SATA Drive Dead?

[eedmond]

Ok, I had 2 identical Maxtor 160GB SATA 150 HD's in my system. One was the Windows and all the data and the 2nd hd was games like eq2 etc..

I downloaded and installed Perfect Disk. Started to defrag my main drive then I had to stop so I pressed the stop button seconds after I did I got an error:
Stop 7A error, Kernel_Data_Inpage_Error in Win32k.sys.

So, I decide I will just unplug that HD and install windows on my second hd. That is done now. So I go to plug in my old HD (I switched SATA Channels it was on 0 now is on 1). And when I do plug in the old HD it kills my windows on the new hd that I just reformatted with a Stop 24 in NTFS.sys error. Soon as I unplug the HD windows works fine. But my problem is all my data is on that other HD that I need to get to.

I noticed there is no Slave or Master on the SATA HD's so I am assuming by changing their SATA Channel 0, 1 would do it. Bios detects both hd's fine.

These are some things I tried: I tried XP's Recovery Console to do a Chkdsk on it. When that HD is connected XP gives me a BSD even in the console. I tried Safe mode and got a BSD. I tried to boot normal as the master drive and got a BSD. Basically whenever that HD is connected I get a BSD. When it is not the primary drive the BSD is always the Stop 24 in NTFS.sys error.

I really need help on how to get this drive back. My last backup is close to 6 months old which is better than nothing but I would really like to get my email and stuff back.

Thanks,
Eric

[slgrieb]

Drive sounds dead to me, but I would try to run some floppy-based tests on it. Whatever diagnostic Maxtor provides. I got a drive last week with electronics so bad they kept my SATA controller from initializing in XP! Looks like a warranty issue.

[eedmond]

Unfortunatly Maxtor doesn't have any SATA capable diagnosing utilities.

[eedmond]

Do you think I might be able to access the drive if I bought a external USB HD enclosure? I doubt it will work but maybe, what do you think?

[confus-ed]

Unfortunatly Maxtor doesn't have any SATA capable diagnosing utilities.

Really ? Though I'd have thought 'traditional' utils would work, but then again, like you, I haven't yet really sussed what's going on at boot & via bios, with sata connections as yet.

At the moment my guess would be that it can see 'bootstraps' on both disks, & that's why it errors when you add the 'duff one'

Have you actually tried this ? :-

I would try to run some floppy-based tests on it

Everything you've said you tried sounds to be from inside windows, well if somethings getting done wrong before windows loads up, that's no good is it !?

[eedmond]

Note: PowerMax v 4.21 will not detect ATA or SATA hard disks connected to embedded or add in RAID controllers, NVIDIA Force 3, Force 4, VIA KT 600 and KT800 chipsets. If the hard disk is connected to an unsupported controller, it will have to be moved to an alternate system, or controller for diagnosis. Please check the PowerMax download page periodically for updates. Beginning March 1st 2005 all versions of PowerMax prior to v4.21 will no longer be supported. Maxtor recommends that you update to version 4.21 before testing your hard disk.

That's from Maxtor's website. My MB is a Nforce 2 but it's Sata connector's are under the Raid controller's controll.

Anybody know of a decent floppy based HD utility that will work with a SATA drive on a Raid Controller? (The HD's are not raided)

[confus-ed]

See if seatools can overlook the fact its not one of their (seagate's) drives & maybe help you ?

..Desktop edition works with most ATA, SATA, or SCSI drives in desktop systems ..

[slgrieb]

Well, just in case you needed another good reason (besides wretched reliability) not to buy Maxtor, here you are. If I read their support site correctly, you could test the drive if you have an adapter to connect it to an IDE controller, but otherwise you would need a full-blown professional (see also: expensive) diagnostic to test the drive. Other manufaturers tests might work, but most don't. Hitachi's Drive Fitness test will support SATA, and last time I checked it wasn't brand specific.

Lots of things you have done with the drive suggest it was working correctly for a while, but that doesn't mean it still is. I have had drives that could pass seek tests, read tests, controller tests, and then puke on write tests. Sometimes intermittently.

Try: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

[ross.v]

Try your hard disk in different computer with sata support.

[eedmond]

I have no other computers available with Sata support. I guess I will take it to my local PC Repair shop and tell them to recover the data if they can do it in under an hour. I am too poor to afford much more than that.