Odd computer problem

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-12-14 10:59pm

OK, I'm having problems doing an HDD transplant. I'm moving a 4 gigger addon from an old Gateway2000 to a marginally newer Compaq. The BIOS sees it, and system information does too - however, I can't access it.

Right now the boot drive is running 98SE. I'm not sure what OS the addon drive has on it, and even less sure of the FAT system on it.

Any clues for the clueless?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2002-12-14 11:07pm

Go into DOS and run FDISK to see if the OS can even access the partition on it.

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-12-14 11:15pm

phongn wrote:Go into DOS and run FDISK to see if the OS can even access the partition on it.

Apparently not. I'm not even sure it's FAT32.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2002-12-15 12:27am

Dalton wrote:
phongn wrote:Go into DOS and run FDISK to see if the OS can even access the partition on it.
Apparently not. I'm not even sure it's FAT32.

Sounds like the formating. If the other drive has a OS, try useing that if you want to move stuff from one to the other.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2002-12-15 01:14am

Use a boot disk to look at the partition on the second drive. I would not be surprised if it is formated NTFS.

From there you can break the partition and reformat it. Although if you are not comfortable with computers Id get a friend to help. You might accidently trash the wrong disk.

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2002-12-15 02:04am

Get a DOS-based disk editor and zero-out the MBR and partition table on the first physical sector on the drive. If you're not comfortable messing around at this low level, use a boot disk and disconnect your good hard drive to guard against accidentally wiping out your data.

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-12-15 02:17am

It's cool. I fdisked it and nuked the partitions, then set up a new Primary DOS partition on it and formatted it. All the data is gone but the drive works