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Reading a gateway formated drive on a regular computer

IceDigger

IceDigger

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I have a 3 year old gateway hd that I need to transfer the info off of before I format and reinstall windows on for a client. Problem is windows cannot read the file system and partition magic cant tell what fs it uses. Any ideas what funky fs type gateway uses on thier disk drives?
 
what OS was it?
it wouldnt be a unique filesystem if its Windows

I can give you some instructions for migrating the HDD
do you know if it was a dynamic disk or encrypted?
 
My client had regular old win me on it. No encryption or anything like that. Fat32 yet, windows xp does not set it up as a drive.
 
Wonder if it has to do with thier "Go Back" software that is on the hard drive?
 
so in disk management its not recognizing the filesystem?

try Start > Run > (type) diskmgmt.msc > Action Button > Rescan Disks >


if that fails Id try Testdisk (freeware)

and if you want to really wade into the deep end you could use
PartInfo and PTEDIT32

and if that fails Id run a recovery ap
to directly scan the data on the drive

Originally posted by IceDigger
Wonder if it has to do with thier "Go Back" software that is on the hard drive?
Click to expand...

that shouldnt effect the partition ID
 
That test disk program I was able to read the data on the drive no problem and it says it is a fat 32 fs. Yet windows still refuses to give this thing a drive letter.

Also under the disk management the option to give it a drive letter is blanked out. Says its a healthy active fat32 partition.

I'm really stumped.
 
Strange, I know what that would be if it was an NTFS
Id say its a permissions issue, which would be fixed by disabling simple file sharing and taking ownership of files and folders
but FAT32 shouldnt have permissions if I remember correctly
 
when you RClick on the drive in Disk Management (not the partition but the drive) are you given the option to Initialize it?
(hold off actually initializing it)
 
didnt think so, it means that the OS does know there is a drive there (its typically for a new drive in the event it doesnt automatically detect)

How to install an additional hard drive using Windows XP Disk Management

you sure its not a dynamic disk?
moving basic and dynamic disks see importing foreign disks
EDIT> (of course it wouldnt be with WinME :rolleyes: )


well normally I recommend File Scavenger to recover data, but its only NTFS so Id say either
iRecover or Restorer 2000 (NTFS\FAT32 versions)

in the Freeware catagory (typically less effective) try PC INSPECTOR File Recovery


was there a HDD there in that config before? (channel + master or slave?) that this one replaced?

might be a real low level issue???
> BIOS (typicaly under the PNP\PCI submenu) Force Update ESCD
Extended System Configuration Data, should force refresh the DMI pool (normally used for PNP devices but also makes the BIOS redetects the drives) isnt available in all BIOS, but its harmless and alot easier than clearing the CMOS and redetecting from scratch



Im out of ideas
 
Originally posted by Ice Czar
was there a HDD there in that config before? (channel + master or slave?) that this one replaced?

might be a real low level issue???
Click to expand...

Or maybe something as simple as a flakey ide cable,
Try swaping it
 
Didnt work.

Stupid me. Should have thought of this to begin with. I can just attach a 20gb drive to the gateway computer and put the original in there and just start copying files. Works fine that way.

Man am I stupid.
 
not really
its also reasonable to expect you could simply add it in the new computer :p

but considering the difficulty your having actually doing that...
thats a good idea :p
 
I really appreciate all the help you have been Ice Czar. Thank you.
 
Thats why we are here :D

Id be happier if we had actually figured it out :p
 
how big is it? wonder if the gateway is using some kind of bios extender or something...
 
It was only a 20GB drive, and yes I do think they have a proprietary hd thingy because the first thing that comes on the computer is the gateway "go back" screen.
 
I have a feeling there's going to be a couple partitions on that drive with custom boot code, probably compression, and some other junk. If you want to remove them a simple zap of the paritition table should have you good to go. It would be too expensive and frustrating for their customers to use proprietary drives, but rather cheap and in many cases beneficial to stock the drive with proprietary software.
 
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