[katea]

I just had to do a complete, destructive reinstall of WinXP on my HD. Just before I did that, I put my older HD with Win98se in the puter as a slave, to copy all my files, drivers, downloads, and photos onto. It worked, even though I couldn't boot to my c: drive.

I set my BIOS to only open HD-1, and it worked like a charm... got all my personal files, drivers, downbloads and photos off the corrupt HD; drive c:, (HD-0) then reset my BIOS to boot the CDROM, and proceeded to do a fresh format, partition, and install of my WinXP on my corrupt HD - c:

Now that I have my larger HD all repaired, and running the WinXP again, I cannot access my smaller HD with the Win98se on it.

-First, WinXP does not see the HD with Win98se at all, so it's not even an option to be able to open it

-Second, When I set my BIOS to open only HD-1, it still boots to the WinXP HD - c: HD-0)

Nothing I do makes any difference at all in the BIOS. No matter, 'puter always boots to the HD with WinXP, and doesn't even see the second, slave HD with Win98se on it, and, ALL MY FILES.!

I have also tried to go to the DOS to try to open the smaller HD with all my files on, and no matter what drive letter I use, it doesn't see it.

The drives now recognized since the WinXP install are: a: - Floppy drive, c: - HD with WinXP, d: - DVD drive, e: - CDROM drive

I used to have 2 floppy drives; a: and b:. I took the b: floppy drive out to put the smaller, Win98se HD in that slot, as the slave to the c: HD.

I don't understand why it's not being seen anymore. When my c: HD was not bootable, and I was able to boot to the Win98 HD, Win98 was able to see the unbootable HD to get all my files off it.

Mannnn I reallly need to get to my files and drivers, to put them back on the WinXP HD. I'm totally crippled without them. HELP :confused:

Thanks in advance, for any help you can offer. I'm pretty 'puter literate, so can follow any helpful directions anyone can offer me.

katea

[ScottGem]

I used to have 2 floppy drives; a: and b:. I took the b: floppy drive out to put the smaller, Win98se HD in that slot, as the slave to the c: HD.

I think that was your mistake. Did you put the drive on the same ribbon as the other HD or as the floppy? You should have put it in the same ribbon as the HD. Make sure your XP drive is set as the Master and the 98 one as the slave.

[katea]

OK, I just went into my Administrative tools, Computer management, Disk Management. And it show up there, but is "Unallocated" It has no drive letter.

[katea]

Hi ScottGem

It's on the same ribbon as the HD, and is set as the slave drive. I did set the jumper to slave.

[Curlyben]

ok, I just went into my Administrative tools, Computer management, Disk Management. and it show up there, but is "Unallocated" It has no drive letter.

There's your answer.
Right click and select change drive letter.
Give it a letter and away you go.

[ScottGem]

You have to set the drive as Slave, but you also may need to set the primary as Master. Some drives aren't set to master by default.

[katea]

There's your answer.
Right click and select change drive letter.
Give it a letter and away you go.

It doesn't give an option to change the drive letter. Because it's unallocated, the only option WinXP gives me is to create a primary or extended partition on it.

The primary partition choice says, "A primary partition is a volume you create using free space on a basic disk. Windows and other operating systems can start from a primary partition. You can create up to four primary partitions or three primary partitions and an extended partition."

The extended partition choice says, "An extended partition is a portion of the Master Boot Record (MBR) basic disk that can contain logical drives. Use an extended partition if you want to have more than four volumes on your MBR basic disk.

Now this is an area I'm not well versed in; creating partitions on a disk that already has an operating system and files that you don't want to lose. I'm terrified that it may wipe my files from that HD.

Pretty scared right now... CANNOT lose my files from that disk. :(

[ScottGem]

You don't want to create a partition that will wipe your data. But I think the problem is that the drive is formatted as FAT and its not being read by XP.

[katea]

You have to set the drive as Slave, but you also may need to set the primary as Master. Some drives aren't set to master by default.

The HD that has my WinXP; the original one is jumper set as master. - I installed a new MotherBoard and HD (the WinXP one) a couple of years ago, and I know I set the jumpers as master, because I had put the same, smaller, secondary HD in temporarily as slave that time, to do the same file transfer thing. That time, the HD that now has Win98se on it, had Lindows on it. I changed all that when I put the HD back into my son's 'puter again. I put the Win98se on it for him. Now, with this issue I'm facing, I have used my son's HD with the Win98se to save all my files on to do this destructive reinstall on my HD.

This is a very scary pain I'm facing right now, not being able to access that smaller Win98se HD.

[katea]

You don't want to create a partition that will wipe your data. But I think the problem is that the drive is formatted as FAT and its not being read by XP.

OK, this is making sense... The slave disk is an FAT drive, and I formatted my master HD as NTSF for the WinXP. I sure hope there is a way around this to access that smaller FAT drive. Oh please tell me there is. I will lose sooooooo much ( 14 years of my life) if I lose the ability to retrieve those files...

[ScottGem]

I think XP needs at least FAT32. You might have to put it back in a machine that can boot the drive.

[katea]

I think XP needs at least FAT32. You might have to put it back in a machine that can boot the drive.

OK, it is an FAT32 drive; the slave disk, but the WinXP on the master NTFS drive is not seeing it.

Now, if I put that drive back into my son's 'puter to open and run it, how would I connect it to my 'puter with the WinXP to access the files? I think there is a way, but not sure if it can be done with WinXP if the other 'puter is running Win98se.

I'm afraid I'm not knowledgeable about connecting 'puters, or doing any kind of Networking yet. I'm about to start an IT/Networking degree course, but "LOL" all my info for getting started on that course is in the files on the Win98se drive. "LOL" those were in the files I transferred to that drive to do this reinstall of the WinXP on my HD.

As you see, I'm in a pickle here.

[ScottGem]

There are a variety of ways. Use a network, file transfer cable, CD burner, Flash drive, e-mail the files to yourself, etc.

[katea]

There are a variety of ways. Use a network, file transfer cable, CD burner, Flash drive, e-mail the files to yourself, etc.

Hmmmm... I don't have a network file transfer cable... don't know what it is. Sorry :o and that 'puter doesn't have a CD burner. It's one of those basic old Lindows 'puters that were being sold 3 years ago for $199. (I had put my old HD from an old 'puter I used to have, into his, so he could use it) The Lindows wasn't economic for me with the monthly and yearly fees attached to using the system, and my son only knows Windows. The dial-up modem card never did work on it. Emailing would be pretty difficult because first, my son's puter doesn't have an ethernet card set up on it, and there are literally Gigs of files on it.. and my little USB flash drive isn't big enough to do this either.

Another point to make is that my son's 'puter does NOT have a monitor of it's own right now, to be able to view anything on it. Hmmmm... OK, if I get a network file transfer cable, would I be able to view his 'puter through mine, with my monitor, as well my my own HD on my monitor? All I would be able to do is connect the two 'puter boxes with no other hardware attached to my son's puter. Is this making any sense to you? LOL Because I'm getting fuddled here with my lack of Networking knowledge.