Unable to access second hard drive

bitsandbites · 31 Jan 2015

Hello,

I was using my computer normally a few days ago when it suddenly shut down. When I rebooted I became stuck on the Windows 7 load screen.

Long story short I've narrowed down the issue to being related somehow with my second hard drive.

When I disconnect the second drive Windows loads fine. If I have the second drive connected and attempt to load into safe mode the PC hangs on loading CLASSPNP.SYS for several minutes before loading Windows where I can see the second hard drive but cannot access it or see its volumn and the drive letter has changed from D to E.

Things that I have done or tried:
-formatting my SSD that houses my Windows Home Premium 64bit OS
-switched the SATA cables between the hard drives
-ensured both hard drives were listed in SATA1-4 in the BIOS
-ensured the SSD was the first in the BIOS boot order
-tried running bootsect /nt60 all /force using my install disk but never gave me a success message for drive D
-tried connecting the SATA cable to the second drive after sucessfully loading with just the OS drive active

The BIOS recognizes the drive by name but in safe mode the device manager only lists it as Local Disk without a volume. Any attempt to click on the drive in safe mode results in a lock up.

As per normal I would like to recover the information before wiping the drive.

I would be greatful for any insight or solutions into what is preventing my second drive from being read.

Thanks

bitsandbites · 01 Feb 2015

I found a viable workaround to my issue.

Working under the assumption that the hard drive was intact and just couldn't be accessed by a windows OS I created a linux boot USB using 'puppy linux'.

From there I used the boot USB to access the hard drive and copy all relevant data to an external hard drive.

In an attempt to reclaim the use of my second hard drive I initiated a format of the drive using the linux boot USB in the hopes it would clear out what ever was blocking windows from accessing it. (Had no idea what I was doing in linux so the internet helped a TONNE)

After that I powered down the machine, disconnected all the external drives and launched the PC with my windows install disk. In the installer I could see the drive for the first time in days and it allowed me to format it. After the format I restarted the PC and launched windows normally without the install disk and it let me in. I tried copying a file I made over to the second hard drive and it copied without any issue.

It looks like the crisis is over, hope someone can find this helpful for their own issue!

Thanks :)