Format, FDISK, Etc;

lgbpop,
It is misleading to say that a hard drive has most likely failed when there is absolutely no indication that it has. I never said that a hard drive couldn’t die, you need to re-read the postings in this topic. You also need to re-read the Acceptable Use Policy because you are also obviously trying to mislead.

SpywareDr,
I never wrote that mechanical things do not wear out. I know they do.
It is misleading for you to imply otherwise.

I never wrote that hard drives are not mechanical and it is misleading for you to imply otherwise.

And I don’t claim that hard drives last forever; if I did, I wouldn’t have advised many people in these help forums to always back up there data before starting projects.
You also need to re-read the post. You also need to re-read the Acceptable Use Policy.

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...43#post1020943

Quote:

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01-12-2006, 01:47 PM

Robert M

There is rarely anything wrong with a hard drive...regardless of what error messages indicate or lead you to believe.

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From post #7:

Quote:

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The error message can be seen with the circumstances I described.

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Quite true, but misleading to insinuate those are the only circumstances that will trigger that message.

Quote:

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The old hard drive probably was not correctly set up in the BIOS/CMOS.

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An assumption that was proven misleading when the HDD was replaced without changing the CMOS/BIOS.

I don't know why you have to insist someone did something wrong, or had wrong settings. The problem was solved to the owner's satisfaction, that's the important thing.

Lastly, I don't mislead people. That involves work. I don't like to work. ;)

There is no indication at all that the drive has failed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert M

There is no indication at all that the drive has failed.

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An FDISK error message of "no fixed drives present" can most certainly be an indication of a failed hard drive.



http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...56#post1020156

Quote:

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TROJANaire

01-10-2006, 11:42 AM

When I run FDISK to set up a partition, it says no fixed drives present.

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http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...56#post1020856

Quote:

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TROJANaire

01-12-2006, 08:42 AM

Turns out that it was the "hard drive" I installed one from another pc, & it fired right up!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by SpywareDr

An FDISK error message of "no fixed drives present" can most certainly be an indication of a failed hard drive.



http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...56#post1020156 http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...56#post1020856

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SpywareDr,
There's no such message generated by FDISK that I know of.
Are you sure you know what you are talking about?
Are you a hard drive salesman working on commission or something?

The best way to determine if a hard drive is OK, is trying to set it up in the BIOS/CMOS. Since there is no indication by the topic starter that this was tried after the message relating to the RAMdrive, I say your argument does not hold a drop of water and the drive and more importanly all the user files and data are probably OK.

I say:
Enter the BIOS/CMOS setup, execute the "identify drive" command and see what gives.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert M

SpywareDr,
There's no such message generated by FDISK that I know of.
Are you sure you know what you are talking about?
Are you a hard drive salesman working on commission or something?

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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...22&btnG=Search

If I had $10 foor every time I have seen that fdisk message, I could buy a new AMD FX60 based computer for all of my kids and my grandkids. And I imagine SpywareDr could get more computers than I would be able to.

Ah good to see this one's still going.

Haven't had a chance to 'kill' that spare HD as yet.

Hmmm.
I wonder if Microsoft changed the message generated by FDISK from their earlier versions of FDISK.

I thought the message from the Microsoft FDISK utility was one of the following:

No fixed disk present
or
No fixed disk(s) present

but not:
No fixed drives present

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Train

And I imagine SpywareDr could get more computers than I would be able to.

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:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nix

Haven't had a chance to 'kill' that spare HD as yet.

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Don't really have to. Power down, pull either the power lead or ribbon cable from the hard drive(s), boot from a Windows 98SE floppy and type "FDISK". The screen should clear and at the top you'll see "No fixed disks present." (in bold) and under that the "A:\>" prompt.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert M

Hmmm.
I wonder if Microsoft changed the message generated by FDISK from their earlier versions of FDISK.

I thought the message from the Microsoft FDISK utility was one of the following:

No fixed disk present
or
No fixed disk(s) present

but not:
No fixed drives present

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Technically, it's none of the above. The actual error message from Windows 98SE's FDISK is "No fixed disks present". But, because "disk" and "drive" have been used interchangeably for years now, many people get the exact wording wrong when they post their message.

SpywareDr.
Actually that's wrong also.

Technically speaking it is:
No fixed disks present.

.....Why is your period outside your quote marks?

See below
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309459/en-us