Or, more properly, two hard drive questions. No, not hard questions -
well, not for one who knows the answer (which makes them hard for me, as
I don't know the answer 'cos if I did I wouldn't be asking, would I?)
and I'm sure there's one (or perhaps two) out there who know the answer.

Machine: modern(ish) dual-core ex-Dell, 3GHz, 8Gb RAM. Two HDDs, one
(C) running the OS and programs that want to be adjacent to it, one HDD
(the one in question) for data, downloads, games and assorted junk.
Running Windows 7, all legit and up-to-date.

HDD Q1: concerning a recently-purchased and installed hard drive. It
appears in the Explorer tree, then it disappears. Sometimes it shows up
and is usable, other times it is as if the thing doesn't exist. Its
predecessor was always visible and usable, but this little feller is
elusive. It may be the cause of the odd BSOD I've had since fitting it,
I suppose.

I've changed the power source cable and the data (SATA) cable to no
avail. Here's the nub: is it the drive at fault? It isn't very old:
less than two months it's a 2Tb Samsung Spinpoint and it came from
dabs.com as new.


HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads
for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or
PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine.
The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?

I suspect it is because the W7 install is 64-bit and the older drives
are 32-bit: when I connect a SATA drive it just works as any external
drive would. Connect a PATA drive and it comes up with a dialog box
teling me the drive is formatted incorrectly and all it will do is
format the drive.

Am I right? If so, it would be a PITA as tehre's all sorts of stuff I'd
like to recover - this was the reason for buying the connector and the
big new drive, both of which seem to be hellbent on frustrating my
desires.

If I am right, is there a way around the problem? I suppose I could
revive an old box and stick 32-bit XP on it, but that's obviously a PITA
on its own, unless I have to - and if I did, how do I get the data off
the XP machine and onto my current machine then?


Ok, so more than just two questions, but I suspect the answers are
linked although the detail eludes me and my googling skills - I betcha
there's some PC whizz out there who can put me right (**** off,
oldbloke, don't start, OK?) and give me a plan I can follow. I'd be
mighty obliged if there is.

--

Pip: Keeper of the Cable Ties

Pip wrote:
>
> HDD Q1: concerning a recently-purchased and installed hard drive. It
> appears in the Explorer tree, then it disappears. Sometimes it shows
> up and is usable, other times it is as if the thing doesn't exist.
> Its predecessor was always visible and usable, but this little feller
> is elusive. It may be the cause of the odd BSOD I've had since
> fitting it, I suppose.
>
> I've changed the power source cable and the data (SATA) cable to no
> avail. Here's the nub: is it the drive at fault? It isn't very old:
> less than two months it's a 2Tb Samsung Spinpoint and it came from
> dabs.com as new.

You don't mention if you've tried different MB ports. If so, sounds
like it must be a dodgy drive, but check the power saving settings
first. Set it to never sleep that drive.

> HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
> thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two
> leads for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either
> SATA or PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and
> working fine. The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?
>
>
> I suspect it is because the W7 install is 64-bit and the older drives
> are 32-bit

That won't be it. Did you read the instructions for the connection kit,
including the small print? My IcyBox external caddy will only work in
NAS mode if the drive's formatted as FAT16. That shouldn't be the case
with what is basically just an external USB drive, but...

--
Krusty

Raptor 1000 MV 750 Senna Tiger 885 Fantic Hiro 250

On Sat, 21 May 2011 10:47:56 +0100, Pip <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
>thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads
>for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or
>PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine.
>The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?

Normally those things have a jumper somewhere on them that needs
moving to change from SATA to PATA.

On 21/05/2011 12:07, Krusty wrote:
> Pip wrote:
>>
>> HDD Q1: concerning a recently-purchased and installed hard drive. It
>> appears in the Explorer tree, then it disappears. Sometimes it shows
>> up and is usable, other times it is as if the thing doesn't exist.
>> Its predecessor was always visible and usable, but this little feller
>> is elusive. It may be the cause of the odd BSOD I've had since
>> fitting it, I suppose.
>>
>> I've changed the power source cable and the data (SATA) cable to no
>> avail. Here's the nub: is it the drive at fault? It isn't very old:
>> less than two months it's a 2Tb Samsung Spinpoint and it came from
>> dabs.com as new.
>
> You don't mention if you've tried different MB ports. If so, sounds
> like it must be a dodgy drive, but check the power saving settings
> first. Set it to never sleep that drive.
>

I'd agree with Krusty on this. Sounds SNAFU to me.

>> HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
>> thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two
>> leads for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either
>> SATA or PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and
>> working fine. The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?
>>
>>
>> I suspect it is because the W7 install is 64-bit and the older drives
>> are 32-bit
>
> That won't be it.

Indeed not.

> Did you read the instructions for the connection kit,
> including the small print? My IcyBox external caddy will only work in
> NAS mode if the drive's formatted as FAT16. That shouldn't be the case
> with what is basically just an external USB drive, but...

Seconded. I can understand the aspect of it not working without FAT16
*as a NAS* but not as a USB.



--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
#www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

On 21/05/2011 12:26, ginge wrote:
> On Sat, 21 May 2011 10:47:56 +0100, Pip<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
>> thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads
>> for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or
>> PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine.
>> The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?
>
> Normally those things have a jumper somewhere on them that needs
> moving to change from SATA to PATA.

Dunno about normally. I have one here that has 2.5 and 3.5 IDE
connectors and a SATA socket into which you can cable SATA drives.

No jumpers in sight.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
#www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, ginge says...
>
> On Sat, 21 May 2011 10:47:56 +0100, Pip <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
> >thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads
> >for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or
> >PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine.
> >The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?
>
> Normally those things have a jumper somewhere on them that needs
> moving to change from SATA to PATA.

Not on this one: weird thing that it is. The data cable has a block in
the middle of it with a connector either side, one for 2.5" drives, the
otehr for 3.5" and 5.25" drives, with a cable running from the end of
the block which terminates in a SATA data connector.

It runs SATA drives fine, and it sees the PATA drives, just tells me
they're not formatted correctly and the only option given is to format
the drive.

--

Pip: Keeper of the Cable Ties

In article <ir86db$ira$(E-Mail Removed)>, Krusty says...
>
> Pip wrote:
> >
> > HDD Q1: concerning a recently-purchased and installed hard drive. It
> > appears in the Explorer tree, then it disappears. Sometimes it shows
> > up and is usable, other times it is as if the thing doesn't exist.
> > Its predecessor was always visible and usable, but this little feller
> > is elusive. It may be the cause of the odd BSOD I've had since
> > fitting it, I suppose.
> >
> > I've changed the power source cable and the data (SATA) cable to no
> > avail. Here's the nub: is it the drive at fault? It isn't very old:
> > less than two months it's a 2Tb Samsung Spinpoint and it came from
> > dabs.com as new.
>
> You don't mention if you've tried different MB ports.

I don't have a spare port. Dell, see: only two SATA connectors on the
MB, with an eSATA stuck away on the edge - which I can't use yet as I
haven't got a eSATA to SATA cable. Yet.

> If so, sounds
> like it must be a dodgy drive, but check the power saving settings
> first. Set it to never sleep that drive.

I can't find a 'never' setting, but have gone for 7000 minutes.
>
> > HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
> > thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two
> > leads for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either
> > SATA or PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and
> > working fine. The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?

> > I suspect it is because the W7 install is 64-bit and the older drives
> > are 32-bit
>
> That won't be it. Did you read the instructions for the connection kit,
> including the small print? My IcyBox external caddy will only work in
> NAS mode if the drive's formatted as FAT16. That shouldn't be the case
> with what is basically just an external USB drive, but...

Ah. RTFM, eh? Meh. Where did I put that box ...?

--

Pip: Keeper of the Cable Ties

In article <ir8ad2$77v$(E-Mail Removed)>, Catman says...
>
> On 21/05/2011 12:26, ginge wrote:
> > On Sat, 21 May 2011 10:47:56 +0100, Pip<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> >> HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
> >> thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads
> >> for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or
> >> PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine.
> >> The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?
> >
> > Normally those things have a jumper somewhere on them that needs
> > moving to change from SATA to PATA.
>
> Dunno about normally. I have one here that has 2.5 and 3.5 IDE
> connectors and a SATA socket into which you can cable SATA drives.
>
> No jumpers in sight.

I went a'googlin' for my adaptor and found this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/ide-sata-to-usb-2.0-48965

Which staes: "Using an IDE Hard Drive, it is not recognized by the PC
Please make sure the jumpers on the Hard Drive are set to Master".

<digs out HDD>

--

Pip: Keeper of the Cable Ties

In message <ir8ab3$77v$(E-Mail Removed)>, Catman
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>On 21/05/2011 12:07, Krusty wrote:
>> Pip wrote:
>>>
>>> HDD Q1: concerning a recently-purchased and installed hard drive. It
>>> appears in the Explorer tree, then it disappears. Sometimes it shows
>>> up and is usable, other times it is as if the thing doesn't exist.
>>> Its predecessor was always visible and usable, but this little feller
>>> is elusive. It may be the cause of the odd BSOD I've had since
>>> fitting it, I suppose.
>>>
>>> I've changed the power source cable and the data (SATA) cable to no
>>> avail. Here's the nub: is it the drive at fault? It isn't very old:
>>> less than two months it's a 2Tb Samsung Spinpoint and it came from
>>> dabs.com as new.
>>
>> You don't mention if you've tried different MB ports. If so, sounds
>> like it must be a dodgy drive, but check the power saving settings
>> first. Set it to never sleep that drive.
>>
>
>I'd agree with Krusty on this. Sounds SNAFU to me.
>

Any SMART data available for the drive?


--
Tim

On 21/05/2011 13:53, Pip wrote:
> In article<ir8ad2$77v$(E-Mail Removed)>, Catman says...
>>
>> On 21/05/2011 12:26, ginge wrote:
>>> On Sat, 21 May 2011 10:47:56 +0100, Pip<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>
>>>> HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful
>>>> thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads
>>>> for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or
>>>> PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine.
>>>> The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work?
>>>
>>> Normally those things have a jumper somewhere on them that needs
>>> moving to change from SATA to PATA.
>>
>> Dunno about normally. I have one here that has 2.5 and 3.5 IDE
>> connectors and a SATA socket into which you can cable SATA drives.
>>
>> No jumpers in sight.
>
> I went a'googlin' for my adaptor and found this:
>
> http://www.maplin.co.uk/ide-sata-to-usb-2.0-48965
>
> Which staes: "Using an IDE Hard Drive, it is not recognized by the PC
> Please make sure the jumpers on the Hard Drive are set to Master".
>
> <digs out HDD>
>

Oh *yes*. I thought jumpers on the adapter, not the drive.
*DOH*

On the face of it, that could well be your issue, especially if your
PATA drives were data drives as you describe above, and therefore
probably slaves.

OTOH, I'd expect it not to see the drive at all if there was some odd
master / slave thing going on. But wibble flip. Worth a try.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
#www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk