assuming that whatever killed the graphics card and memory hasn't affected the old drive

Good luck

Tallymanjohn

You want your new, main, drive to be the primary master so the system boots from it - the old drive can be primary/secondary slave or secondary master - it makes no difference.

Aah, Winnie beat me to it

jpe20

Hi folks,
Just tried all combinations ie putting the old drive on the secondary channel and still windows won't boot with the old drive connected in any ide slot with the new one as PRIMARY MASTER. Must be something to do with 2 C:\ drives conflicting.

Any1 know much about using fixmbr ... will this resolve my issues??? I just need to erase the c:\ boot nature of the old drive somehow!!! How I do this without erasing the data on it I dunno!!!

Jules

wildheart_2

jpe20 wrote:

Hi folks,
Just tried all combinations ie putting the old drive on the secondary channel and still windows won't boot with the old drive connected in any ide slot with the new one as PRIMARY MASTER. Must be something to do with 2 C:\ drives conflicting.

Any1 know much about using fixmbr ... will this resolve my issues??? I just need to erase the c:\ boot nature of the old drive somehow!!! How I do this without erasing the data on it I dunno!!!

Jules

you cant have 2xc:\as soon as you add a second, one will become d:\. on the second(old drive)you do have the data cable the right way round?(red line on cable nearest the power in plug)and the secondary ide channel is set to enabled in the bios.

needaspirin

Hi,
However you decide to do it you should set the jumpers on one drive to slave and the other to master. If it still fails to detect the drive(s) you need to set the bios to autodetect drives.

stevemcol

When did your old drive last work on its own. Have you tried it standalone on this PC. Try disconnect your new one, connect the old one, boot from CD and see if you can see the drive.

Browntoa

use a boot CD like Knoppix to boot the Pc and access the data

albertross_2

Are you actually changing the jumper settings, or just moving it to a different ide connector?

The main drive should be primary channel, master (on the end of the cable), enabled in the bios, and jumpered correctly.

The old drive can be anywhere on the secondary channel .. on the end of the cable, should be jumpered as master, or if in the middle of the cable, jumpered as slave. Or in the middle connector on the primary channel, and jumpered as slave.

If you PC supports cable select, then it will autodetect whether it is a master or a slave if the cable select jumper is set.

jpe20

Hi folks,

Ok now downloading the knoppix stuff (big download dvd version!) so I will let u know later. I knew what I was doing with the jumpers and stuff and all combinations did not work when I hooked up the old drive to any channel etc. What I did do is disconnect the new drive and had a go. What I did manage to do was get into the recovery console and actually see the c:\ drive with its associated files at the command prompt so most of the data is there and must be accessible somehow. I cannot get windows to boot or safe mode to boot either. I have also tried the fixmbr and fixboot commands in the recovery console and this does not work either.

Is there an easy to use dos type file manager I can put on a cd and boot into it so that I can say copy the files from this stubborn old disc onto an external USB2.0 drive?

One complicating factor maybe the fact that the disk was a dual booting one with Vista (beta) and xp. The vista boot manager is still there (Vista is knackered as well).

Jules

jpe20

Ok making some progress .... used Knoppix cd version (dvd version would not boot for some reason). Booted up into Linux and can now "see" the old c:\ drive. The only problem is now how to get the data off it. I am currently formatting a spare IDE drive that I have shoved into my USB2 drive caddy and hopefully the USB2 drivers in Knoppix 5 work fine!!! Keep u posted.

Jules

PS Looks like it is working !!! cool