I have a crashed 19GB HDD that I need to fix and reactivate. Anyone who can, please help me!


These are some specifics:

A. IBM 19GB HDD - Labeled C: drive while running under Windows XP

B. FAT32 on the crashed HDD (originally installed under Windows ME)

C. 2 other HDDs on the computer are running ok under Windows XP

D. The bootup HDD is a 2.5GB disk with NTFS formatting and is named D: by Windows XP




The character of the problem:

1. Explorer sees the drive as "local disc", while running under Windows XP, but is unable to read any info on the disk.

2. Upon bootup and intermittently at all times the computer is trying to access the c: drive making the computer extremely slow while also creating a repetitive clicking noise.

3. Running some HDD recovery programs, e.g. R-Studio, will eliminate problem #2 above as long a it itself is not trying to access the C-drive, thus providing a working environment for other programs.

4. Using WinHex software I get an error message indicating that sector 64 is not working, and anytime sector 64 access is attempted the same clicking noise occurs for a few seconds. WinHex shows all "00 00 00 00" for sector 64.

5. The partition sector is sector 63 and I notice that the HDD name in sector 63 is "NO NAME" rather than the name it had prior to the crash.

6. The first eight bytes in the FATs are given as "F8 FF FF FF FF FF FF 7F". Could the "F7" byte possibly be an error causing the crash?

7. If sector 64 is a bad sector, could I mark it as a bad sector while allowing the HDD to function normally? If so how do I do that?

8. Using a Startup diskette the crashed HDD fails to show at all.

9. FDISK fails to show the crashed HDD at all.

10. Scandisk is unable to run on the crashed HDD from either floppy or under Windows XP.

11. Attempting to reinstall Windows XP from the CD gives an error message and fails as a consequence.



Thanks for any help on this as I really would like to fix this HDD with all my data intact on it!


AndyŠ