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Windows doesn't recognize HDD.

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Deozaan:
I managed to get it to work by using a Win98 boot CD and using the DOS version of TestDisk. Managed to save quite a bit of data, too, so thanks a lot for recommending that to me!

lanux128:
ah, the booting disk trick.. almost forgotten in these days of Live CDs. glad to be of help, btw.. :up:

techidave:
So how was the win98 boot cd different than using any other kind of a "live cd"?  I was under the impression if the HD didn't show up under the BIOS, it wouldn't show up under anything.  Reply #12 says the BIOS didn't see the HD.

maybe my information is wrong? :-\

40hz:
+1 with techidave on the Win98 Boot/Setup CD question.

That's a new one for me too. What's up with that?

(Always looking to learn something new! :) )

Deozaan:
So how was the win98 boot cd different than using any other kind of a "live cd"?  I was under the impression if the HD didn't show up under the BIOS, it wouldn't show up under anything.  Reply #12 says the BIOS didn't see the HD.
-techidave (March 23, 2010, 05:16 AM)
--- End quote ---

First of all, Reply #12 was in regard to the HDD mentioned in the original post, but the one I used a Win98 Boot CD on was a different hard drive in a different PC (a laptop), as I stated here (Reply #18):

Interestingly enough I'm having the same problem with another drive from another computer, however this time I do care about that data on the drive and would like to try to restore the partition headers.-Deozaan (March 17, 2010, 06:04 PM)
--- End quote ---

I suppose I was a bit unclear in that post. What I meant was that I was having the same problem as the original post (HDD showing up everywhere but Windows), not the same problem as Reply #12 (HDD no longer showing up in BIOS).

And I think I may also have been unclear in this post:

I managed to get it to work by using a Win98 boot CD and using the DOS version of TestDisk. Managed to save quite a bit of data, too, so thanks a lot for recommending that to me!
-Deozaan (March 23, 2010, 02:19 AM)
--- End quote ---

What I meant was that I managed to get TestDisk to work from DOS.

So, here's the final report:

I booted into DOS from the Win98 Boot CD and ran the DOS version of TestDisk to read the laptop's hard drive contents and backup a bunch of stuff to another drive. The reason why I used the Win98 Boot CD instead of a Linux Live CD was simply because I couldn't figure out how to get TestDisk to run in Linux.

As for the HDD in the PC this thread was originally created for, (i.e. status update directly related to Reply #12): Somehow after running scandisk and the computer locking up and then the HDD no longer showing up in the BIOS, the bootloader (or something) on the Windows HDD got messed up and the PC wouldn't boot into Windows anymore. It would tell me to insert a system disk and press Enter. In other words, now I'm talking about a 3rd HDD, which is unique from the laptop HDD and the one this thread originally asked about.

So I booted into an Ubuntu Live CD and ran the Disk Utility and checked the partitions on the drive for errors. It said everything was fine. Thinking I hadn't accomplished anything, but unsure what to do, I rebooted the computer and now I'm back to all drives showing up in the BIOS, the PC booting properly into Windows, but once again the HDD this thread was created for is not showing up in Windows.

So, for the Desktop PC: I'll just call the one that shows up in BIOS but not Windows dead. I'll keep my eye on the Windows Boot HDD in case it starts acting wonky again.

For the laptop: Everything important has been backed up and a replacement HDD has been ordered.

Phew! Is that confusing or what?

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