 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Windows Forum / Windows 98 / Disks / File System / April 2004Can wrong disk geometry force a FAT32 "rebuild"?
I have some questions about messing up a partiton which may have something to do with disk geometry and Win98. Using my PC (Duron-based) I copied 5 GB of data to a FAT32 partition on a 20GB PATA hard drive. I took the hard drive and attached it as a slave to another PC (a 450 MHz Compaq desktop) which runs Win98 from its own internal drive. This second PC booted to Win98 oj its own drive but said the data on the new drive's partition had some sort of file system error and it offered to correct it. I said yes. The correction process went on for about 10 minutes before I stopped it. Messages were flashing by saying something like such-and-such was in error and that it was correcting this. By the end all the data was lost. What is the likely cause of this? The connection of 20GB PATA hard drive was correct because was later able to save and read data to that same FAT32 partition using Win98 on the Compaq without reformatting it. I would have thought it likely that an error in the file system would cause only a few things to be corrected. But this went on for ages. So I am guessing that maybe a mismatched disk geometry cause the rejection of the whole FAT32 partition. Can someone advise please as I want to avoid this in future. John -- Sent to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion microsoft.public.win98.disks.general It is possible the 2 different controllers use an incompatible geometry, especially if they are from 2 different manufacturers. You should not have allowed the second system to "correct" the problem. When it did this, it overwrote the drive. In the future, whenever you have a drive which is already formatted and contains data you wish to keep, you must use a PCI controller to switch from one system to another. While many times both controllers will be compatible, it's best to play it safe and install the PCI controller as a temporary measure. Install the drive and the PCI controller as a pair and then copy the contents to a drive installed on the second system. This is what I have done. I have not lost data yet. The best software to use is PartitionMagic 5 to 8. The best PCI controller manufacturer is Promise. I still use my Ultra66 with my WD SE's with no performance penalty. Daniel. > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which may have something > to do with disk geometry and Win98. [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > John Eh? I thought he was transferring files from one pc, via PATA (parallel ATA, so a 'regular' harddisk, as has been used the past ~15 years) onto a IDE harddisk, then he put this harddisk in another PC, and that pc didn't recognize it properly? Well, here's my advice: John, let your Compaq destroy the partitions on the drive, re-create the partitions, format in FAT32, put disk in your Duron pc, and put the data on. If your Compaq still has probs with the disk, then I think this isn't caused by 'disk geometry' (whatever that may be). There are only 2 sorts of major errors regarding HDD, IMO: file system errors and hardware failures. > It is possible the 2 different controllers use an incompatible geometry, > especially if they are from 2 different manufacturers. You should not have [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > > > > John The Compaq should have booted to it's HD and not had any problem with the 20Gig slave unless it was not set up as fat 16 or 32. I have no idea what disk geometry you are talking about. >-----Original Message----- >Eh? [quoted text clipped - 75 lines] > >. <snipped> > The best software to use is > PartitionMagic 5 to 8. Soon to be destroyed. Symantec now owns it.  SignatureBrian A. Jack of all trades, Master of none. One can never truly be a master as there is always more to learn. Did you ensure the jumpers are correct? On your Duron PC, it likely uses Master/Slave. The Compaq likely uses Cable Select. If you left it Master and put it on the Compaq, then it would have gotten royally confused. Tom > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which may have something > to do with disk geometry and Win98. [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion > microsoft.public.win98.disks.general > Did you ensure the jumpers are correct? On your Duron PC, it likely uses > Master/Slave. The Compaq likely uses Cable Select. If you left it Master > and put it on the Compaq, then it would have gotten royally confused. Nonsense. The setting is on the drive, not the PC. > Tom > > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which may have something [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion > > microsoft.public.win98.disks.general > > Did you ensure the jumpers are correct? On your Duron PC, it likely uses > > Master/Slave. The Compaq likely uses Cable Select. If you left it Master > > and put it on the Compaq, then it would have gotten royally confused. > Nonsense. The setting is on the drive, not the PC. Wrong. As always. > > > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which may have something > > > to do with disk geometry and Win98. [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > > microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion > > > microsoft.public.win98.disks.general > > > Did you ensure the jumpers are correct? On your Duron PC, it likely uses > > > Master/Slave. The Compaq likely uses Cable Select. If you left it Master [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > > ************************ for what its worth, you guys have been great at monday-morning quarterbackin, and telling him what he DID wrong, but i havent seen anyone suggest a recover. why not e-mail arguments to each other and concentrate on HELPING the poster. How about scandisk/thorough and plain old defrag...if he STOPPED the disk in repair, theres prob frgments all over the disk.might be worth a shot, no ? Anyway, I think it is. ... EdK ps.dont bother flaming me, I dont care..... Yes but the cables are in the PC! > > Did you ensure the jumpers are correct? On your Duron PC, it likely uses > > Master/Slave. The Compaq likely uses Cable Select. If you left it Master [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > > microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion > > > microsoft.public.win98.disks.general cable select/master/slave refers ONLY to the jumper settings on the back of the drive, the settings really should match so if you are plugging in the master connector, set the jumper to master, slave, slave jumper, unsure set jumper to cable select. here is a picture or two one shows the location of the jumper on the end of the drive, http://www.coloredhome.com/PC/PCassembly51051.JPG the other a close up of the jumper http://www.coloredhome.com/PC/PCassembly510511.JPG SignatureAdaware http://www.lavasoft.de spybot http://security.kolla.de AVG http://www.grisoft.com Panda online scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/ Catalog of removal tools http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/ Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm links provided as a courtesy, Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters | Yes but the cables are in the PC! | [quoted text clipped - 59 lines] | > > > microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion | > > > microsoft.public.win98.disks.general > cable select/master/slave refers ONLY to > the jumper settings on the back of the drive, Wrong. The correct cable is needed for cable select too. And the bios needs to be able to handle both approaches too. > the settings really should match so if you are plugging > in the master connector, set the jumper to master, > slave, slave jumper, unsure set jumper to cable select. Wont work if it aint a cable select cable. > here is a picture or two one shows the location > of the jumper on the end of the drive, > http://www.coloredhome.com/PC/PCassembly51051.JPG > the other a close up of the jumper > http://www.coloredhome.com/PC/PCassembly510511.JPG Irrelevant to what is being discussed. > | Yes but the cables are in the PC! > | [quoted text clipped - 59 lines] > | > > > microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion > | > > > microsoft.public.win98.disks.general > > cable select/master/slave refers ONLY to > > the jumper settings on the back of the drive, > > Wrong. The correct cable is needed for cable select too. Bullshit. > And the bios needs to be able to handle both approaches too. Absolutely clueless, "as always". > > the settings really should match so if you are plugging in the > > master connector, set the jumper to master, slave, slave jumper, That is nonsense. There are no master and slave connectors on any cable except for cableselect when the cable position *determines* what will become master and what slave. Master and slave *jumpered* drives can be on either connector. With only one drive put it at the end connector with any setting that you like, M, S or CS. > unsure set jumper to cable select. Unsure means that you must make an effort to *become* sure and not set the drive to cableselect unless you set them both that way. Other wise you may end-up with 2 masters or two slaves. (Again with single drives it doesn't matter what you choose). > Wont work if it aint a cable select cable. Works fine with one drive per cable. Works fine too with two drives if the other drive is set to slave. > > here is a picture or two one shows the location > > of the jumper on the end of the drive, [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > > | Yes but the cables are in the PC! [snip] Some pathetic excuse for a troll claiming to be just the pig ignorant trolling thats all it can ever manage. > Yes but the cables are in the PC! Who said anything about cables? Now re-read that sentence. > > > Did you ensure the jumpers are correct? On your Duron PC, it likely uses > > > Master/Slave. The Compaq likely uses Cable Select. If you left it Master [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > > Tom > > > > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which may have something [snip] The master slave setting is not on the drive for cable select > > Yes but the cables are in the PC! > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > [snip] > The master slave setting is not on the drive for cable select You don't say. Maybe that is why they call it "cable select" then, eh. What exactly did you not understand in: " If you left it Master and put it on the Compaq, then it would have gotten royally confused". Answer: It will be 'Master' on the Compaq, regardles of *any* cable. No confusion *at all*. > Nonsense. The setting is on the drive, not the PC. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > > > [snip] WOW ! Holey moley ! > > The master slave setting is not on the drive for cable select > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > > > > > [snip] My statement, poorly and incorrectly quoted: If you left it Master and put it on the Compaq, then it would have > gotten royally confused was NOT because it was a Compaq, but because COMPAQ's use Cable Select Cables. Tom > WOW ! > [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > > > > > > > > [snip] > My statement, poorly and incorrectly quoted: Yeah, that bloke obviously has no idea how to set-up his newsreader properly. Oh btw, since you mentioned poor quoting, any idea why the word 'left' is on a new line -all by itself- (line 51) in your post? > If you left it Master and put it on the Compaq, then it would have > > gotten royally confused Ah yeah, you quoted that *soooo* much better. > was NOT because it was a Compaq, but because COMPAQ's use Cable Select > Cables. So does *every other computer that uses ATA66 and higher*. By your elaborate thinking it must have been already "royally confused" in the original computer, yeah? > Tom > > WOW ! [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > > > > > > > > > [snip] > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which > may have something to do with disk geometry and Win98. > Using my PC (Duron-based) I copied 5 GB of data > to a FAT32 partition on a 20GB PATA hard drive. > I took the hard drive and attached it as a slave > to another PC (a 450 MHz Compaq desktop) > which runs Win98 from its own internal drive. > This second PC booted to Win98 oj its own drive but > said the data on the new drive's partition had some sort > of file system error and it offered to correct it. I said yes. Not a good idea at all. > The correction process went on for about 10 minutes > before I stopped it. Messages were flashing by saying > something like such-and-such was in error and that it > was correcting this. By the end all the data was lost. > What is the likely cause of this? Most likely the drive type entry in the bios was different on the original system and the compaq. > The connection of 20GB PATA hard drive was > correct because was later able to save and > read data to that same FAT32 partition using > Win98 on the Compaq without reformatting it. > I would have thought it likely that an error in the file > system would cause only a few things to be corrected. Not when the drive type entry is different on the two systems. That affects the mapping of CHS values to LBA values and you can get one hell of a mess with some remappings. > But this went on for ages. So I am guessing > that maybe a mismatched disk geometry cause > the rejection of the whole FAT32 partition. Or it was a considerable mess in the Compaq and the purported 'repair' made that mess much worse. > Can someone advise please as I want to avoid this in future. Just ensure that you are using an AUTO drive type in both systems. And when there is an initial complaint, DONT allow it to repair and dont write to the partition at all until the problem is resolved. > > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which > > may have something to do with disk geometry and Win98. [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > Most likely the drive type entry in the bios was > different on the original system and the compaq. That is only used for booting. It doesn't matter for nonboot(able)(ed) drives. > > The connection of 20GB PATA hard drive was > > correct because was later able to save and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Not when the drive type entry is different on the two systems. If it mattered you wouldn't even see volume structures. > That affects the mapping of CHS values to LBA values and > you can get one hell of a mess with some remappings. Only the LBA settings in the MBR are interpreted. > > But this went on for ages. So I am guessing > > that maybe a mismatched disk geometry cause > > the rejection of the whole FAT32 partition. > > Or it was a considerable mess in the Compaq and > the purported 'repair' made that mess much worse. Much more likely. > > Can someone advise please as I want to avoid this in future. > > Just ensure that you are using an AUTO drive type in both systems. > > And when there is an initial complaint, DONT allow it to repair > and dont write to the partition at all until the problem is resolved. > > > I have some questions about messing up a partiton which > > > may have something to do with disk geometry and Win98. [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > That is only used for booting. > It doesn't matter for nonboot(able)(ed) drives. Wrong. As always. > > > The connection of 20GB PATA hard drive was > > > correct because was later able to save and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > > > Not when the drive type entry is different on the two systems. > If it mattered you wouldn't even see volume structures. Wrong. As always. > > That affects the mapping of CHS values to LBA values and > > you can get one hell of a mess with some remappings. > Only the LBA settings in the MBR are interpreted. Wrong. As always. > > > But this went on for ages. So I am guessing > > > that maybe a mismatched disk geometry cause > > > the rejection of the whole FAT32 partition. > > > > Or it was a considerable mess in the Compaq and > > the purported 'repair' made that mess much worse. > Much more likely. Doesnt explain why problems were seen that needed repairing. > > > Can someone advise please as I want to avoid this in future. > > > > Just ensure that you are using an AUTO drive type in both systems. > > > > And when there is an initial complaint, DONT allow it to repair > > and dont write to the partition at all until the problem is resolved. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.