Drive Image software on Dual Hard drive Laptop's

[kedmison]

MTU,

I had posted this sometime back but have not got a reply yet so I'll try again. I have been having problem with my Direct Image program that came with my MTU laptop. I recently feel that the problem is with the second hard drive (D Sometimes when I turn on the computer windos recognizes the drive and other times it doesn't. My thoughts are that regardless whether there is a problem with the Direct Image program; Windows should always recognize the second hard drive. I need help with this so I'll be sure of my back up. Thanks.

Kelly

[MTUSUPPORT]

Kedmison,
It sounds like you are saying that sometimes when you boot the system the D:\ drive is there and other times the drive is not there?

Do you know about how often this happens? Does the drive seem to be making any clunking noises?

If you have a copy of Norton Utilities it has a program called Disk Doctor that can test the drive to see if it finds any bad sectors on it.

What is the problems that you are having with the Imaging software also?

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Thjer's no noise or anything. Sometimes the D: drive is there and sometimes not. I have Norton but it is on the C: drive. I can't get the D: drive to come up where I can put it on there.

Thanks,

Kelly

[kedmison]

Bryan,

When D: drive does show up and I try to run Direct Image I get Error # 626


Kelly

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Was finally able to get Windows to recognize the D:. I ran Norton and it didn't find anything wrong. Later when after turning the computer off and back on it failed again to see the D:. Even when Windows does see the D: Direct Image fails to work. It gives me Error #626.

I still think there must be something wrong more so with the drive than Direct Image. Windows should always see the D: wether Direct Image works or not.

I'm needing some guidance on this as I do not have a back up if the C: goes astray. Should I have a local vendor check this out?


Thanks as always,

Kelly

[MTUSUPPORT]

Kedmison,

Problem Description:
Error 626 Operation is to be performed on a hard drive not visible from boot-mode
Error 626

This sounds to me as if the drive may have gone bad. What I will do is get Doug to get a new Hard drive and then I will send it up to you to see if it will fix the problem.

I will give you a call in the morning.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Kedmison,
You new hard drive is on its way. It was shipped out on Friday so it should be there in the next day or so.

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Received my ram and new hard drive. Took out the old drive. (Toshiba), put in the new hard drive (Hitachi) The laptop still does not recognize the D:/ drive. I put it in EXACTLY like the one I took out. Even made sure the little blue jumper was put on the right pins. What do I need to do? Have tried to get windows to see it and am having no luck.

Thanks,

Kelly

[MTUSUPPORT]

Kelly,
Go to the Start Menu\Settings\Control Panel.

Click on Administrative Tools\ Computer Management

Then click on Disk Management

You should see a Disk 0 which is the C:\ drive

And then a Disk 1 which would be the D:\ drive

You might have to right click on the D:\ drive and format it or set it up since it is different.

Let me know what you find.

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Disk 1 shows up as Removable Drive (E This I am sure of refers to the small MP3 drive that is removable.

Kelly

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Assuming that the new drive does work I am of the opnion that this has to either be a cable issue or controller issue. My main drive works so I am not having to miss any gigs. What do you think aboput me getting with my local computer people and trying a different cable or whatever. I don't want to have to send the computer back to you to check out unless I just have to. Waiting for suggestions. And as always thank you for you support.

Kelly

[kedmison]

Bryan,

I had assumed that Disc 1 under computer management refered to the small mp3 drive, becasue it says Disk 1 Removable (E: ) No Media. However when I put the mpe drive into the compter and went to Computer Management it shows up as Disk 2 Removable drive 30 MB ( G: ). So,...Disk 1 may be E: instead of D: howvere it says removable. Have not found a way to format or do anything.

Again, suggestions.

Kelly

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Locals couldn't tell me if the drive was ok or not. I noticed that that the tray that holds the drive also has a small rectangular circut board that the ribbon tape plugs into. Maybe that's the problem.

Kelly

[MTUSUPPORT]

Kelly,
This tray that you are talking about is the external one? It is the one that is beside your CD-R drive correct? I do need to know this, to get the correct mount for the drive.

Please let me know.

[kedmison]

Bryan,

Yes. As the laptop is sitting in front of you it is located in the back left corner. As I said don't know if this is the problem but after looking at the tray; the ribbon and small circut board are all right there. If the problem isn't there then it would have to be on the board somwhere dealing with the D drive.

I just figured it might be best to just try the whole tray. That would rule out the ribbon and cirut at one time.

And as for others who read these threads concerning my drive problem; don't let it scare you off if you are considering Hoster and or the laptop. Knock on wood but it has performed flawless. Just having a little trouble with my back up drive. You won't find this kind of support with any other product. Thanks Bryan.

Kelly

[jaddams]

Kelly,

I don’t think there is anything wrong with your hard drive. Everything points out to your problem being relate to “Direct Image.”

If you are running a clean install of Windows 2000 or XP you may try checking the event log for further details on this error and post them here.

Originally posted by MTU Support
Error 626 Operation is to be performed on a hard drive not visible from boot-mode

The error message you are receiving is very specific to this type of problems. A hard drive failure will not give this message, nor will any cable related problems. Here are some possible causes and solutions from the PowerQuest web site.

Problem environment: Partition Magic, Drive Image, Drive Copy, Server Magic.

Cause 1: This error is caused when you are trying to perform an operation on a drive that Windows sees as a fixed drive but DOS cannot detect at all. This normally occurs with Fire Wire, USB, or PCMCIA hard drives, none of which are visible in DOS. Since Drive Image, PartitionMagic, and ServerMagic must all reboot to DOS to perform operations on disks that have open files on them, these programs cannot perform operations involving disks that cannot be seen in DOS.

Fix: To avoid this error, make sure that all operations you perform on USB, FireWire, or PCMCIA hard drives can be performed within Windows. In other words, if you want to create images of or resize partitions on these drives, you cannot have operating systems running on them or do anything else that would cause files to be open on them. Also, when you are creating an image of a partition that has open files on it (such as the active operating system partition), you cannot save the image file to a USB, FireWire, or PCMCIA drive because the computer must reboot to DOS to create the image.

Before you attempt to create an image of a partition that has open files on it, make sure you have access to a different drive or partition that is visible in DOS (for example, a partition on an IDE drive) so you can save the image file to that location.

Cause 2: This error may also be caused if a drive is jumpered incorrectly or is not detected in the BIOS.

Fix 2: Consult your drive's documentation to make sure that the drive is jumpered correctly, and then go into your BIOS Setup program to verify that the BIOS is correctly detecting the drive.

NOTE: Windows is capable of seeing drives even if the BIOS has not detected them; therefore, just because a drive is visible in Windows does not mean that the BIOS has correctly detected the drive.

(My comment: you may have lost your BIOS settings, this can happen without you knowing it. I would check here first)

Cause 3: If this error is reported when resizing a partition on a large RAID drive in boot mode, the problem is that the partition is on a slave drive on the RAID controller and is detected as drive 3 in the chain. Drives 0, 1, and 2 are left undetected when the drives post.

Fix 3: Change the affected RAID drive to master so the system can detect it as drive 0.

Good luck,

Jon

[kedmison]

Jon,

I'll check the BIOS. At this point I don't think it's the drive either. However I'm not convinced it's the Direct Drive Image Program. Windows XP Pro should see the D drive when ever it boots up. A few weeks back it would sometimes see it and sometimes not. Almost like a "short" in the system somewhere. According to Windows there is no D drive. This is what has lead me to wonder the tray that the drive sets in. A possiblility that the cirut board or ribbon tape might be bad. Bryan sent a new drive thinking that was the problem. It doesn't work either so we're trying to rule out the possiblities. MTU is saying that windows should be seeing the drive also. I'll keep looking. Thanks.

Kelly

[kedmison]

Jon,

BIOS is fine. Jumper is fine. BIOS says everything is enabled, but still shows D drive as 0 size. I am still under the impression that there was a loose connections that finally broke free. I can't see windows sometimes seeing something and then sometimes not. And the frequency of it now showing up increased until the point it's not there. Again thanks,

Kelly

[jaddams]

Kelly,

Loose connections don't give error messages like the one you are receiving! The affected component, either refuses to work or you may get some diagnostic codes, usually with a series of beeps.

Let's try this to check to eliminate another possibility.

Unplug your removable MP3 drive and reboot without it.

Regards,

Jon

[kedmison]

Jon,

I'm not getting ANY error messages. I ONLY got the error messages when Windows was recognizeing the D drive. And my MP3 player isn't even in the computer now. i only put it in to see if it would be seen, and it was. This is my whole point Jon. There are no errors. Nothing at all is working wrong with my computer. Everything is great,...EXCEPT, windows does not even know that there is a 2nd hard drive in my laptop.

For about a 2 week period the D drive would come and go. During this time is when I wouod receive the error messages from trying to run Direct Drive. There is no way to run Direct Drive and copy to the 2nd hard drive if windows can't find it. Guess I didn't make myself clear. Have been on the phone with Bryan a lot and I suppose it's been easyier to verbally explain it. We're trying to fix it without me having to send the laptop back to him. As I've said., I couldn't ask for this system to perform any better. I just sort of feel like a F16 pilot in a superb machine,...but without a parachute.

Thanks, again. keep thinking.

Kelly