Computer Description:
Mother Board: I dunno (4.5 years Old) all i know its INTEL
Processor: Intel Pentium 200MHz
RAM: 32 MB
HDD: 2.1GB SEAGATE

I have a major problem here, last night my HDD was working fine though for past one week whenever i switched on my computer, scandisk started on its own (even if i switched off my computer properly) i got message saying, "one or more hard drives have bad sectors, run surface scan".
I ignored it all this while.
Then this morning, when i switched it on, i let scandisk run, it asked me to save some lost cluster, i saved it, then it asked me for undo information screen, i said "skip undo"" then i let it boot normally,
i got an error saying (i dont remember file name clearly) VFBACKUP.exe (not sure) file could not be loaded, please load OS.
so i rebooted my system, it got an error saying "press F1 to continue, Primary Master Not Found, Press Del, to enter Setup"
I pressed Del, i got into the setup, i "auto detected my HDD" it successfully detected it, but when i save it any tried to reboot, i get the same error, saying "Primary Master Not found",

so basically, my computer is detecting my HDD (2.1 GB SEAGATE) in Setup but when i boot i cant access it!!! please help, i have some critical data in it... i badly need it, :(

i dont know what should i do to retrieve my data!!!

: Computer Description:
: Mother Board: I dunno (4.5 years Old) all i know its INTEL
: Processor: Intel Pentium 200MHz
: RAM: 32 MB
: HDD: 2.1GB SEAGATE
:
: I have a major problem here, last night my HDD was working fine though for past one week whenever i switched on my computer, scandisk started on its own (even if i switched off my computer properly) i got message saying, "one or more hard drives have bad sectors, run surface scan".
: I ignored it all this while.
: Then this morning, when i switched it on, i let scandisk run, it asked me to save some lost cluster, i saved it, then it asked me for undo information screen, i said "skip undo"" then i let it boot normally,
: i got an error saying (i dont remember file name clearly) VFBACKUP.exe (not sure) file could not be loaded, please load OS.
: so i rebooted my system, it got an error saying "press F1 to continue, Primary Master Not Found, Press Del, to enter Setup"
: I pressed Del, i got into the setup, i "auto detected my HDD" it successfully detected it, but when i save it any tried to reboot, i get the same error, saying "Primary Master Not found",
:
: so basically, my computer is detecting my HDD (2.1 GB SEAGATE) in Setup but when i boot i cant access it!!! please help, i have some critical data in it... i badly need it, :(
:
: i dont know what should i do to retrieve my data!!!
:
:
O.K,the whole story is a little complecated but you can try something.
i don't know what exactly to do to save your data but how to check a possibility that your data is lost for ever! If i have understood well when you boot the only thing you get is the error message.No O.S, nut even the C:/> prompt!! Try to boot with a startup disk and run fdisk.If it fails to see the partitions of your H.D then i think you have to retrieve your data with a hammer and a screwdriver! (sorry,i am just joking but ,you know, i had a similar experience).The most possible in this case is that you have destroyed or delete a part of the MBR of your H.D and this is a one way ticket! On the other hand if fdisk works well then maybe there is a hope but this moment a can't think something good.Anyway in the good case let me know.

(Good Luck!)

: : Computer Description:
: : Mother Board: I dunno (4.5 years Old) all i know its INTEL
: : Processor: Intel Pentium 200MHz
: : RAM: 32 MB
: : HDD: 2.1GB SEAGATE
: :
: : I have a major problem here, last night my HDD was working fine though for past one week whenever i switched on my computer, scandisk started on its own (even if i switched off my computer properly) i got message saying, "one or more hard drives have bad sectors, run surface scan".
: : I ignored it all this while.
: : Then this morning, when i switched it on, i let scandisk run, it asked me to save some lost cluster, i saved it, then it asked me for undo information screen, i said "skip undo"" then i let it boot normally,
: : i got an error saying (i dont remember file name clearly) VFBACKUP.exe (not sure) file could not be loaded, please load OS.
: : so i rebooted my system, it got an error saying "press F1 to continue, Primary Master Not Found, Press Del, to enter Setup"
: : I pressed Del, i got into the setup, i "auto detected my HDD" it successfully detected it, but when i save it any tried to reboot, i get the same error, saying "Primary Master Not found",
: :
: : so basically, my computer is detecting my HDD (2.1 GB SEAGATE) in Setup but when i boot i cant access it!!! please help, i have some critical data in it... i badly need it, :(
: :
: : i dont know what should i do to retrieve my data!!!
: :
: :
: O.K,the whole story is a little complecated but you can try something.
: i don't know what exactly to do to save your data but how to check a possibility that your data is lost for ever! If i have understood well when you boot the only thing you get is the error message.No O.S, nut even the C:/> prompt!! Try to boot with a startup disk and run fdisk.If it fails to see the partitions of your H.D then i think you have to retrieve your data with a hammer and a screwdriver! (sorry,i am just joking but ,you know, i had a similar experience).The most possible in this case is that you have destroyed or delete a part of the MBR of your H.D and this is a one way ticket! On the other hand if fdisk works well then maybe there is a hope but this moment a can't think something good.Anyway in the good case let me know.
:
: (Good Luck!)
:
:


Thanks for your reply! hmmm, well, that's not the problem wht u have uderstood! its this that when i say HDD Auto Detection in my BIOS, it detects my HDD, but when i try to boot it, just when it is detecting HDD,CDROM, SOund Cards etc, (even before the tabular column comes, which shows all components of ur computer, i mean as soon as EPA Pollution Preventer logo disapears) i get a message saying "Primary Master HDD Failure, Press F1 to continue, Del to enter Setup".
i guess u get it now! please help!!! my data for past 4 yrs is at stake!!! :( thanks for all your help!

:
: Thanks for your reply! hmmm, well, that's not the problem wht u have uderstood! its this that when i say HDD Auto Detection in my BIOS, it detects my HDD, but when i try to boot it, just when it is detecting HDD,CDROM, SOund Cards etc, (even before the tabular column comes, which shows all components of ur computer, i mean as soon as EPA Pollution Preventer logo disapears) i get a message saying "Primary Master HDD Failure, Press F1 to continue, Del to enter Setup".
: i guess u get it now! please help!!! my data for past 4 yrs is at stake!!! :( thanks for all your help!
:
:
> Hey! I think we say the same thing.You computer is able to see the H.D as a hardware device but is not able to access it
> (and i mean to access the information about the disk that are stored in the MBR,accordingly to the point it fails).
> Have you tried to boot from a startup disk? If not ,you cannot find much things about what is going on with your H.D!!
> And try to see if fdisk can read the MBR!! (the basics things first and then you can make more complicated thoughts!!)
> All these assuming that you haven't change any cable connection inside your P.C and you haven't also changed anything in
> the BIOS properties.

I have a 1GB Seagate that used to act up, but now it's fine. If you can't access your partitions on another computer, I could help reconstruct them because I had to do it by hand once. E.G. Your bootsector is most likely on CHS 0,1,1 which is FDISK's default. Also, you probably have 63 sectors per track, practically an industry standard these days. Anyway, e-mail me if you need help, I don't check this board much.

: I have a 1GB Seagate that used to act up, but now it's fine. If you can't access your partitions on another computer, I could help reconstruct them because I had to do it by hand once. E.G. Your bootsector is most likely on CHS 0,1,1 which is FDISK's default. Also, you probably have 63 sectors per track, practically an industry standard these days. Anyway, e-mail me if you need help, I don't check this board much.
:

Finally, my HDD's fixed, although the HDD is not useable anymore my data was recovered. I gave it to a professional data recovery guy & its all fine now except for my HDD. which acts as a paperweight on my desk!
thanks to all

I knew a guy who had a similar problem once... I got the drive to play around with and desided I might as well test if it worked. I got in my computer hooked it up and pushed the switch, loaded the BIOS menu and started a detect. The HDD showed up fine on my mobo. Next problem.. getting it bast the self test on power up thingy... for some reason no problem occured at my mobo... That's when I thought of something and turned the computer of, toke out my other HDD and let the one I got from my friend have a cable of it's own. Started the computer and what happens? Same thing as what happened to your HDD and to mine. Don't know it will allow you to use your HDD but what I did was just let the busted HDD be a slave rather than a master. I had similar problems with another HDD as well. That one I just pressed F1 when the error occured and it all started fine (as master that is)...

Try it out - it may work.

hey thanks,
well, err... i have already opened up my HDD, i dont think its usable anymore, i looks good on inside! i can see those steel (or whtever) disc, its cool, i plugged it back on my comp, without the cover, i cud see the head moving & stuff, tht was cool !
:) if this thing happens again, will try to do wht u said!
thanks for all ur help! :)



: I knew a guy who had a similar problem once... I got the drive to play around with and desided I might as well test if it worked. I got in my computer hooked it up and pushed the switch, loaded the BIOS menu and started a detect. The HDD showed up fine on my mobo. Next problem.. getting it bast the self test on power up thingy... for some reason no problem occured at my mobo... That's when I thought of something and turned the computer of, toke out my other HDD and let the one I got from my friend have a cable of it's own. Started the computer and what happens? Same thing as what happened to your HDD and to mine. Don't know it will allow you to use your HDD but what I did was just let the busted HDD be a slave rather than a master. I had similar problems with another HDD as well. That one I just pressed F1 when the error occured and it all started fine (as master that is)...
:
: Try it out - it may work.
:

My Seagate must stay a slave as well or else it might not show the slave if it were master. My old cheap Pentiums have joined HD busses so I can't use it there because it'll affect both channels.

Hi.

I`ve got a Quantum SG 2.1 HDD. It works fine, when i use it as a secondary/slave device. But when i set its jumper to master, or CS, the BIOS does not detect it. The cabels are all right, the HDD spins up correctly. Other HDDs are detected on the same secondary/slave port, so i don know what happened.

Thanks.

Maybe it needs a slave (that's if you don't have one), although HDs up to ten years old aren't supposed to exhibit that behavior (but I know someone with an HD less than a year old that has non-standard jumper settings). Just keep it as slave if you don't want to do much more complicatied things to try to fix it.