jaclaz

It is well possible that the drive has a problem (I mean a physical problem) and that checkdisk is "innocent" (i.e. it is not the cause). TESTDISK and PHOTOREC are as good as most "professional" tools. If the drive was NTFS you may also want to try the Freeware SCROUNGENTFS: http://memberwebs.com/stef/software/scrounge/ Or the Commercial File Scavenger: http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm Read these threads too: http://www.msfn.org/board/data-recovery-tool-t84345.html http://www.msfn.org/board/recovering-win2k...on-t115439.html http://www.msfn.org/board/usb-access-problem-t133933.html (to get a general idea of the tools and procedures) Trying to recover the partitioning should be your first aim. As said TESTDISK can usually do it, but you can do it manually with a hex/disk editor also (if enough data is found). Knowing, even grossly, how the drive was setup before would greatly help. However the bootsector is normally on LBA 63 or CHS/0/0/1. A copy of the bootsector is at the very end of the filesystem (if NTFS) or on sector 6 of the Logical drive (if FAT32), FAT16 has normally no backup of the bootsector. From the data in the bootsector you can re-build the partition table. A suitable Hex editor would be Tiny Hexer, optionally with my structure viewers: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8734 jaclaz

Did you also clear the SMART? F3 1>N1 (enter) Zeroing would be irrelevant. I guess that the drive is simply dead for good. This may or may not be connected to the debricking (drives simply die because they die). jaclaz

I have NO solutions up my sleeve. You completely fail to report the result of the tests I suggested you. How do you expect I can help you? .Unsure: jaclaz

There is NO "one-size-fits-all solution". You do not need to double post: http://www.msfn.org/board/usb-device-not-r...63.html&hl= There I asked you to make a couple of tests, which you never did or never reported. My crystal ball is (again) in the shop for tuning, so I have no way to help you. jaclaz

NS is different from AS, maybe this helps: http://www.msfn.org/board/bsy-error-seagat...as-t137709.html jaclaz

Anything that may help in here? : http://www.msfn.org/board/seagate-7200-10-...oo-t133604.html http://files.hddguru.com/download/Datashee...oduct%20Manual/ jaclaz

A recent, loosely related thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/school-managemen...41.html&hl= jaclaz

Yes. (if you want a NTFS partition) On a small stick FAT16 will do allright, anyway. NTFS is faster: http://www.msfn.org/board/fat16-vs-fat32-v...ck-t125116.html but increases the numbers of write cycles, taht should not be a problem for a USB stick that is used only for install, however. jaclaz

Yes., the problem for the Momentus 7200.3 (2.5") is reported as being the same of the 7200.11: http://www.dataclinic.co.uk/data-recovery-...uda-7200-11.htm http://www.recuperadati.it/recupero-dati-h...sk-seagate.html (you are not alone, but this does not help much ) jaclaz

Hmmm, so you want a multiboot HD and post in a Multiboot CD/DVD section? Start browsing here : http://www.msfn.org/board/install-windows-usb-f157.html jaclaz

Seems like you have a lot of bad sectors. http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/smart-a...tors-count.html Try running Seatools and see what it says. Next options are: 1) throw away the stoopid thingy 2) re-do the "unbricking thing" this time clearing the G-list and SMART Then, run seatools again. jaclaz

Actually it's the opposite, while you may recover part of the DATA, it is probable that the corruption started from a hardware problem of the HD. TESTDISK will most probably be capable of retrieving the original partition data. Or anyway it can be re-constructed manually. A BSOD is a BSOD, if the report is accurate, you can leave the drive resting till the end of the world, and when you fire it up again you will have exactly the same BSOD, not a "NTLDR is missing". BTW, the "NTLDR is missing" is a message that comes from the bootsector, and there is NO way on eartth that the bootsector (which is on LBA 63 normally) can be read if the geometry is set to 17. With all due respect, you seem to have throwed at it a couple of approaches that might have worsened the situation. DO NOT CONTINUE fiddling with the hard disk. If you want to try and recover data, image it. (and start working on the image). A suitable app to image it is this one: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7783 An alternative, that may work partially is using a file based recovery, like PHOTOREC: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec results will depend on the amount of fragmentation the filesystem had before and on type of files. jaclaz

A very secure password , expecially now that has been published and viewed by at least some 250 people (and increasing)..... Most probably the "!" is parsed like a special character by something (just like "%" would). Happy everithing is fine now. jaclaz

Start a new thread here: http://www.msfn.org/board/windows-xp-f34.html Have a look here: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/ maybe it can help you remove some Gateway crap. jaclaz

Only too glad to have contributed in getting another bunny happy. http://www.msfn.org/board/cant-access-repa...727-page-9.html jaclaz

Yes. http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollar...no-answers.html I guess that the "other" HD that you connect as "main" has a working Windows version. First thing DISABLE the "automatic reboot" on error. http://www.theeldergeek.com/auto_reboot_on_system_crash.htm More details here: http://www.msfn.org/board/repair-not-recog...-2k-t97313.html Then start a NEW thread, possibly here: http://www.msfn.org/board/windows-xp-f34.html posting the exact error you see on the BSOD, your current problem is OUTSIDE the scope of the present thread. jaclaz

WAREZ are NOT supported on this board. SEE Rule #1a: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum-rules-upda...ead-t18408.html jaclaz

Well, it won't do any harm, at the most it won't change the problem. Difference when using Secureerase may be speed, of course, by using internal ATA commands the whole thing is done "internally" (i.e. no data is sent to the hard drive) this is remarkably faster, as it simply by-passes any bottleneck that may exist in the bus, cable, adapter, or OS driver. Secureerase is inside the UBCD. Cannot say whether MaxBlast uses the direct ATA commands or not, but I presume it doesn't. jaclaz

You cannot use the Recovery partition. But you can probably use the files in the Recovery partition to create a Source CD. Read these: http://www.msfn.org/board/do-make-bootable...er-t120423.html http://www.msfn.org/board/need-recovery-di...ca-t130307.html AND given links jaclaz

Mind you, completely UNLIKE tested : COMMERCIAL: http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_sec...irus/index.html http://www.horizondatasys.com/169602.ihtml http://www.horizondatasys.com/169604.ihtml http://www.nextlabs.com/html/?q=applicatio...-device-control http://www.myusbonly.com/usb-security-devi...ntrol/index.php http://www.systemusbmonitor.com/ Freeware: (only a solution for autorun.inf): http://blog.didierstevens.com/ http://blog.didierstevens.com/programs/ariad/ A triggering device for USB: http://blog.didierstevens.com/2006/10/16/usbvirusscan/ http://www.net-studio.org/application/usb_firewall.php jaclaz

OK, FORGET about SecureErase. Download the WHOLE UBCD .iso: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Download IMGBURN: http://www.imgburn.com/ Use the latter to burn UBCD to a CD. jaclaz

Yes , but you seem to miss a logical step. Once you have SURELY determined which couple of cables is TX/RX (or RX/TX, it DOES NOT matter) AND which couple of terminals on the device is TX/RX (or RX/TX, it does not matter), you simply TRY connecting them, and if it doesn't work you exchenge them. There is NO risk whatever to damage anything. Now, still bear with me. You have an interface with a pin marked as TX (which is the one from which data exits the interface) and a pin marked as RX (which is the one through which data enters the interface). When you connect this to a device you shoult connect the TX of the interface to the RX of the device and the RX of the interface to the TX of the device. The above IS confusing, so it is very likely that some tutorial/guide marks the first pin on the right as "TX" in the sense of "pin to which you need to attach the TX cable from interface"..... jaclaz

And again, you need reading/searching : In the FIRST post of this thread there are these two images: Do you need an explanation of them? jaclaz

Maybe out of the scope, but have you had a look at ninja pen disk: http://nunobrito.eu/ninja/ http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4350 Are you looking for Freeware only or Commercial would be acceptable? I think there are solutions in the "Commercial" world. jaclaz

There is NO "proper" formatting/erasing you can do from XP. Unless you want to do a "normal" 00 writing, which is doable, and should also be enough. But you can use DOS allright. If I were you I would use the SecureErase ATA function: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml in order to be certain that there are NO "remnants", then I would try again the Manufacturer's tests. If you want to go the "XP" way, you need to 00 out the whole drive, there are several suitable softwares, I would use Eraser: http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/features.php One single pass of 00's is all you need. Then I would also check the hard disk with "independent" utilities, like Victoria, MHDD or HDDscan: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/ http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.03-Victoria/ http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/ http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/ Cannot say if "drive capacity restore" would be useful/appropriate for your situation: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/200...y-Restore-Tool/ http://blog.atola.com/restoring-factory-hard-drive-capacity/ jaclaz