Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 6/6/2005, 5:08 PM
First of all, DON'T FORMAT.

Second, if you are under deadline, for heaven's sake, don't spend time trying to get your sick computer well. You just don't have that kind of time. Instead, find another computer, pull the drives out of your other computer and set them up -- one at a time, if necessary -- as slaves to the drives in a known good computer. Get your project data from there and finish the rendering and whatever else you have to do on another computer. When time allows, and you don't have the pressures, you can try to re-install XP on the sick computer.
kentwolf wrote on 6/6/2005, 5:22 PM
...another thing: How big are the hard drives?

I know some drive sizes are NOT recognized until you install at least Windows XP SP1.

If you are installing a pre-SP1 OS, that may be the source of your problems.

Have you applied any service packs to your OS yet?
beatnik wrote on 6/6/2005, 5:41 PM
I tried installing it on another computer and it askes me to format?
I set up a small partition and did a format. Noe it sees the drive
bu only gives me acces to that small partition?

HELP HELP HELP!
Liam_Vegas wrote on 6/6/2005, 5:42 PM
EDIT: Maybe the term here is not "initialize" but something else. I wish I could remember what exactly happened. It may be the drives need to be "identified" or something else. Bottom line is that in my case I did NOT have to format them for XP to be able to see the drives again and allow me to access the files. There was some other choice offered other than simply formatting them.

Are you sure Windows wants them to be formatted - or is it asking for them to be "initialized"

I have had situations where Windows wanted to "initialize" the drives. This is not the same as "formatting"... and it has something to do with the way windows keeps track of which drives are connected where.

I had this problem after re-installing XP from a ghost image a while back. A couple of my drives disappeared and when I went looking in Computer Management/Local Storage those drives came up with a status of "need to be initialized".

NOW... number one... DON'T for heavens sake rely upon what I have said here.... I know when I encountered this problem I went looking all over the web for information on what to do when your formatted drives with loads of data on them come up as needing to be "initialized". I recommend you do the same.

This is one of the many reasons I now have my work on external drives in removaeble trays. Makes moving projects around a snap... and also makes it possible for me to backup projects on-the-fly. Having had a few close calls for client deadlines (due to hardware failures) I now backup my projects frequently (and verify I can work with them on one of my other systems here).

Anyhow... good luck...I hope you find the solution you need in time.
Liam_Vegas wrote on 6/6/2005, 5:44 PM
I set up a small partition and did a format.

You did what!!!!

Oh dear...That is not good.

It is time to go looking for the utiltities that recover from a format... there are some out there.

Until you find those utilities DO NOT write to the drive at all... as anything you ewrite from this point will be overwriting the contents of your drive and you will be losing any chance of recovery you once had.

Liam_Vegas wrote on 6/6/2005, 6:03 PM
Just to further "HELP" (hopefully anyway).... the problem I had was the drive came up marked as foreign.... so that may be completely unrelated to your issue. Anyway... for me the solution was to "Import" the drive... and that brough it back to life.

This is what the "Disk Management" help has to say about disks in this state.

A dynamic disk's status is Foreign.
Cause:

The Foreign status occurs when you move a dynamic disk to the local computer from another computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. A warning icon appears on disks that display the Foreign status.

In some cases, a disk that was previously connected to the system can display the Foreign status. Configuration data for dynamic disks is stored on all dynamic disks, so the information about which disks are owned by the system is lost when all dynamic disks fail.

Solution:

Add the disk to your computer's system configuration so that you can access data on the disk. To add a disk to your computer's system configuration, import the foreign disk (right-click the disk and then click Import Foreign Disks). Any existing volumes on the foreign disk become visible and accessible when you import the disk.
beatnik wrote on 6/6/2005, 6:13 PM
That was EXACTLY the message I had!

However, when I right clicked I did NOT have a choice to
"Import Disk"?

Any way, I am now formating "BOTH" drives and will try
to recover the files by using the "Recover My Files" program.

CRAP!!!!!

Thanks for all your help!

Alex
kentwolf wrote on 6/6/2005, 6:20 PM
>>A dynamic disk's status is Foreign.

I had this exact thing happen once when I inadvertantly formatted as a dynamic disk. **This is not he same as a regular format.**

I did recover from it, but I believe it was with the option to Import the foreign disk.
Liam_Vegas wrote on 6/6/2005, 6:21 PM
So the message was they were "Foreign" drives?

Formatting is exactly NOT the thing you needed to do.

It strikes me (and I have been here as well believe me) that you have suffered from an irresistible urge to do something (anything) in a panic.... with the result that you just made it 100 times worse.

If it really did say the drive was "Foreign" I can assure you there would have been another solution other than formatting.

All I can do now... is add some positive vibes to the airwaves.

I hope you get it sorted out.
Liam_Vegas wrote on 6/6/2005, 6:22 PM
Yep.... that's exactly what I was telling beatnik to do.
beatnik wrote on 6/7/2005, 5:44 AM
It was a bone-head mistake on my part. I would
have been better off leaving it until I found the right solution.

But NOOOO, I had to format!!?! Anyway, I am using "Recover My Files"
program, Are ther any BETTER recovey programs out ther for media files?? If so please let me know.

Regards,

Stupid... (Oh, tht's me)