Hard Drive Makes Boot Hang

SeanHellen · 28 Dec 2010

Hi guys

I have been having trouble with a hard drive. It is from an old computer of mine and it has some stuff on it that I want. It is an IDE drive, but my mobo is a sata board so I went to maplins to get an adaptor to switch between the 2.

I know this adaptor works as I use it for my laptop hdd (which is now also in my desktop) and it works perfectly.

The bios recognises this dodgy hdd and is fine with it, but when I try to load windows, it just hangs once all the little squares have joined together to make the windows sign at the boot screen...it sits there "glowing" for ages

I have tried disabling the hdd in the bios, tried switching the switch on the adaptor the other way and nothing happens...windows will only boot if i unplug the power to it.

There is no bootable info on this hdd, just a few files

Any help will be gratefully received

Ivan the SoSo · 28 Dec 2010

Will it boot with just the adapter...no hard drive?

SeanHellen · 29 Dec 2010

Yep, if the hdd is not connected, i can leave the adaptor in place and it will load as normal, i can leave the adaptor in place connected to its power and the sata cable and its fine...just when this hdd is connected, it doesnt like it. My laptop hdd connects to it fine and will operate as normal, bit swap drives and it throws a fit lol

mlevy · 29 Dec 2010

Make sure you set the Master/Slave/CS jumper as the adapter suggests. You probably want it set to CS. The laptop drive doesn't have this jumper so it wouldn't cause this issue.

bigmck · 29 Dec 2010

If you haven't done so, run a CHKDSK on your C: drive and after it boots, connect your other HD and run CHKDSK on it If you are not familiar with doing this, here is some help. How to use CHKDSK (Check Disk) - Windows 7

SeanHellen · 29 Dec 2010

Thanks bigmck. I get the check disc thing, but do you mean run it on the bad hdd or run on both? (by c i assume you mean the os hdd, this is e in my case :))I ask as i cant see a way to do it as i cant boot to windows with it connected and when in windows and i connect it, it wont show in computer til i restart...then im back to square 1. I dont even know what letter it was assigned

bigmck · 29 Dec 2010

SeanHellen said:

Thanks bigmck. I get the check disc thing, but do you mean run it on the bad hdd or run on both? (by c i assume you mean the os hdd, this is e in my case :))I ask as i cant see a way to do it as i cant boot to windows with it connected and when in windows and i connect it, it wont show in computer til i restart...then im back to square 1. I dont even know what letter it was assigned

If your OS in not on your C: drive, that is a problem. When you boot your PC and have the bad drive not connected, what drive letters are in use?

SeanHellen · 29 Dec 2010

The thing is it was c drive but i installed the os onto another drive (E drive - using at the moment) i then took any info off the old (C) drive and use it for storage only.

So now:-

C: is storage
E: is the primary drive with os installed on it
D: is dvd-rw drive

I & J are virtual drives made by poweriso

There is the laptop hdd & dodgy hdd are the 2 drives that i swap between until i get another adaptor so i can leave them both plugged in - cant remember what letters are assigned to them.

I have no floppy drive

The thing thats annoying me is that this bad drive has worked before via the adaptor, swqpped to the laptop hdd, then back again and now it doesnt lol.

My intention is to get all drives working and then change the path letters so that they are not all over the place.

Just a quick thought...last time i had bad hdd running, i was on the old os (C drive back then) but now im on new os (E drive) it has stopped working. Do you think the bad hdd could have had the drive letter E also and now when i plug them in it conflicts with the new os drive since there would be 2 x E drives going or would it sort it out itself?

Dwarf · 29 Dec 2010

Do you have an external enclosure that you can install the drive in and then connect it via USB? If it was originally a drive that contained boot files for an older OS, this can sometimes cause problems if the BIOS boot order is incorrect.

SeanHellen · 29 Dec 2010

Nah, completely wiped the drive clean and its virtually full of stored files again which i want to get at. No os stuff on it though. I have tried disabling it in the bios too but it still hangs