Windows FORCED Hard-Drive Format

[topps999]

i just installed a new motherboard, and i have got my primary hdd workng, but my slave one (which runs on raid, were as my primary runs on IDE), seems to not be there, i can see the disk drive letter and the icon in computer but wen i go to open it i get the option 'you must format first yes or no'.. obviously i have about 120gb of stuff on there and dont wanna lose any of it, but i dont have a clue how to get round this, is there a way? please help... thanks -topps-

 

[kimsland]

but my slave one (which runs on raid...

You mean both the Primary and secondary drives run on Raid?
ie Raid uses minimum two disks

In Raid config, you normally can only see one drive (depending on config)

 

[topps999]

umm.. probably.. lol but i plug my main one in using a IDE cable and the other using a thinner cable (think its sata ? :S) thank -topps-

 

[kimsland]

Yes probably both in Raid !!

I'd say backup (before removing any partitions)
And install Windows on one drive (non raid)
Then use the other drive for whatever (actually the pagefile on the other drive would be good.

Thinner cable=SATA

 

[topps999]

i have my computer set up and working on the IDE drive.. but thats my problem.. i cant touch my other drive (LITERALLY)... evrytime i try and do something wif it i get errors.. mainly to do with the pc not being able to find it... wen i go on properties thsis it was i get (view picture attached).. wen i try and back it up on my other drive i get error message saying it cud not be accessed.. wen i try and open it i get the eror message "the disk in drive d is not formatted... do you want to format now? yes or no?" ... hope this extra info helps.. thanks -topps-

 

[kimsland]

Use ZAR to recover the data on the Raw D Drive

Raw: The volume filesystem type information is unavailable

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/unformat-tutorial.htm

Edit:

By the way, you are allowed 4 Folders down before the free option stops!
ie

c:\documents and settings\user\My documents\My folder
1234