HD issue

I have an external ATA/IDE IMB Deskstar 123.5 Gb HD that suddenly
decided to stop working. No rhyme, no reason... it just stopped
working. The power is on, the discs are spinning, but for whatever
reason, the heads aren't reading the discs anymore. I'm guessing it's
a bad case of corrupted controllers. I tried reconnecting, resetting
the jumpers to all different configurations, etc., but all to no
avail.

I'm using XP SP2, which can see the drive, but sees it as being
unformatted.

I don't suppose there's a way I can reset the controllers? Can I
flash the drive somehow and give it new firmware? I looked in IBM's
(now Hitachi's) website, but they have no firmware updates.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have the question posted on another group too, but I thought maybe
some Windows experts may have some suggestions.

The drive is an external USB, but I took it out of its enclosure
(after the problems developed) and attached it as an ATA/IDE drive to
see if that would change anything. It didn't, and I have no other
computers to try attaching it to anyway.

I had tried downloading "fitness test" and "feature tool" from
Hitachi, but they both report the drive as working normally.



On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 01:36:43 +0100, "realcestmoi" <>
wrote:

>Hi there,
>
>This is not the right place to ask since it is a hardware issue and not a
>windows update related issue
>
>The drive is working as Windows recognizes the drive as being unformated,
>since you are using the drive as an USB or Firewire external drive (?) it is
>simpel to check on another PC if the drive is being recognized as
>unformatted, if so check the drive with drive fitness from hitachi website
>for errors.
>
>Best regards,
>Michel Denie
>
>
><> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>>I have an external ATA/IDE IMB Deskstar 123.5 Gb HD that suddenly
>> decided to stop working. No rhyme, no reason... it just stopped
>> working. The power is on, the discs are spinning, but for whatever
>> reason, the heads aren't reading the discs anymore. I'm guessing it's
>> a bad case of corrupted controllers. I tried reconnecting, resetting
>> the jumpers to all different configurations, etc., but all to no
>> avail.
>>
>> I'm using XP SP2, which can see the drive, but sees it as being
>> unformatted.
>>
>> I don't suppose there's a way I can reset the controllers? Can I
>> flash the drive somehow and give it new firmware? I looked in IBM's
>> (now Hitachi's) website, but they have no firmware updates.
>>
>> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>

Hi there,

So the drive is fine and something happened to the partition (s).

Try a HD recovery tool for your hard drive many to be found:
http://www.google.nl/search?sourceid...ition+recovery

Good luck.

Best regards,
Michel Denie


<> wrote in message
news:...
>I have the question posted on another group too, but I thought maybe
> some Windows experts may have some suggestions.
>
> The drive is an external USB, but I took it out of its enclosure
> (after the problems developed) and attached it as an ATA/IDE drive to
> see if that would change anything. It didn't, and I have no other
> computers to try attaching it to anyway.
>
> I had tried downloading "fitness test" and "feature tool" from
> Hitachi, but they both report the drive as working normally.
>
>
>
> On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 01:36:43 +0100, "realcestmoi" <>
> wrote:
>
>>Hi there,
>>
>>This is not the right place to ask since it is a hardware issue and not a
>>windows update related issue
>>
>>The drive is working as Windows recognizes the drive as being unformated,
>>since you are using the drive as an USB or Firewire external drive (?) it
>>is
>>simpel to check on another PC if the drive is being recognized as
>>unformatted, if so check the drive with drive fitness from hitachi website
>>for errors.
>>
>>Best regards,
>>Michel Denie
>>
>>
>><> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>>I have an external ATA/IDE IMB Deskstar 123.5 Gb HD that suddenly
>>> decided to stop working. No rhyme, no reason... it just stopped
>>> working. The power is on, the discs are spinning, but for whatever
>>> reason, the heads aren't reading the discs anymore. I'm guessing it's
>>> a bad case of corrupted controllers. I tried reconnecting, resetting
>>> the jumpers to all different configurations, etc., but all to no
>>> avail.
>>>
>>> I'm using XP SP2, which can see the drive, but sees it as being
>>> unformatted.
>>>
>>> I don't suppose there's a way I can reset the controllers? Can I
>>> flash the drive somehow and give it new firmware? I looked in IBM's
>>> (now Hitachi's) website, but they have no firmware updates.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>

I would NEVER have thought of that - thanks for the suggestion! I
thought for sure it would be corrupted controllers. I downloaded
"test disk" from CG Security and found it was - as you suggested - a
damaged partition. Test Disk was a little tricky to use, but it
diagnosed and fixed the problem. I am back in business!

Thanks for your help!


On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:18:40 +0100, "realcestmoi" <>
wrote:

>Hi there,
>
>So the drive is fine and something happened to the partition (s).
>
>Try a HD recovery tool for your hard drive many to be found:
>http://www.google.nl/search?sourceid...ition+recovery
>
>Good luck.
>
>Best regards,
>Michel Denie
>
>
><> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>>I have the question posted on another group too, but I thought maybe
>> some Windows experts may have some suggestions.
>>
>> The drive is an external USB, but I took it out of its enclosure
>> (after the problems developed) and attached it as an ATA/IDE drive to
>> see if that would change anything. It didn't, and I have no other
>> computers to try attaching it to anyway.
>>
>> I had tried downloading "fitness test" and "feature tool" from
>> Hitachi, but they both report the drive as working normally.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 01:36:43 +0100, "realcestmoi" <>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi there,
>>>
>>>This is not the right place to ask since it is a hardware issue and not a
>>>windows update related issue
>>>
>>>The drive is working as Windows recognizes the drive as being unformated,
>>>since you are using the drive as an USB or Firewire external drive (?) it
>>>is
>>>simpel to check on another PC if the drive is being recognized as
>>>unformatted, if so check the drive with drive fitness from hitachi website
>>>for errors.
>>>
>>>Best regards,
>>>Michel Denie
>>>
>>>
>>><> wrote in message
>>>news: ...
>>>>I have an external ATA/IDE IMB Deskstar 123.5 Gb HD that suddenly
>>>> decided to stop working. No rhyme, no reason... it just stopped
>>>> working. The power is on, the discs are spinning, but for whatever
>>>> reason, the heads aren't reading the discs anymore. I'm guessing it's
>>>> a bad case of corrupted controllers. I tried reconnecting, resetting
>>>> the jumpers to all different configurations, etc., but all to no
>>>> avail.
>>>>
>>>> I'm using XP SP2, which can see the drive, but sees it as being
>>>> unformatted.
>>>>
>>>> I don't suppose there's a way I can reset the controllers? Can I
>>>> flash the drive somehow and give it new firmware? I looked in IBM's
>>>> (now Hitachi's) website, but they have no firmware updates.
>>>>
>>>> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>>
>>
>

Hi there, you are most welcome

Another satisfied customer: lol

Best regards,
Michel Denie


<> wrote in message
news:...
>I would NEVER have thought of that - thanks for the suggestion! I
> thought for sure it would be corrupted controllers. I downloaded
> "test disk" from CG Security and found it was - as you suggested - a
> damaged partition. Test Disk was a little tricky to use, but it
> diagnosed and fixed the problem. I am back in business!
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
>
> On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:18:40 +0100, "realcestmoi" <>
> wrote:
>
>>Hi there,
>>
>>So the drive is fine and something happened to the partition (s).
>>
>>Try a HD recovery tool for your hard drive many to be found:
>>http://www.google.nl/search?sourceid...ition+recovery
>>
>>Good luck.
>>
>>Best regards,
>>Michel Denie
>>
>>
>><> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>>I have the question posted on another group too, but I thought maybe
>>> some Windows experts may have some suggestions.
>>>
>>> The drive is an external USB, but I took it out of its enclosure
>>> (after the problems developed) and attached it as an ATA/IDE drive to
>>> see if that would change anything. It didn't, and I have no other
>>> computers to try attaching it to anyway.
>>>
>>> I had tried downloading "fitness test" and "feature tool" from
>>> Hitachi, but they both report the drive as working normally.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 01:36:43 +0100, "realcestmoi" <>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi there,
>>>>
>>>>This is not the right place to ask since it is a hardware issue and not
>>>>a
>>>>windows update related issue
>>>>
>>>>The drive is working as Windows recognizes the drive as being
>>>>unformated,
>>>>since you are using the drive as an USB or Firewire external drive (?)
>>>>it
>>>>is
>>>>simpel to check on another PC if the drive is being recognized as
>>>>unformatted, if so check the drive with drive fitness from hitachi
>>>>website
>>>>for errors.
>>>>
>>>>Best regards,
>>>>Michel Denie
>>>>
>>>>
>>>><> wrote in message
>>>>news: m...
>>>>>I have an external ATA/IDE IMB Deskstar 123.5 Gb HD that suddenly
>>>>> decided to stop working. No rhyme, no reason... it just stopped
>>>>> working. The power is on, the discs are spinning, but for whatever
>>>>> reason, the heads aren't reading the discs anymore. I'm guessing it's
>>>>> a bad case of corrupted controllers. I tried reconnecting, resetting
>>>>> the jumpers to all different configurations, etc., but all to no
>>>>> avail.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm using XP SP2, which can see the drive, but sees it as being
>>>>> unformatted.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't suppose there's a way I can reset the controllers? Can I
>>>>> flash the drive somehow and give it new firmware? I looked in IBM's
>>>>> (now Hitachi's) website, but they have no firmware updates.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>
>>>
>>
>