No drive letter

Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS is XP
pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed as the
secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no drive
letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not change
or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
Thanks Bob

I'm no expert but... in Disk Manager, the upper right portion of the screen
right click on the drive icon in the "volume" column. You have to click the
drive itself in that column only. If that doesn't work try Mark as active
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...bed65abd9.mspx

OMS


"Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS is XP
> pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed as
> the
> secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no
> drive
> letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not
> change
> or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> Thanks Bob

When I right click all I get is a help option for the first partition which
is a FAT partition. For the second partition I get the regular listing of
options but only the "Delete" and help are active. This is a very
interesting problem. Will try the linj you supplied next.
Thanks Bob

"OMS" wrote:

> I'm no expert but... in Disk Manager, the upper right portion of the screen
> right click on the drive icon in the "volume" column. You have to click the
> drive itself in that column only. If that doesn't work try Mark as active
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...bed65abd9.mspx
>
> OMS
>
>
> "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS is XP
> > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed as
> > the
> > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no
> > drive
> > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not
> > change
> > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> > Thanks Bob
>
>
>

"Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS is XP
> pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed as
the
> secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no
drive
> letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not
change
> or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> Thanks Bob

You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.

Drive was formated as it was the original primary drive, until it developed a
bad cluster. There is a significant amount of data on the drive that I want
to recover. Wouldn't formatting it erase the data? Since the drive was
originally format and functioning there must be something blocking drive
letter assignment.
Thanks for your response.

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>
> "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS is XP
> > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed as
> the
> > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no
> drive
> > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not
> change
> > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> > Thanks Bob
>
> You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.
>
>
>

Yes, formatting will erase all data. To protect yourself against
mishaps such as bad clusters, you need to back up your
important files to an independent medium regularly, e.g. once
a week.


"Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B908FC48-288E-4A3E-84DA-8FA19DD12557@microsoft.com...
> Drive was formated as it was the original primary drive, until it
developed a
> bad cluster. There is a significant amount of data on the drive that I
want
> to recover. Wouldn't formatting it erase the data? Since the drive was
> originally format and functioning there must be something blocking drive
> letter assignment.
> Thanks for your response.
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>
> >
> > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> > > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS
is XP
> > > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed
as
> > the
> > > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no
> > drive
> > > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not
> > change
> > > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> > > Thanks Bob
> >
> > You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.
> >
> >
> >

Understand about backing up, nut didn't have availability. Does not change
my current problem. I have noticed that the secondary drive partion type is
listed as MBR as is disk 0. Might this be the confusion on XP not assigning
a drive letter??
Thanks Bob

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

> Yes, formatting will erase all data. To protect yourself against
> mishaps such as bad clusters, you need to back up your
> important files to an independent medium regularly, e.g. once
> a week.
>
>
> "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B908FC48-288E-4A3E-84DA-8FA19DD12557@microsoft.com...
> > Drive was formated as it was the original primary drive, until it
> developed a
> > bad cluster. There is a significant amount of data on the drive that I
> want
> > to recover. Wouldn't formatting it erase the data? Since the drive was
> > originally format and functioning there must be something blocking drive
> > letter assignment.
> > Thanks for your response.
> >
> > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > > news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> > > > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned. OS
> is XP
> > > > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now installed
> as
> > > the
> > > > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows with no
> > > drive
> > > > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can not
> > > change
> > > > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> > > > Thanks Bob
> > >
> > > You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>

Every disk has an MBR (Master Boot Record) but only the
MBR of the primary master disk matters.

You could try one of these tools to recover your partition.
Some of them have a "trial" mode.

http://www.restorer2000.com/r2k.htm (to restore NTFS partitions)
http://www.hddrecovery.com.au
http://bootmaster.filerecovery.biz (has NTFS undelete tools too)
http://www.runtime.org/ (GetDataBack)
http://www.runtime.org/ (has a trial version)
www.acronis.com (RecoveryExpert)


"Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E7AD978A-C422-45A3-BC80-33B6BB2EC762@microsoft.com...
> Understand about backing up, nut didn't have availability. Does not
change
> my current problem. I have noticed that the secondary drive partion type
is
> listed as MBR as is disk 0. Might this be the confusion on XP not
assigning
> a drive letter??
> Thanks Bob
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>
> > Yes, formatting will erase all data. To protect yourself against
> > mishaps such as bad clusters, you need to back up your
> > important files to an independent medium regularly, e.g. once
> > a week.
> >
> >
> > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:B908FC48-288E-4A3E-84DA-8FA19DD12557@microsoft.com...
> > > Drive was formated as it was the original primary drive, until it
> > developed a
> > > bad cluster. There is a significant amount of data on the drive that
I
> > want
> > > to recover. Wouldn't formatting it erase the data? Since the drive
was
> > > originally format and functioning there must be something blocking
drive
> > > letter assignment.
> > > Thanks for your response.
> > >
> > > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > > > news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> > > > > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned.
OS
> > is XP
> > > > > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now
installed
> > as
> > > > the
> > > > > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows
with no
> > > > drive
> > > > > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you can
not
> > > > change
> > > > > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> > > > > Thanks Bob
> > > >
> > > > You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> >
> >

Hi Bob_r,

Couple of question/comments, if formatted Fat32 can't you use fdisk to set
partitions to active? Don't think you need to reformat. Obvious again sorry,
but, did you change jumpers? If this was primary drive before, do you still
have an OS on it and have you tried booting from it? Also on review of your
first response it sounded like you clicked on the lower right part of the
Disk Manager window and not the drive icon in the "Volume" column in the
upper right of the window.

Sorry, I've got more questions than answers for you.

OMS


"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:%23JISGwu9FHA.1076@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Every disk has an MBR (Master Boot Record) but only the
> MBR of the primary master disk matters.
>
> You could try one of these tools to recover your partition.
> Some of them have a "trial" mode.
>
> http://www.restorer2000.com/r2k.htm (to restore NTFS partitions)
> http://www.hddrecovery.com.au
> http://bootmaster.filerecovery.biz (has NTFS undelete tools too)
> http://www.runtime.org/ (GetDataBack)
> http://www.runtime.org/ (has a trial version)
> www.acronis.com (RecoveryExpert)
>
>
> "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E7AD978A-C422-45A3-BC80-33B6BB2EC762@microsoft.com...
>> Understand about backing up, nut didn't have availability. Does not
> change
>> my current problem. I have noticed that the secondary drive partion type
> is
>> listed as MBR as is disk 0. Might this be the confusion on XP not
> assigning
>> a drive letter??
>> Thanks Bob
>>
>> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>>
>> > Yes, formatting will erase all data. To protect yourself against
>> > mishaps such as bad clusters, you need to back up your
>> > important files to an independent medium regularly, e.g. once
>> > a week.
>> >
>> >
>> > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> > news:B908FC48-288E-4A3E-84DA-8FA19DD12557@microsoft.com...
>> > > Drive was formated as it was the original primary drive, until it
>> > developed a
>> > > bad cluster. There is a significant amount of data on the drive that
> I
>> > want
>> > > to recover. Wouldn't formatting it erase the data? Since the drive
> was
>> > > originally format and functioning there must be something blocking
> drive
>> > > letter assignment.
>> > > Thanks for your response.
>> > >
>> > > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>> > >
>> > > >
>> > > > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> > > > news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
>> > > > > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned.
> OS
>> > is XP
>> > > > > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now
> installed
>> > as
>> > > > the
>> > > > > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows
> with no
>> > > > drive
>> > > > > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you
>> > > > > can
> not
>> > > > change
>> > > > > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
>> > > > > Thanks Bob
>> > > >
>> > > > You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>
>

Drive is Seagate SATA 120gb. There is a FAT volume (this is from Dell) of
39mb, status shows "Healthy (EISA Configuration)". There is an NTFS volume
of 111.72gb and status shows "Healthy (Active). Yes it was original primary
drive with OS. It has a damaged cluster and would not boot, nor would chkdsk
from recovery console repair. Under volume column there is no drive letter
assigned nor is there a right click option to assign. The only option being
delete for the NTFS volumn. I am hooking it up to recover data files. I am
currently trying Acronis Disk Director which shows Disk to as unsupported.
Any further thoghts???
Thanks Bob

"OMS" wrote:

> Hi Bob_r,
>
> Couple of question/comments, if formatted Fat32 can't you use fdisk to set
> partitions to active? Don't think you need to reformat. Obvious again sorry,
> but, did you change jumpers? If this was primary drive before, do you still
> have an OS on it and have you tried booting from it? Also on review of your
> first response it sounded like you clicked on the lower right part of the
> Disk Manager window and not the drive icon in the "Volume" column in the
> upper right of the window.
>
> Sorry, I've got more questions than answers for you.
>
> OMS
>
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
> news:%23JISGwu9FHA.1076@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> > Every disk has an MBR (Master Boot Record) but only the
> > MBR of the primary master disk matters.
> >
> > You could try one of these tools to recover your partition.
> > Some of them have a "trial" mode.
> >
> > http://www.restorer2000.com/r2k.htm (to restore NTFS partitions)
> > http://www.hddrecovery.com.au
> > http://bootmaster.filerecovery.biz (has NTFS undelete tools too)
> > http://www.runtime.org/ (GetDataBack)
> > http://www.runtime.org/ (has a trial version)
> > www.acronis.com (RecoveryExpert)
> >
> >
> > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:E7AD978A-C422-45A3-BC80-33B6BB2EC762@microsoft.com...
> >> Understand about backing up, nut didn't have availability. Does not
> > change
> >> my current problem. I have noticed that the secondary drive partion type
> > is
> >> listed as MBR as is disk 0. Might this be the confusion on XP not
> > assigning
> >> a drive letter??
> >> Thanks Bob
> >>
> >> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
> >>
> >> > Yes, formatting will erase all data. To protect yourself against
> >> > mishaps such as bad clusters, you need to back up your
> >> > important files to an independent medium regularly, e.g. once
> >> > a week.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> > news:B908FC48-288E-4A3E-84DA-8FA19DD12557@microsoft.com...
> >> > > Drive was formated as it was the original primary drive, until it
> >> > developed a
> >> > > bad cluster. There is a significant amount of data on the drive that
> > I
> >> > want
> >> > > to recover. Wouldn't formatting it erase the data? Since the drive
> > was
> >> > > originally format and functioning there must be something blocking
> > drive
> >> > > letter assignment.
> >> > > Thanks for your response.
> >> > >
> >> > > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > >
> >> > > > "Bob_r" <Bobr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> > > > news:4673F0EE-84FE-4158-A4F7-70AB30350A67@microsoft.com...
> >> > > > > Trying to install a SATA hard drive that is already partitioned.
> > OS
> >> > is XP
> >> > > > > pro. The hard drive was originally the primary but is now
> > installed
> >> > as
> >> > > > the
> >> > > > > secondary. Device manager see's it. In Disk Manager it shows
> > with no
> >> > > > drive
> >> > > > > letter for either of the two partitions. Under properties you
> >> > > > > can
> > not
> >> > > > change
> >> > > > > or assign a drive letter. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong?
> >> > > > > Thanks Bob
> >> > > >
> >> > > > You must format the drive before you can assign a drive letter.
> >> > > >
> >> > > >
> >> > > >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >
> >
>
>
>