Bought a Maxtor 80GB 7200 RPM the other day and after installation on my pc it worked fine so i transferred lots of important stuff to it because i was formatting. After the format i came back onto windows to find the HD had gone so i a mate said i might need to partition it using a program Partition Magic 8.0.
The HD is described as BAD and wont partition so my mate said format it then try but i do not want to do that seeing as theres so much important stuff on it
try using a data recovery program first.
Ive never had a “bad” hdd before so couldnt really sugest one.
I know isobuster is a good one for cds but that about it 
yeh try what zeus suggested it might work. also try using scandisk to map out where the problem/s is/are on the disk!
what are the things you have tried so far to fix the problem?
Depending on your OS, run either chkdsk or scan disk (WinNT/2k/XP or 95/98/ME, respectively), with an option to have a thorough check. You can bring up the list of switches by typing chkdsk /?, and should be scandisk /? for Win9x. Try that before you go and purchase any software.
thx for feedback guys, ill try the things you’ve suggested
scandisk can only locate my C drive and my disk drive.. so should make the 80gig MASTER and install a OS
oh and sorry for 3rd post but how do i make this ISO buster detect HDD or can i even do that?
sorry, never used this program before
Its not really for hard drives. Its for extracting from cds and image files.
What you can do though is take an image of your dodgy hard drive and then put that image on your working hdd. Then extract that image with iso buster.
I dont know how to take an image though. lol The warez guy will know but for now try this.
http://stud.upb.de/~n9180779/rescue/#download
Ive never tried it but have a go.
its not showing up on that either.. i know its all connected cause when i turn my comp on it says secondary MAXTOR etc etc
hey what OS are you using? you could try installing the OS on, it seems the files are important to you! do you hear any clicking sounds coming from the hard drive?
im using ME… soi change it to MASTER then use my bootdisk or ME disk to install the OS.. am i correct here? will the OS overwrite any files cause im used to installing from stratch after formats..
I forgot to mension the fact when it was working, my OS was XP
If you don’t format, it will ask if you want to install it to C:\Windows. If someting is already there, then it will ask if you want to overwrite those files. It should not erase any files that aren’t on the ME CD-ROM.
Also, you’ll probably need to run FDISK and partition the hard drive into at least 2 40GB or smaller partitions. This is due primarily to the limitations of FAT32, not necessarily an issue with ME (for once). I’d leave the jumpers in their current state, and try previous suggestions first.
The other thing I’d suggest, is get rid of Windows ME—it’s really a crappy OS. While I had my share of problems with it, many people have found that it’s more problem-prone than 98/98SE.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying nuke ME immediately, but at least consider moving to something better, like Win2k or XP.
ok, try that, did you copy the files onto a folder say called “backup” or something similar, I dont think the new OS would overwrite anyfiles anyway.
also try booting of a bootdisk and go into DOS and see if you access the HD from there, if so copy the files back to your current HD.
I’ve also had Maxtor driver in the past, which went bust within weeks!
2k doesnt install on my computer (goes onto black screen after first part of installation) and XP is crap on my computer.. to install it i had to put my HD on my bros computer then put it back in mine… It tells my computer that its overheating when its not (resulting in no sound and 20FPS constant after an hour of gameplay in games), and the FPS in games is terrible due to the refresh rate problems it causes… theres lots more but cant be bothered to tell you them…
I’ve found ME to be more reliable that 98SE at times so im aint changing jack until windows 2004
"ok, try that, did you copy the files onto a folder say called “backup” or something similar, " - yes
“also try booting of a bootdisk and go into DOS and see if you access the HD from there, if so copy the files back to your current HD.” I tried that this morning but when i tried accessing it, it said invalid drive specification or something similar
does ME only show up FAT32? which OS would be best to install on the 80gig, ME or XP?
you installed XP on the HD on your bros computer then used in yours?! that will cause alot of problems, which you had as you mentioned. this hapened cuz the configurations are different, install XP in my opinion, since you only have a backup folder on the hard driver, during install convert the partion to NTFS, you wont loose anything, and XP will be installed.
btw: did yo use a Win98 boot…to get into dos? I guess the HD is formated FAT32? yes?
no to your 1st reply, i had XP installed on my pc when it was showing up
i tried the scandisk in DOS and it said there was no problems and i tried installing ME but it says theres only 70megs left and i tried partitioning it and no change… i did active partition and it says its only partitioned.. any suggestions.. i might try abd get my mates pc with XP and see if it works
oh wait there was a change.. now i have 3 CD drives…