jaclaz

I am failing to see the impact I mean, once removed the whining and the "non-news", the cited declaration of intents is all that remains, with just three words: you could have conveyed the same message, and no, it is not an entirely new one jaclaz

Good. This means that you can put the TTL adapter and the screwdriver back in the toolbox, whatever it could be done with it has already been done (i.e. you are out oif the BSY situation). Now try again, connecting the hard disk through the USB. I see no reasons why it shouldn't be seen in Disk Management when USB connected. If it doesn't you will need to put aside (temporarily) that Windows 7 install on the machine and use a Linux "Live CD" (or better a "Live" Linux on a USB stick) to access the disk. In any case, your next step is to procure yourself another disk, surely working, slightly larger than the failed one (i.e. if that disk is 500 Gb, you need a 640 Gb, if it s a 640, you need a 750 one, if it is a 750 you need a 1Tb, etc.). The next step is to make an image (or various "partial images" because of the "bad sectors") of the whole disk. jaclaz

Can I ask you a favour? Would you make a couple .gif's like the quoted one, one with: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Forrest-Gump.html and one with: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114814/quotes jaclaz

Why don't you simply integrate the SP3 without nlite (this way you are sure thatn nothing has been changed by it)? But wait a minute. Compare with this: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm Are you not tricked by "repair console option"? Does it currently still boot in Safe mode? jaclaz

Sure , as said: but I understood that the idea was to use this approach to install on "other" devices. In any case in this particular case, that partition is FIRST one (and most probably also Primary and Active and on First disk ). If this is the case, you only have to delete migrate.inf alltogether, as (without a migrate.inf) drive lettering will be automatic and first active primary partition on first disk gets C: automatically. If you prefer migrate.inf is a tool originally intended to migrate "current" drive letter and without it the drive lettering wil be automatic, whilst the idea in the mentioned threads is to "abuse" of it by using it to assign arbitrary letters. If you have a "unusual" drive letter and you want to make it "normal" in the new install (on same disk and partition/volume) you remove the setting forcing the "unusual" letter, as opposed to force a "normal" drive letter (i.e. the same that would be assigned without the "forcing"); the idea of abusing of migrate .inf is to have as a result an "unusual" drive letter, not the "normal" or "default" one. Instead of forcing normality, you remove the forcing.... I hope that this clears the point I was trying to make . jaclaz

jaclaz

It's good to be able to "close" this issue, but still, since one of the approaches suggested is to NEVER turn the power off during the procedure, it makes NO SENSE whatsoever that you are blocked when you power on again (you simply cannot "turn power on again" if you never switched it off).... jaclaz

No. You haven't done your homework and missed reading this : http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663 What you posted assumes that the DISK SIGNATURE on the "newly" istalled one is actually 67C6BC28 AND that the partition/volume on which you will install will actually start at LBA 63. While this latter is true for any "first" partition on a system partitioned under DOS and NT up to Windows XP/2003 is not often true for disks partitioned under Vista and later, whilst the DISK SIGNATURE, unless you will expressely write it to the MBR like that, in very rare cases (please read as "never" ) will be that same one. As a matter of fact, by making that change you make yourself almost absolutely sure that first partition on "new install disk" will NOT get the C: drive letter. (of course if you plan to re-install on the same disk and partition/volume, then it's OK, the effect will be only to change letter) jaclaz

Heck! General failure reads the drive, NOT the disk! @basilico Standard litany, please : http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/problem-report-standard-litany.html jaclaz

Yes, but his is still (almost) about the history of what happened. What I want to understand is (I'll ask numbered questions, in order to hopefully receive correspondently numbered answers) what happens NOW (the past is gone ): Do you have to recover data from that disk? (Yes/No) Do you have to recover data from that disk? (Yes/No) Is the disk shown in BIOS of your PC (connected to a SATA port)? (Yes/No) Is the disk shown in BIOS of your "other" PC (connected to a SATA port)? (Yes/No) Is the disk shown in DISK MANAGEMENT (and NOT in EXPLORER or other file manager) on your PC (connected to a SATA port)? (Yes/No) Is the disk shown in DISK MANAGEMENT (and NOT in EXPLORER or other file manager) on your "other" PC (connected to a SATA port)? (Yes/No) You see, if seatools sees it, also BIOS should AND also DISK MANAGEMENT would normally see it (but not necessarily EXPLORER or any other file manager), more technically, one thing is connection of the device, and another one is the mounting of the partitions/filesystems. Connecting it (or any other possibly not fully working disk) through USB while having "auomatically access" to USB drives turned on (or whatever is the setting) is "pure folly". You should disable that behaviour, it should be this one : http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/35622/disable-scan-and-fix-for-removable-drives-in-windows/ jaclaz

The given (now for the third time ) guide is DIFFERENT form what you posted. If you do the SAME things you posted, you will probably have SAME results. Try the DIFFERENT approaches in the given guide: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html More explicitly, it says to try having the power disconnected for 60 (sixty) seconds, and NOT 15 (fifteen) as you posted AND ALSO says that some people had better success NEVER takng power out BUT simply changing level: jaclaz

Sure , and as a matter of fact, being largely a NT4 and 2K user, and having upgraded to XP only in 2008 or 2009, it would be very unlikely that it will happen any soon. You evidently missed the game: From the little tests I made -as said - the OS itself is not at all "bad", but this is completely irrelevant, we are here (besides other reasons) to exchange ideas, knowledge and opinions, ever wondered why places like this are called "discussion boards"? So, I feel free to post - within the limits of the Board Rules, any info, idea, knowledge and opinion I have and like to share, and - usually - I have some fun when doing this. jaclaz

We are still on different wave lengths. You have described what you did (part of which was actually "wrong" or "unjustified/unneeded"), but you seemingly fail to diagnose and describe the current situation of that disk. Sure, if you expect to boot from it as a sign it is working , it is very improbable that it will do that, more often than not the disk is actually "revivied" but needs fixes to be able to read data on it or needs to be re-partitioned/formatted. (again) quick reminder: When connected to a SATA port, is it seen by BIOS? If no <- check contacts, connectors, BSY "fix" if yes, is it see but LBA0? If yes <- LBA0 fix If no <- check it with seatools Does seatools see it? (BTW which version of the tools, the DOS or the Windows one, and if the latter undr which OS?) If yes, run seatools BOTH short and long test (and post actual results). If no, either the drive is definitely dead or you need to try again checking contacts, connectors, cables, etc. If seatools sees it, does Disk Management see it as "Raw"? If yes, the disk is "revived" though "RAW". If no, try it on another PC, if it also cannot be seen on this latter either the drive is definitely dead or you need to try again checking contacts, connectors, cables, etc. jaclaz

Sure , otherways you would have had no connection. Please, try the mentoned guide (that has slighly different procedures and commands) INSTEAD of the set of commands/procedure you reported. http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html jaclaz

Try following this guide (the one recommended in read-me-first): http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html jaclaz

Well, with all due respect , it's not like someone is holding you at a gun point to force you reading this thread . I actually see very few negative comments on Windows 8 (the actual OS), a lot of them about the NCI , as well many on the doubts about usability/convenience on large screens (touch or not), and much more on the "philosophy" behind it (the Nameless Crap Interface) AND (particularly by me) some additional negative comments to the lie behind the statements of the kind "You talked, we listened". If the good MS guys behind the way Windows 8 GUI and "tiles" (and a few other aspects) have been implemented had simply said: "It's our OS, it's our money we will be making or losing, we don't §@ç#ing care about your ideas, experiences and work" it would be to me (almost) perfectly allright, they would be (as they are anyway) both arrogant and unpolite, but they wouldn't be telling "us" that "we" told them what to do and they did it. jaclaz

Yes it does, and it is fastish , but as you already said, it does it by indexing the files and it does not provide the level of details "required" by OP. Additionally, AFAICR, the "command line" part of it is just a "remote command" for the index (thus, to have "real-time" data, you need to have the GUI running): C:\Everything>es -h -r Search the database using a basic POSIX regular expression. -i Does a case sensitive search. -w Does a whole word search. -p Does a full path search. -h --help Display this help. -n <num> Limit the amount of results shown to <num>. -s Sort by full path. For the record it does exist an "enhanced" version of the es program (rigorously UNtested by me) here: http://forum.voidtools.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=322 https://sites.google.com/site/xixinxing/programs/nothingforeverything jaclaz

IMHO you are making it bigger than it really is : http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/17/3514556/windows-8-vs-windows-rt-surface-confused-microsoft-store-employees It's easy, if you don't build your own software you shouldn't care about it.... For NO apparent reason: http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/legacy-is-not-a-pejorative.html jaclaz

It seems to me like you already did the "major" troubleshooting. What remains "outsude" the tests you already made is the actual OS install (which you didn't specify) and the browser/internet tools that you are using (that you also didn't specify). Since *anything* "hardware" is seemingly OK, check the "software", if I were you I would try downloading (when you are at a friend's house or at an internet Cafè) a "live" Linux distro and try it. If you are going through your dial-up, I presume that the smallest suitable distro can be this one: http://www.browserlinux.com/ or (even smaller) DSL: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html Testing one of these should be enough to verufy that you have not *somehow* a "botched" install of the OS or however some slowish browser/internet tool. jaclaz

Other candidates (again NOT exactly doing what required): http://home.comcast.net/~lang.dennis/console/ntfsfastfind/ntfsfastfind.html http://sourceforge.net/projects/ntfs-search/ This one might (or possibly "will"): http://malware-hunters.net/2011/03/30/introducing-mftdump-forensic-tool/ http://malware-hunters.net/category/tools/ Some .NET thingy: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ntfsreader/ jaclaz

If the Seagate Tools tell you that the disk has bad sectors, there are GREAT probabilities that it has bad sectors. Upgrading the firmware on a disk drive that has not passed successfully the Seatools tests (BOTH "short" and "long" ones) has NOT been a "smart move", please read as "DO NOT DO IT". If your drive suffers form LBA0, the LBA0 fix may work (as it has for you). If your drive suffers from BSY, the BSY fix may work. If your drive does NOT suffer from LBA0 or BSY, you can apply BOTH the fixes all the times you want, but the status of the drive won't change. The issue with USB connection could be BOTH an issue in your Registry and a symptom of bad contacts between the PCB and the disk or of bad contacts on the SATA connector. If your BIOS cannot see the disk (when connected normally to SATA), it could be a symptom of bad contacts between the PCB and the disk or of bad contacts on the SATA connector. If your BIOS cannot see the disk BUT Seagate Tools can see it, the drive is an UNKNOWN state, for which no "fix" is available. If your BIOS cannot see the disk AND Seagate Tools cannot see it, the drive (besides the above possibiliteis) is foobar (possibly because of the applied firmware). jaclaz

Ok, I'll byte. Can you just §@ç#ing READ my previous posts AND the links in it? The .iso that you should use is FreeDos based AND needs NOT any mouse as it is keyboard driven! If your keyboard misses keys ESC, F1, F10, A, B, C, R, S, Z (and the cursor keys) then you have a problem. Again: http://support.seagate.com/firmware/firmware_update_procedure.html jaclaz

Look, I don't want to seem grumpier that what I normally am, but while in the case of the adapter we have a single report of it working, the bootable CD .iso have worked for tens, hundreds and possibly thousands of users. You must have an issue with the CD, the downloaded .iso, the burning app you used or something else, those .iso: do work do boot translated to "burning cd's?" "you are doing it wrong!" Which means that you should be nice, start a new thread describing the issues you are having with that .iso/CD. Until you have solved that issue DO NOT attempt a firmware upgrade from Windows. jaclaz

A Pre-install Environment, something that you can boot in emergency from a DVD or USB stick and that can be used to boot the PC (and possibly connect to the internet) even with a failed hard disk. Running *any* firmware upgrade from a Windows (generally) and from a Windows Vista or later is what I call "asking for troubles" or "pure folly". IMHO firmwares should be updated from the most "reduced" simple, UNconnected to *anything* environment in which it would run (typically DOS, and DOS booted from a CD). This is how the "right" Seagate firmware updating works: http://support.seagate.com/firmware/firmware_update_procedure.html What you want is the appropriate .iso from here (and NOT the Windows tool): http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207951en Of course if the Seagate guys provide a Windows tool, it must be "safe" to use it, only issue is that there is NOT one way on earth they can have reproduced the exact same situation of your peculiar Windows 7 install, and BTW the guide: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/210091en is clearly Windows XP related (but then again there is NOT one way on earth they can have tested the tool on an exactly similar system to your Windows XP install) About the cable/adapter, what we know is that a member bought one from that same e-bay seller and the one specimen he got did work, do you want a written guarantee (from me) that the specimen you will get will work? Sure I guarantee that in case of malfunctioning you will get your money back (of course limited to the amount of money that you will send me in exchange for the guarantee - which becomes operative and legally binding after 7 days from the receiving of the payment on my Cayman Island UNtraceable account ) . jaclaz

Here is a good "base pointer": http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/FAT (and ALL links in it) After reading that introductory page (and before perusing the links) go through this site: http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/index.html several important bits and pieces of info, starting here: http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/DataRecovery.htm Since - at the moment - you have a FAT16 issue, an exceptionally good resource (if you can still find a copy of it *somewhere* would be the (paper) manual for Norton Utilities (for DOS or the "for Win95" or "for NT") that AFAICR has some very good examples of manual rebuilding of FAT tables, this one (example to make it clear, you want something with Peter Norton depicted on it , NOT any of the later crappy Symantec "wonders"): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Symantec-Norton-Utilities-Version-3-0-Windows-95-/230830439307?pt=US_Drivers_Utilities_Software&hash=item35be90fb8b jaclaz