jaclaz

If I may, what would be the intended use of nlite in the recovery of a system in which the hard disk was wiped? jaclaz

For the record I cannot see ANY reference in the OP question about Data Recovery. And I hope it wasn't an urgent problem since the thread was started on the 17th of April. Just in case, try using some other file manager and not Explorer, 7-zip could do, sometimes "peculiar" folders are simply locked out "by design" in Explorer. jaclaz

It seems like it has leaked before in 2004 : http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/registry2/windows-explorer-default-drive.aspx I guess that changing the drive letter from C: to S: was made in order to avoid problems with copyright and what not. http://www.windowsitpro.com/content/content/43043/Listing_01.txt jaclaz

The key is in the Registry, if the Registry can be accessed, the key can be retrieved and decoded. I would try this, first thing: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html Next: http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ jaclaz

Is ALL the customization you performed ONLY the WINNT.SIF you posted? Can you please whenever posting code to enclose it in [ code ] [/ code ] tags (if it's just a snippet) or use [ codebox ] [/ codebox ] ones (if it's more than a few lines), it greatly adds to the readability of a thread. Examples: Hi I'm inside CODE tags Hi, I'm inside CODEBOX tags and I have a scrolling bar on the right .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Nothing else to see, I'm afraid.

This is the problem, you are NOT deploying any image, you are INSTALLING from scratch (Unattended), two different things. jaclaz

Very well said. NO. I'll try again to break down the structure in priorities for you: Facts: you have a bricked drive this drive is bricked presumably because a stoopid software in the drive has been made in such a way that every time you position 320 of the log (or multiple mod 256) is hit , the drive gets bricked when powered on you have valuable DATA on the drive, but not valuable enough to pay several hundred dollars to a recovery firm, or however you want to take your chances trusting a bunch of crazy people on an internet forum and follow the procedure suggested PRIMARY Objective: save your otherwise UNbacked up DATA by having a TEMPORARILY functional unbricked drive [*]SECONDARY objective (SUGGESTED): set things so that such a problem won't happen again (learn from experience=BACKUP!) [*]TERTIARY objective (OPTIONAL): attempt to have the once bricked drive fully functional or have a new working one THEN: Procedure to reach PRIMARY objective : unbrick the drive as per instructions image (or however copy/recover the DATA in it) to another, surely working, drive [*]Procedure to reach SECONDARY objective: make an additional copy (better, TWO of them) of the data on different media [*]Procedure to reach TERTIARY objective (IF first two succeeded): test thoroughfully the unbricked drive IF anything is not OK, and if under warranty RMA it IF RMA is not possible or the drive shows no errors, decide if you prefer: to throw into the dustbin the stoopid drive anyway OR to continue using it IF you chose to continue using it, decide IF: you prefer NOT to risk a firmware upgrade of the firmware and you will likely need to unbrick it again after no less 6 to 12 months of "normal" use, many more months if you don't powercycle it often OR you prefer to risk a firmware upgrade IF you decide to perform a firmware upgrade, choose the firmware file wisely In other words, updating the firmware is the LAST and LEAST of your problems, and you have at least 3 months of time (since a hopefully successful unbricking ) for safely deciding whether you really want to upgrade it and do researches to find out which is the "right" firmware. Now, the fact that it bricked last Friday, may be a problem, but only if it was full moon where you live. Apart from that, you should have no problems in reaching the important objective: GET YOUR DATA BACK by following the suggested procedures (EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED). jaclaz

Sure it is labeled Seagate , point is that if it is also labeled with the HP logo and a HP part number. Post a photo of it if you are not sure, but if it has an HP firmware it is an HP OEM drive (unless someone already fiddled with it). jaclaz

I guess there is some confusion in terms, (and you need not to SHOUT ). The term "cloning" is deceiving. A "clone" is an EXACT copy of something else. Strictly speaking you cannot "clone" a single partition, you can only "clone" a WHOLE hard disk, unless you re-place the "cloned" partition in exactly the same position and with exactly the same size as it was. Most "cloning" softwares however do make an exact copy of the source partition AND allow it to be restored on a different position on hard disk OR to shrink it/enlarge it. (which of course is not anymore a real "clone") If the target drive is NOT already partitioned, it is relatively straightforward. If the target drive is already partitioned, you need to shrink existing partition(s) to allow for the creation of the new "cloned" partition. If you want to REPLACE an existing partition with the "cloned" image, obviously data on the previous partition will be lost, as it will be overwritten. What you may want to explore is another approach, i.e. file-based copy, something along the lines of what XXCLONE (a very good example of an improperly named program ) does: http://www.xxclone.com/ http://www.xxclone.com/itheory.htm But the real problem, if I may, is well before the imaging/cloning one, you are saying that you have 700 Gb of valuable data stored on that hard disk ONLY, that you have NO current backup of them (you should have TWO backups of that data) and you are not even going to back it up once in this occasion. Your data is at great risk anyway, you shouldn't even think about doing "heavy" drive operations without a valid backup (actually TWO). jaclaz

If the drive is "labeled" HP it's an OEM drive and you should use the HP one. If the drive is labeled Seagate (no matter where it was installed to) use the Seagate one. (I suspect that there are not many differences between the two at actual code level) The main thing is that you run BOTH the Short and Long DST tests BEFORE updating the firmware, and if anything is not OK, you try to RMA the drive. Check also against point #5 Usually if you are within the terms of warranty (and shout aloud enough ) you can manage to have a replacement drive, at least from Seagate. jaclaz

This may interest you (about SIDs): http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/11/03/3291024.aspx jaclaz

Well, I hope youare not going to install Vista or Windows 7 on computers that don't have USB booting support, (which should roughly mean something manufactured before 2001 ). If you are just going to install to these 2K or XP/2003, you won't need to make a more complex multiboot DVD with both NT 5xish and 6xish releases (though it si not that much a problem). In any case, there is PLoP: http://www.plop.at/ http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=140412 So you could use your USB device together with a floppy or cd booting plop (if the target has at least an USB port). jaclaz

Sure it will, NOTICEABLY. The theoretical bottleneck of USB 2.0 is around 50 Mb/sec. A typical USB stick will reach anything beteween 10 and 20 Mb/sec. A typical disk in an external enclosure will be more in the 25÷30 Mb/sec range. Some (completely random) tests I made: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9347&st=14 And some more: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11644&hl= jaclaz

Hi Carter long time, no see. Happy that both you and cats are well. It would be appreciated, since you are in "update mood", if you could cross link from your guide to the read-me-first: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=143880 so that the number of people that will read AFTER will decrease. jaclaz

Actually in the meantime even the CD/DVD technology has become partially obsolete, most people that need such a number of setups tend to "migrate" towards USB based installations or, in the case of a PC lab towards network deployment. Just in case: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/ jaclaz

Yep. What is recommended in newer versions is to use a cardboard to cover EITHER one OR the other set of contacts. I.e. the general idea is to flip a coin, if it comes out head you cover the head contacts and attempt the procedure. If it comes out cross, you cover the motor contacts and attempt the procedure. If the procedure doesn't work, you re-do from start, i.e. you power off EVERY device involved, take all the time needed to unscrew/disassemble again the PCB and place the card on the "other" set of contacts. Unfortunately we have a very small number of people willing to re-brick their HD to see if the "other" procedure works... so we have NOT a reliable database of which of the two set of contacts has given "better" results. But we have a single positive, documented result (in the mentioned guide): You might also want to notice how it is perfectly possible to insert the cardboard under the "motor" contacts by unscrewing/loosening one single screw, though it is NOT recommended (but there is no need to completely remove the PCB, at the most you need to loosen another one or two screws), whilst to try inserting the cardboard under the "head" contacts you need to unscrew/losen at least three of them or, more likely, the complete removal of the PCB may be necessary. Try passing the above over Occam's Razor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor And see which choice is more worth trying as first attempt , then make your choice, but choose wisely... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/quotes Seriously, there is no actual way to know this whole topic is permeated by some kind of "magic", we miss too many proper reports and actual knowledge on the way the stoopid hard disk works to be able to suggest one or the other. The theory is clear: induce an error on the board in order to allow access form the terminal, the original guides, which said to completely remove the PCB and re-mount it whilst powered, obviously created the error by disconnecting BOTH sets of contacts. Though actually not that difficult, it is potentially very dangerous as a simple slip of the finger or a screw falling may fry the powered-on board, I would estimate that in the hands of an average user doing 15 times the cardboard trick for each set of contacts is roughly as dangerous as doing it once with the removal/re-assembling while-powered-on approach. jaclaz

In this case some advice from several hundreds years ago remains valid: The whole problem is that you will never know which one is the right one, since there is an incorrect naming convention. Check this photo in the the brad garcia's guide you posted: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_iEh-WLXnVwk/Sarl-KWIdOI/AAAAAAAAAKM/-5tCWn_nCkI/s800/Seagate%20Fix%20030.JPG in it the Rx has OUTBOUND arrows and Tx has INBOUND ones. In his guide he uses a black wire to connect Left pin, Rx in this photo: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_iEh-WLXnVwk/SaqL4ivjiyI/AAAAAAAAAFw/7BPTMNeEa0w/s800/Seagate%20Fix%20015.JPG to the pin on the converter board marked as <-Tx<- and a whitish wire to connect Right pin, Tx in the above photo, to the pin on the converter board marked as ->Rx->. Now check again the images in Gradius2 post and the images of the adapter he used: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=449 On the converter boars the pins are marked: Tx-O (i.e. probably Tx-Out) and Rx-I (i.e. probably Rx-In) Then he connects via a black wire Rx-I with the Rightmost pin (Rx in Gradius2 photo) and with a red wire Tx-O to the left pin (Tx in Gradius2 photo) Think a bit about the above. Now compare with the photo and the instructions on the (actually Recommended) guide: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html The matter is (intentionally) left open to the experiment, because that's the only safe way to do it! And now let's go to a more recent quote : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/quotes Just §@ç#ing connect the two wires at random, and if it doesn't work, invert them! You have EXACTLY a 50% probability, you can increase easily them by knowing that Murphy's Law will apply , so convince yourself that the Red cable goes to the right pin on the drive and that the Green one goes to the left pin, and just immediately before actually connecting them, invert them. Haven't you seen the logic usually used in movies where the good guy has to de-activate a bomb? The same applies here. The only one that may be able to reply to you is VideoRipper, since he built his own converter, he should know from which pin of it the signals go out (Tx) an on which pin on the hard disk he attached that wire... jaclaz

Interesting title for a thread related to netbook discussion. JFYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egocentrism jaclaz

Don't forget to ask for a complimentary weekend in Las Vegas for two people, while you are at it. jaclaz

Wait a minute... You need a helmet AND insulating gloves to be allowed here.... BTW, El-Cheaper: http://www.multimeterwarehouse.com/DT830BMinif.htm jaclaz

I do love MS way of presenting things: They manage to make it sound like it's your fault because you "browsed the root folder of a removable disk", like it was NOT the main thing one has the removable disk for in first instance, and like Windows Explorer was NOT their own crappy program. jaclaz

Most probably that was related to an old HP recovery system, used on XP based laptops. The main brands have a special quirk for such things. (making crappy recovery partitions, providing not recovery media, providing not install media), HP is reknown for this and has already been sued (and lost) for this behaviour: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16343 http://web.archive.org/web/20060402204440/http://computersettlement.com/ You can buy the Recovery discs from HP, but I would call their support and try explaining them that you never burned the discs before, maybe they will believe you and give you a solution for free. Of course it is not actually worth the time for it, but a new class action against this crappy behaviour wouldn't be so bad as I see it. Look at the amount of crap they write here (an alternative to the creation of the DVD's): http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01890478&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=4110062 you are supposed to get a "good quality" 16 Gb USB flash stick and put it in a safe place and never use it only to hold the stupid backup they fail to provide in order to save a few cents in manufacturer's supplied DVD's: jaclaz

I don't get it. Use the Windows 2000 version: http://www.petri.co.il/download_free_reskit_tools.htm http://www.dynawell.com/download/reskit/microsoft/win2000/sc.zip jaclaz

Good. Homepage is here: http://www.vitaligraf.de/en/?Projects:Windows_Unattended_CD_Creator jaclaz

With all due respect for the guys you talked to , unless they have a far more accurate crystal ball then I have , there is no way on earth they can say it's a motor problem, it could be almost anything, including: some component on the PCB (actually in my little experience much more likely) something messed up big in the drive configuration and/or firmware head preamp ...... (fill the above blank with any part of the HD not already mentioned) What you report sounds however a bit strange, any "normal" data recovery professional, even if the cause would have been 100% clear from the "scratching" sound, would never say: (at least this is what seems like they said from your report). All of them, at least to keep an appearance of professionality , would say something to the effect of : (unless of course you somehow extorted a more explicit declaration from them by means of torture ). jaclaz