Second hard drive - Windows stuck a boot

[mibaup]

Hi!

I found another old hard drive, a Seagate 250 GB, and when I plug it to the pc, Windows is stuck at the Windows 7 logo at the boot, and the logo itself lags.
the hard drive is detected in the BIOS.
what could be the problem? (can it be a virus on this old hard drive?:sarc

Thanks everyone!

 

[LittleJay]

Does the old HDD have another Windows installation on it?

 

[mibaup]

Does the old HDD have another Windows installation on it?

Yes it does, infact, when I unplugged the Windows 7 hard drive leaving only this hard drive plugged, I got into Windows mode selection screen (safe mode, normal etc, but this too got stuck)

 

[LittleJay]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119713-diskpart-pc-startup.html?ltr=D

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197157-partition-mark-inactive.html

If you follows the steps in these tutorials you can make your old HDD inactive and then delete the old OS and reformat the disk to regain use of it. Another option would be to use the diskpart clean command to wipe and then reformat the old HDD.

Note: I would advise unhooking your newer HDD from the system before attempting to do anything with the old HDD. It makes it easier to only have one drive to work with.

 

[mmkarimi]

it happens because the new HDD needs to be checked for bad sectors. try to plug in the data cable when you are in the windows environment. then go to the manage section and update the field.
when it recognized the new HDD, try to check it for bad sectors.

 

[LittleJay]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

Here is a tutorial for using the diskpart clean command.

 

[mibaup]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119713-diskpart-pc-startup.html?ltr=D

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197157-partition-mark-inactive.html

If you follows the steps in these tutorials you can make your old HDD inactive and then delete the old OS and reformat the disk to regain use of it. Another option would be to use the diskpart clean command to wipe and then reformat the old HDD.

Note: I would advise unhooking your newer HDD from the system before attempting to do anything with the old HDD. It makes it easier to only have one drive to work with.

in this tutorial, I need to insert the repair CD that is related to the old hard drive? because I don't have it, and when I insert the repair CD of the new hard drive, the old hard drive isn't detected. (maybe because it can't install its drivers?)

it happens because the new HDD needs to be checked for bad sectors. try to plug in the data cable when you are in the windows environment. then go to the manage section and update the field.
when it recognized the new HDD, try to check it for bad sectors.

you mean, plug the power cable to the hard drive before I turn on pc and when pc is on just add the data cable? (is it safe?)
*edit: I did that:turned off pc, plugged the power cable and still didn't plug the data cable, and when I was inside Windows, I connected the data cable, but nothing happened.

 

[LittleJay]

Download and create a bootable cd of Partition Wizard. Then shut down your PC and unhook your newer HDD, leaving only the old HDD connected. Then boot your computer up into the Partition Wizard cd and see if your old HDD is recognized. If it is, then you can find the option to mark the old HDD as inactive, as well as reformating and repartitioning the drive.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html

 

[mmkarimi]

after that go to the disk manager and update the list. the new HDD would be appear, then go to the disk management and label the new hdd that has found...
...yeah its safe

 

[mibaup]

Download and create a bootable cd of Partition Wizard. Then shut down your PC and unhook your newer HDD, leaving only the old HDD connected. Then boot your computer up into the Partition Wizard cd and see if your old HDD is recognized. If it is, then you can find the option to mark the old HDD as inactive, as well as reformating and repartitioning the drive.

Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to manage partition directly with partition manager bootable CD.

I did it, Partition Wizard recognized the drive, I deleted all the partitions and then plugged back the main drive and it did boot! but inside Windows, I try to format it and it fails, and telling me to check connection and if its set to read-only,now its marked as RAW under File System.
Do you think this drive is dead?

 

[LittleJay]

First, try to see if Partition Wizard will format the HDD for you. If that fails you can try the clean command in diskpart, which will wipe the front sectors of your old HDD where the MBR sits. I will look for a tutorial that helps you do that if needed.

 

[LittleJay]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

Here you go. After running the clean command, you will need to repartition and reformat the drive. There is a link to another tutorial that you can use to do it from diskpart, or you can do it from disk management as well.

 

[mibaup]

First, try to see if Partition Wizard will format the HDD for you. If that fails you can try the clean command in diskpart, which will wipe the front sectors of your old HDD where the MBR sits. I will look for a tutorial that helps you do that if needed.

non of the methods work, in Partition Wizard it just stuck on 0% for a few minutes (maybe I should have waited more?) and on DISKPART it's hanging when I type clean and nothing happens, I think I will just give up this drive I think it's dead

 

[mibaup]

First, try to see if Partition Wizard will format the HDD for you. If that fails you can try the clean command in diskpart, which will wipe the front sectors of your old HDD where the MBR sits. I will look for a tutorial that helps you do that if needed.

I tried both methods, and both just hang, and after I quitted Partition Wizard by pressing the reset button (it said "please wait" and I didn't), the hard drive is not even recognized by the BIOS. I think that something is broken inside this hard drive so I think I'll just stop trying to revive it

 

[LittleJay]

Sorry mate I couldn't help mate, but I am out of solutions. Maybe someone else will have an idea. Good luck!

 

[LittleJay]

I just had another thought. If you still want to try something, you could download a copy of Parted Magic from someplace like distrowatch.com and burn another live cd. If i remember correctly, there is a feature in Parted magic that will help to reset your HDD back to factory condition. It might be worth a shot.

Another thing you could try is to check out the website of the company that made the HDD and see if you can download any diagnostic tools for your HDD.

 

[Pauly]

Are you sure diskpart was not working, when you type clean or cleanall the drive is being erased, my 120GB SSD takes approx 20 mins to do there is no progress indicator until process is complete, a 250GB spinner i assume will take at least double that if not more, i would run diskpart again and leave it be for at least an hour or until something shows, if the process fails i think you will get some sort of indication

You could also try chkdsk from a command prompt
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html option 2

 

[LittleJay]

Are you sure diskpart was not working, when you type clean or cleanall the drive is being erased, my 120GB SSD takes approx 20 mins to do there is no progress indicator until process is complete, a 250GB spinner i assume will take at least double that if not more, i would run diskpart again and leave it be for at least an hour or until something shows, if the process fails i think you will get some sort of indication

You could also try chkdsk from a command prompt
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html option 2

You make a great point Pauly about the length of time it takes the clean all command to run. I didn't think of that, as I only use the clean command on my SSD and that is almost instantaneous.

 

[mibaup]

I just give up I think this Mini Tool ruined my main hard drive now the main drive with Windows 7 is working so slow Windows is moving slow now =/

 

[LittleJay]

Hi mibaup, could you explain why you think mini tool has made your main HDD slower? Did you have your main HDD hooked up to the system while you were using mini tool, or diskpart for that matter, to work on the old drive? Otherwise, it shouldn't have had any effect on your main HDD, as mini tool is run from a bootable disk.