P.S. I am not sure how to properly identify the correct LBA. If this is were I need to start I could use some pointers. TIA
Mark
Full Version: What Not To Do With Win98 Hard Drive
First I should point out I'm a noob here. I've been working on my own computers since windows 95 and still have a couple old machines laying around. I decided to get my old Acer P100 out of the garage and try to start it as I remembered it had some games and files on it that I wanted. Well, it wouldn't boot for some reason, so I took the drive out and put it in a removable caddy and popped it into my XP as a secondary drive in hopes I could move the files off. Even though it was set as a slave it kept trying to boot into W98, so I pulled it out and put it back in the Acer. Now it won't recognize it and when I try to use a start-up disc, SCANDISK sez the last clusters are either corrupted or the LBA has been altered. It says I can try to scan it, but if the LBA is in fact altered it will finish trashing the drive instead of fixing it. Not wanting the latter, I thought I would get another opinion or some insight before proceeding. The drive will boot on a P4 machine, but seeing that the drive is only 1.2 GB, and still has all the drivers I would like to repair the Acer as my first choice. I believe it was FAT32. Any thoughts?
P.S. I am not sure how to properly identify the correct LBA. If this is were I need to start I could use some pointers. TIA
Mark
P.S. I am not sure how to properly identify the correct LBA. If this is were I need to start I could use some pointers. TIA
Mark
Win98 was/is indeed FAT32.
The CMOS battery might be dead in the Acer machine, and it's "lost" the hard disk parameters. Upon power-up, the machine will default to factory settings. Any settings you save to the bios will hold until power is removed (system shut down).
In the Acer bios, are there two or three choices for the hard disk parameters? (If auto-detecting the disk.)
If so, there will probably be a number (1, 2, etc) next to each "setting". "1" will be the "machines choice" as best for working with that particular disk. "2" & "3" will also work, but "1" is preferred for best disk performance.
Try choosing the "1" settings, save to the bios, and see if it boots. (If this machine came from the factory with this hard disk, "1" is most likely the proper choice.) NOTE: Changes will be written to the bios, not the disk.
CAVEAT: The disk will probably work with all three choices. However, if any instablilities are noticed when performing read operations, shut down and try the next disk parameter choice. ("2" etc.) Do not perform any write operations to the disk while any instabilities are evident.
Improper parameters are probably why scandisk gave the results it did. If scandisk "read" the disk, it's probably salvageable.
Once you get error free reads, you can copy the games and files you wanted.
You can also check the disk itself with the manufacturers diagnostics to determine its "health";
Hard Disk Analysis/Setup Tools - Major Manufacturers
The CMOS battery might be dead in the Acer machine, and it's "lost" the hard disk parameters. Upon power-up, the machine will default to factory settings. Any settings you save to the bios will hold until power is removed (system shut down).
In the Acer bios, are there two or three choices for the hard disk parameters? (If auto-detecting the disk.)
If so, there will probably be a number (1, 2, etc) next to each "setting". "1" will be the "machines choice" as best for working with that particular disk. "2" & "3" will also work, but "1" is preferred for best disk performance.
Try choosing the "1" settings, save to the bios, and see if it boots. (If this machine came from the factory with this hard disk, "1" is most likely the proper choice.) NOTE: Changes will be written to the bios, not the disk.
CAVEAT: The disk will probably work with all three choices. However, if any instablilities are noticed when performing read operations, shut down and try the next disk parameter choice. ("2" etc.) Do not perform any write operations to the disk while any instabilities are evident.
Improper parameters are probably why scandisk gave the results it did. If scandisk "read" the disk, it's probably salvageable.
Once you get error free reads, you can copy the games and files you wanted.
You can also check the disk itself with the manufacturers diagnostics to determine its "health";
Hard Disk Analysis/Setup Tools - Major Manufacturers
Another option is to pick up an IDE to USB adapter so you can plug the drive into your XP machine while it is already booted in XP. If the drive is viewable, you'll see it in Windows Explorer then, and should be able to copy any wanted files off of it.
Welcome to SAF.
One more thing you might want to try, especially with the ide to usb cable.
Download and burn a copy of Knoppix. Knoppix is a run-from-cd-distro of linux that can read a drive regardless of the mucked up windows file system (assuming there is nothing physically wrong with the drive). I recently had a friend of a friends pc and windows could not even see the drive, let alone the files on it. Knoppix not only saw it, but copied the files over in less than 1/2 the time it took windows to xfer them back to the new drive.
One more thing you might want to try, especially with the ide to usb cable.
Download and burn a copy of Knoppix. Knoppix is a run-from-cd-distro of linux that can read a drive regardless of the mucked up windows file system (assuming there is nothing physically wrong with the drive). I recently had a friend of a friends pc and windows could not even see the drive, let alone the files on it. Knoppix not only saw it, but copied the files over in less than 1/2 the time it took windows to xfer them back to the new drive.
[quote name='Dan Penny' date='Mar 11 2008, 04:40 AM' post='208794']
Win98 was/is indeed FAT32.
The CMOS battery might be dead in the Acer machine, and it's "lost" the hard diskparameters. Upon power-up, the machine will default to factory settings. Any settings you save to the bios will hold until power is removed (system shut down).
No, the time and date were correct, which I thought was quite cool since I hadn't powered it up for several years
and I went into the setup window several times to check the boot sequence. I can change drives with some others I have and it will recognize and adjust perameters accordingly. I have now five old drives ranging from 205 mg to 6gb that no longer get "recognized" ie: when used as a slave with a working w98 drive on the acer they show up in the boot list by size, but when viewed in windows they either don't appear at all (ie:C,D,E) or they appear as a second cdrom icon and are not accessible. The only thing all the drives have in common is time not in use. Some, but not all were peeked at in my XP using the method I described earlier.
Improper parameters are probably why scandisk gave the results it did. If scandisk "read" the disk, it's probably salvageable.
Yes the disk is salvagable as It did boot as the master on a compaq P4, but with errors. When I peeked at it as a slave (on my XP) and it tried to boot, it loaded the "running windows 98 for the first time" splash, which it shouldn't have, as it is an old install. I think doing a hard shut down at that point is what trashed it.
Once you get error free reads, you can copy the games and files you wanted.
Exactly.
You can also check the disk itself with the manufacturers diagnostics to determine its "health"
Will give this a try, Thank you.
Win98 was/is indeed FAT32.
The CMOS battery might be dead in the Acer machine, and it's "lost" the hard diskparameters. Upon power-up, the machine will default to factory settings. Any settings you save to the bios will hold until power is removed (system shut down).
No, the time and date were correct, which I thought was quite cool since I hadn't powered it up for several years
and I went into the setup window several times to check the boot sequence. I can change drives with some others I have and it will recognize and adjust perameters accordingly. I have now five old drives ranging from 205 mg to 6gb that no longer get "recognized" ie: when used as a slave with a working w98 drive on the acer they show up in the boot list by size, but when viewed in windows they either don't appear at all (ie:C,D,E) or they appear as a second cdrom icon and are not accessible. The only thing all the drives have in common is time not in use. Some, but not all were peeked at in my XP using the method I described earlier. Improper parameters are probably why scandisk gave the results it did. If scandisk "read" the disk, it's probably salvageable.
Yes the disk is salvagable as It did boot as the master on a compaq P4, but with errors. When I peeked at it as a slave (on my XP) and it tried to boot, it loaded the "running windows 98 for the first time" splash, which it shouldn't have, as it is an old install. I think doing a hard shut down at that point is what trashed it.
Once you get error free reads, you can copy the games and files you wanted.
Exactly.
You can also check the disk itself with the manufacturers diagnostics to determine its "health"
Will give this a try, Thank you.
QUOTE(efabes @ Mar 11 2008, 03:42 PM) 
Welcome to SAF.
One more thing you might want to try, especially with the ide to usb cable.
Download and burn a copy of Knoppix. Knoppix is a run-from-cd-distro of linux that can read a drive regardless of the mucked up windows file system (assuming there is nothing physically wrong with the drive). I recently had a friend of a friends pc and windows could not even see the drive, let alone the files on it. Knoppix not only saw it, but copied the files over in less than 1/2 the time it took windows to xfer them back to the new drive.
This I gotta try! sounds great, but first I need to get an adapter. Hello Ebay!
Thanks and Thank you!
Mark
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