Bootup difficulty with new storage drive

[stevethebrain]

Win7 PC won’t bootup stuck on starting windows

Recently having problems w/ windows7 first observation was very slow bootup.

I reinstalled the OS 2 days ago seamed to fix the issue.

2 days later it won’t boot up stuck on starting windows

All this started w/ the installation of a new drive which has caused all kindof problems
It renamed itself which created conflicts w/ the windows media center because the sys I think is independent of media center as far as assigned storage, so it thinks the disk is full which it isn’t it’s the path or name of HDD created this conflict.

Anyway I remove the drive and the sys. Boots up fine.

My ? is can a faulty storage drive create bootup issues, this has to be the problem?

Apprehensive to reinsert this drive and attempt another boot just happy sys. Booted.

I have this drive in a hot swappable tray there’s a bunch of recorded TV programs that I’d like to move to a know functioning HDD is there a risk of reinserting this drive then moving the files, which I actuelly did the error was disk full, it’s a 2TB w/ maybe 20% used space. I believe this drive needs to be warranted.

Additionally this drive continues to disappear then reappear, the power & sata cables are tightly pressed in secure connection + my MOBO only has 6 sata ports and all are being used actuelly the 6th port was the DVD that I never use like a sata port is a sata port right it doesn’t care if a HDD or DVD is connected right?

I prefer not to insert a known functioning drive in the same port to prove a good physical connection because the drive is sometimes recognized in w7 but always full in media center. Doe’s all this sound like defective drive?
Please advice and thanks

[Scallica]

Steve, your post is a mess

Start with the basics. Find another computer that is working and connect the hard drive via SATA cable or using a USB enclosure. Install Hard Sentinel (free) and see if the drive has any SMART errors or bad sectors before spending any more time troubleshooting.

https://www.hdsentinel.com/

[stevethebrain]

I added a storage drive.

Installed it transferred files to it. then it started to disappear then reappear and when it disappeared the G drive where I moved files from to the new drive would also disappear.
I’m warranting this drive. sys. Won’t boot w/ it connected. so I reinstall OS. I’d like to move the files back to the old storage before I send back.

What’s the risk of connecting to a know functioning SATA & power to recover these files? Like could this drive have damaged it’s SATA port and could possibly ruin another SATA port?

I’ve ordered the SATA to USB cable on Wednesday however amozone has’nt even started the shipment no time to wait
Thanks

[Space]

So just to make sure we understand.

You connected a new drive to a SATA port on your system. This was OK for a while but then the drive would get disconnected and reconnect on/off constantly. Then, after a while, you saw the same symptoms from another drive in your system (which works fine when you have the "bad" drive disconnected from your system). Also, if the "bad" drive is connected to your system, the system won't boot (even though you are not booting from the "bad" drive).

So you are asking if it is safe to connect this "bad" drive to your system to get files off of it (before you send it back to be RMAed) and if it is possible that it can damage your SATA ports or other drives in your system.

Well, if you cannot boot the system with the drive connected, how are you seeing any other issues with the drive? Are you connecting it to the SATA port AFTER the system is booted? I don't think SATA is hot swappable, so I'm not sure if this is something that can be done or not. I see you are getting a SATA to USB cable, so I believe this would make it hot swappable, and may be a good way to see if you can get files off the drive.

I'm not really a PC hardware person, so I'm just trying to clarify things so that others may be able to help.

[stevethebrain]

yes this is what happened initially the new drive was fine including bootup so I transfered files to it thinking it was functioning normally that's why I transfered files to it. I'm low on storage thats why I purchased this drive.

then the drive starts acting up where I can't boot. wasn't sure if the sata port has been ruined haven't swapped to a known sata port in fear of ruining another port and affecting another drive like what happened to the G. it has been recommended that I only connect this drive externally.

however since amazone purchase of SATA to USB cable on wensday they haven't even started the shipment so I won't receive the cable before the RMA expires.

and yes this drive is in a hot swappable tray kindof like a dock station maybe it's safe to bypass the tray and try hard wiring directly to drive?
thanks

[stuartm]

I have seen problems before with "hot swappable" trays. I would either try without the tray or wait for the usb adapter if you are worried about the drive damaging your SATA ports (that fairly unlikely as drives are passive devices).

[stevethebrain]

Update: was able to find the old 1TB MY book cables so I basically have a USB connection to the new problem HDD this drive is 2TB not sure if the old wires will support the 2TB problem drive, they plug in fine an drive sounds normal no clicking or abnormal noises.

The error message stated it was ready to use however the driver needed updating which I did. An verified in the drives properties where the drive is recognized as mybook1111 an working properly.

Still can’t see the drive in my computer.
I’ve rebooted a few times this problem drive hasn’t effected bootup connected to USB.

Still have a few days to recover files before RMAing.
Thanks for any adviceSTB

[Space]

Since this problem is really unrelated to WMC, you should probably post your problem on another support forum that deal with hard drive problems.

Note that I don't really know much about this stuff, but I'll mention some things that come to mind...

One thing you may want to try is to see if the diagnostic software for the drive is able to detect it and run diagnostics on it.

Also, in windows, you can run "Disk Management" and see if it sees the drive. If it does, it can also tell you what it sees on the drive such as if it is a bootable, etc. You can also right click on it and assign a letter (e.g. E:) to the drive (which is needed to make it mountable on your system) if one was not assigned automatically.

[stevethebrain]

is to related to MC you need storage right.

I do see in disc management top of page has it as H drive other drives are CDEFG which win7 assigned after the reinstall of OS.
remember I had bootup and associated problems w/ the addition of this new drive.

lower section of disc management page has it unknown disc. unallocated. yes sure I can reformat it then that would defeat the purpose of retrieving the files on this disc.

I've managed to get this far externally powering up the drive and a port for data w/ USB. w/out ruining the bootup.
Thanks anyway I guess.

[Space]

The people on this forums are familiar with WMC, not necessarily with hard drives and how to recover them. It may be possible to get your files off the drive using recovery software, but I am not familiar with it, and while there may be people on here who happen to know about hard disk recovery, you are more likely to get the help you need on another forum that may have more people who know about hard drive data recovery.

For instance, I know about some free software called RECUVA, which may be able to recover you files, but I know very little about it or if it is the best solution in this case.

[technodevotee]

Steve, did your PC download and install any Windows Updates after you reinstalled it?

I'm wondering if an update had been installed on Windows before you reinstalled that was allowing the system to see the external drive and now that is missing so it can't see it any more.

[stevethebrain]

no I only downloaded the prerequisites for the silicon dust tuner and another that caused problems .now the sys. is running smoothly (besides new drive) updates are turned off since M$ pulled the plug on supporting W7.

I just noticed that the DVD drive was named H it actually isn't connected remember I stole it's SATA port & power. however it's listed in disc. management.

all other HDD are recognized as basic except disk 5 it's unknown not initialized and unallocated

the last restart the sys. wanted me to initialize it I'm thinking this another slang PC term for formatting which the disc has been formatted prior to transferring files to it.

the small PCB contraption from inside my old my book used to interface the HDD as a USB has a reset button unsure of whats it's function is.

the other storage drives are CDEFG maybe windows wants to name this new drive as H and this created a conflict since H is being used for the DVD

remember in device manager the drive is named western digital 1111 I'm still confused which is actually the name in disc management I assume the second parentheses is the name and the first is the description.

lastly for right now why doe's this HDD properties indicate the drivers are the the latest and up to date. but another window came up stated 4 headings first three said disc was ready to use 3 different ways then the 4th said update drivers?
thanks

[technodevotee]

I'm confused. Is the HDD connected directly to the Motherboard now or is it connected via USB with the innards of your my book? If the latter, I suspect the name in device manager is the USB/SATA interface and not the HDD. The problem is that we don't know whether the my book interface even works with drives bigger than 1GB do we?

Whatever, I concur with @Scallica that you need to get back to basics and test the drive in another PC - preferably one with a later operation system that handles big hard disks OK - before doing anything else as it is the only sure way of knowing the status of the drive.

I don't think there would be a drive letter conflict as Windows would just choose another letter if it recognised a valid partition on the hard drive.

I suspect that one of a number of things happened.

1, As someone else said, there was a problem with the hot swap tray or caddy (I have had all sorts of problems with them as well) which corrupted the disk.

2, The disk and its partition is fine but Windows can't see it because something changed when you reinstalled it.

3, something else.

[stevethebrain]

If I do the following steps and choose to not format will the Simple Volume Wizard erase the files?
Are there 2 different Disk Management 1 w/ Administrative privileges 2nd
None Administrative privileges?


Disk Management.
3. Right-click an unallocated region on your hard disk, and then select New Simple Volume.
4. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, select Next.
5. Enter the size of the volume you want to create in megabytes (MB) or accept the maximum default size, and then select Next.
6. Accept the default drive letter or choose a different drive letter to identify the partition, and then select Next.
7. In the Format Partition dialog box, do one of the following:
8. If you don't want to format the volume right now, select Do not format this volume, and then select Next.
* To format the volume with the default settings, select Next.
1. Review your choices, and then select Finish.

[technodevotee]

It doesn't matter which method you use, attempting to create a new volume will either fail or wipe the existing data and I'm not sure that is what you are trying to achieve.

I thought you wanted to mount the volume and recover the data you put on it.

[stevethebrain]

It doesn't matter which method you use, attempting to create a new volume will either fail or wipe the existing data and I'm not sure that is what you are trying to achieve.

I thought you wanted to mount the volume and recover the data you put on it.

yes the objective is file recovery,
this drive must have gone rotten a couple of weeks after install then created the bootup hangup, hence title of thread.

remember I've already formatted prior to transferring files, I shouldn't have to format again.will attempt data recovery SW I'm done w/ the builtin tray (dock)
this must be a bad physical connection creating these issues. thanks will report back

[stevethebrain]

In recovery Windows is contradicting itself under drive it see’s the new volume
as it doe's in disc management

under status the drive cannot be found I'm assuming this term means rotten drive maybe this is why I can't select the new volume in recovery
Attach screen shot of restore.

even w/ the my book USB interface the drive disappears from device manager then I repower it and it reappears.

this must be why recovery & disc management recognizes the hardware but not the logical files.

edit: I may have only selected the C drive in recovery after the reinstall of OS because that uslley the problem drive don't remember ever restoring a storage drive.

do you experts set restore point for all drives?
Thanks

[technodevotee]

You are getting misled by what you are seeing.

Why are you even looking at that? It is not going to help you mount the drive.

Please show us what you get in disk management.

[technodevotee]

If you can't test the drive on another computer, I really think you should stop messing about with external devices and just plug the drive into the motherboard using the cables that the DVD drive was connected to.

I've never had a faulty drive damage a mother board.

It may not tell you whether the problem is the drive or the contents of the drive but at least it will eliminate some of the variables from what is currently a highly confused situation.

[stevethebrain]

Good: I completely forgot about the recycle bin must of had a major brain fart, was able to recover a lot of files.

Bad: Must have emptied it a few times so didn’t recover all.

now I`d like to have these files displayed in W7MC they can be played from explorer but it`s inconvenient.
STB