strange hard disk problem

[geekgod]

i am facing a strange problem with my hard disk..
i have two hdds, a seagte 40 gb, nd a 20 gb, both 5400 rpm.
i have two separate installations of windows xp on the two hdds...which i use when required.
yesterday i had plugged in the 20 gb hdd as master and when i tried to boot it said "primary master failed" and booted from the slave.but even then windows couldnt complete booting and stopped just b4 the login screen.
i next plugged it as the slave and the same prob was repeated.
then i booted with my win98 boot cd..(my smaller hdd is partitioned fat32),but it couldnt detect it at all!!!same problem with the xp boot cd.
then i booted with the seatools boot diskette(it is a disk diagnosticutility from seagate) and it detected both the hdds, but while scanning the smaller one,it found "critical file system errors" in the primary partition(6 gb, fat32) and the 1st logical partition(ntfs,6 gb).the 2nd logical partition(8 gb,fat32)was found ok.
i then booted with the disk manager diskette..thinking i would take a backup of the healthy partition in my other drive..and then repartition it.but there..it is not showing the logical drives separately..and as a result i cant take the backup.
i hv some imp data in this disk..and i need to recover as much as possible.any help wld be very appreciated.
ps:when i enter the bios with the faulty hdd pllugged in..it is not detecting it automatically..whether it is master,slave or alone.i have to manually enter the cylinder,sectors etc by defining it as "user definrd",and then when i redefine it as "auto",it is getting detected.
any help is sought after..
thnx

[popper1987]

yes this problem is strange .But it could be due to the following reasons

1 Bad sectors on either of the disk
2.the Jumpers on the back of the hard disk on not properly set
3. the connections are loose

i would suggest u to boot your computer with one hard disk at a time and check its health by any software and recover ur data.
i hope u find ur way out of the problem

[Techmastro]

Definately bad sector problem.
Sometime back when i tried to install linux on my pc but it couldnt successfully install then same problem occurs with me.
When i watched my hdd in partition magic & disk manager it doesnt show up individual partitions but when i installed my hdd as slave in my friend pc i could see my partitions as well as my data in other healthy partitions.
Try to run it as salve in your pc & see whether you are able to backup your data if not i am afraid you have to perform complete format.

You can also use scan disk option in windows.

[The Incredible]

Hey Bhagwan.

C'mon don't ask such silly questions.

Ur answer is in ur query only. now use sum mind.

first of all just use ur mind and think if u can think anything else than doing sumthing 2 ur hdd.

if do not get what i said then just guv ur post a thorough reading.

Anindya Srivastava

[geekgod]

1 Bad sectors on either of the disk
2.the Jumpers on the back of the hard disk on not properly set
3. the connections are loose

ya..i'm sure it's a bad sector problem..i've repeatedly checked the cables and the jumpers..and they are abs ok..
i've tried running it as slave and i told u..it is not getting detected by anything except the seagate boot diskettes..whether it's master or slave or alone.and even when it is getting detected..the logical partitions are not being shown separately and so i cant back up the healthy partition..

Ur answer is in ur query only. now use sum mind.

first of all just use ur mind and think if u can think anything else than doing sumthing 2 ur hdd.

if do not get what i said then just guv ur post a thorough reading.

i'm sorry..but i cudnt find an answer in my query..cud u enlighten me please?

If possible download spinrite

it says there i can only buy spinrite..cant i get a trial download from anywhere?

[The Incredible]

dear geekgod.

u mentioned that u r having seagate hdd.

so why don't u call their helpline and ask to solve ur problem?

Anindya Srivastava

[geekgod]

my dear incredible...that's the obvious thing to do,isnt it?and as i'm not doing it..there must be a reason for it..which in this case is that I CALLED THEM AND THEY TOLD ME TO TAKE THE HDD TO THEM AND THEY CHARGE A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT FOR DATA RECOVERY..nd before spending that amt i wanted to know whether anyone had better ideas than me,so i put this question forward..
nd plz dont mind..i think people ask questions here to get SENSIBLE answers..so use ur common sense before giving baseless replies

[The Incredible]

N how can u say its a data recovery problem even if its a data recovery problem

[geekgod]

i would take a backup of the healthy partition in my other drive..and then repartition it.but there..it is not showing the logical drives separately..and as a result i cant take the backup.
i hv some imp data in this disk..and i need to recover as much as possible.any help wld be very appreciated.

thats why..
i've faced such problems before...nd as i didnt need to take backups then i simply solved the problem by zero-filling the hard drive..which is not possible here as it would destroy my data..
c'mon guys..i need a reply stat..plz..i dont want to spend the money i was saving to buy a new graphics card