Hi,

 

I knocked my hard drive and now it won't boot off it. I've attached it to a pc using a USB to IDE cable and get the error "f:\is not accessible" "Incorrect function". Have I lost all the data ? :(

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

you need to try and install it as a slave m8

IF the bios sees it, then you have a chance of grabbing some, or some data recovery software may get it, if its important stuff??

then there are companys who will probably be able to rescue it for you

Hi,

 

Done that, the BIOS recognizes it but still the same :(

 

Vijay

have you got something you can boot off? Say a Windows CD?

If you need to make a bootable floppy, try here:

 

http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/original.htm

Hi,

 

Done that, the BIOS recognizes it but still the same :(

 

Vijay

 

The Bios actually only communicates with the drive electronics and not the media, so in most cases were the HDD is U/S the bios will still reconise it. If you get the error "incorrect function" you may have a head crash or the heads could of landed at damaged sector 0.

 

Head crash and its game over... unless you send the drive off and have the platters removed, for data extraction. Very expensive at approx £10 per Mb and only some of your data will be saved " normally in an unreconised format"

 

If you have damaged track 0 then your data could still be ok, as above there are utilities which can re-write this track from a hidden backup on your drive. This track contains the complete index and directory structure of all your data, if damage then your drive will show up as blank.

 

Does your drive make any clicking noises since being knocked ??

 

Best bet is again as above, hook up as slave or sec mas, run a good data recovery program on it, if you still get incorrect function then you have most prob crashed the heads

just an update - when connected as a second drive, it shows that it is completly empty, 100% unused :(

 

Vijay

just an update - when connected as a second drive, it shows that it is completly empty, 100% unused :(

 

Vijay

 

Your not using NTFS on the suspect drive are you?

 

Blank

That is a good sign bud. That means that the IDE side of it seems to be ok, if it shows blank, track 0 could need re-writing, apart from the index this track also holds the complete partition information. Get hold of a good drive util, like Norton or something similar. Depending on what make of drive you have, you can download a disk util from the drive manufacture free of charge.

 

What make of drive do u have? I will find u the recovery software

Cheers Dave - Maxtor Cybernet has been helping me and got me the maxtor utility. That came up saying that the drive is failing and an error code :(

 

Vijay