[risk_reversal]

Quote

joe tweaker said:
but outside windows (ie, DOS and BiNG) it's instant system LOCKUP. So it appears the
only hope of resizing it is with a partitioning tool that handles USB from within windows

Well you could always try the Puppy suggestion or maybe SwissKnife

Quote

joe tweaker said:
98se restarts without incident when the Memorex Thumb Drive is left in a USB port during a restart.

For me this result has placed the external enclosure itself at the top of the hit list and would trigger my getting another one as my remedial strategy to cure this ill.

Please correct me if I missed this in an earlier one of your posts but the Memorex flash drive is the only usb device that you have connected to your system (apart of course from the AcomData) ie have you tried your friend WD external on your system.

Good Luck

This post has been edited by risk_reversal: 20 March 2009 - 04:31 AM

[joe tweaker]

jaclaz, on Mar 20 2009, 04:53 AM, said:

If I get it right, the PC tries, no matter what the settings in BIOS are to boot from the external USB if it is switched on at boot time.

I don't think it is actually trying to boot from the USB, because if I do a Step-by-Step confirmation during a restart, it processes my Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, and loads all windows drivers before a BSOD appears. If it were attempting to boot from the USB drive, all these files would be missing as there are no files saved to the USB drive yet.

jaclaz, on Mar 20 2009, 04:53 AM, said:

Which exact "crash" do you experience (are you getting a readable error - if yes post it EXACTLY as you see it - or a flashing cursor or j in the top left of screen or whatever - please describe it).

The exact error is listed in post #1 of this thread, third paragraph from the top. I went back and highlighted it just now to make it easier to find.

It appears more likely to me that this drive just isn't designed to work correctly OUTSIDE of windows. It refuses to "play nice" when powered ON anywhere OUTSIDE the windows desktop. ie, DOS, BiNG, or while windows is loading. This makes it all but impossible to use third party tools with this drive outside of windows.

[joe tweaker]

risk_reversal, on Mar 20 2009, 05:29 AM, said:

[Please correct me if I missed this in an earlier one of your posts but the Memorex flash drive is the only usb device that you have connected to your system (apart of course from the AcomData) ie have you tried your friend WD external on your system.

You are correct that I have only tested one flash drive and one USB drive (AcomData) on my system. I have not tested her WD Book Drive on my system as we live miles apart and she has too much data stored on it to "loan it out." But I can state that neither of her TWO external drives exhibit the issues on her system that the AcomData exhibits on mine AND on hers.

This post has been edited by joe tweaker: 20 March 2009 - 03:49 PM

[thydreamwalker]

Same problem with W2K Server ....it has to do with a newer update?...i think?as all was well until new flash and March updates were installed 1-2 weeks ago!

[joe tweaker]

Well, this Amazon review confirms I am not the only one seeing this issue with AcomData.
This doesn't prove the drive is at fault, but it certainly lends support to that idea.

http://www.amazon.com/review/RS8PPLA6BGJ2X...t#RS8PPLA6BGJ2X

[dencorso]

It seems to be some quirk peculiar to the AcomData enclosure.
And, yes, you're not alone... Google returns many similar cases. See, for instance:
10.5 certain external drives not mounting after restart or sleep; 10.4 ...after sleep,
and this one that's more similar to your case:
Acomdata 1T USB drive issue.

[jaclaz]

@joe tweaker
I misunderstood the symptoms, sorry.

Can you try running Chipgenius on the USB enclosure?

Here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=4661&st=0

Maybe this way we can pinpoint the "problematic" controller, there may be a "manufacturer tool" available for it.

@dencorso
The one you found:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-s...-usb-drive.html
seems like a report confirming my initial idea (wrong MBR/bootsector and attempt to booting from it)

The one on the "mac" forum seems like it.

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 21 March 2009 - 04:27 AM

[Multibooter]

jaclaz, on Mar 21 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

... seems like a report confirming my initial idea (wrong MBR/bootsector and attempt to booting from it)

When I clone the main 120GB HDD of my Inspiron 7500 laptop to a another HDD in one of the 2 drive bays of the laptop, and then put the cloned HDD into another nearly-identical Inspiron 7500 as main drive, the cloned HDD works fine, no errors detected by PartitionMagic 8.01 or Partition Table Doctor 3.5. But when I put the cloned HDD into a USB enclosure, PartitionMagic reports disk geometry errors (255 heads vs 240 heads) and displays the cloned disk as Bad, even if Win98 Explorer can handle it Ok. Partition Table Doctor 3.5 also finds unrepairable errors in the partition table of the cloned HDD put into the USB enclosure. Acronis Disk Director 10 finds no errors. The BIOS of my old Inspiron 7500 reports at POST the internal 120GB HDD as 65535 MB.

When I clone the main 120GB HDD of the laptop to a USB drive, and then insert the cloned HDD into another Inspiron 7500 as the main drive, the Inspiron will not load Windows and has an error msg on a black screen.

Again, as long as I clone the internal HDD to a HDD in a drive bay module, the cloned HDDs work fine as the internal HDD of another Inspiron 7500. But I never clone (or partiton) a HDD in a drive module for use in an USB drive.

This may be related to joe tweaker's problem, since he has partitioned the HDD inside his desktop, and then uses it in his USB drive. Maybe joe tweaker should partition the Acomdata HDD in the Acomdata enclosure, not inside of his desktop.

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 21 March 2009 - 11:18 PM

[jaclaz]

Multibooter, on Mar 22 2009, 06:14 AM, said:

PartitionMagic reports disk geometry errors (255 heads vs 240 heads) and displays the cloned disk as Bad, even if Win98 Explorer can handle it Ok. Partition Table Doctor 3.5 also finds unrepairable errors in the partition table of the cloned HDD put into the USB enclosure. Acronis Disk Director 10 finds no errors. [

This is interesting.

The 240 heads (WRONG ) value as opposed to 255 (RIGHT ) should be related to the (in)famous 240 Head Int 13 Interface (7.38 GiB / 7.93 GB) Barrier

http://www.pcguide.c...d/bios/size.htm
http://www.pcguide.c...izeGB738-c.html

Something that may (or may completely fail to ) solve or alleviate the problem is using another MBR, that ONLY uses LBA, some hints are given here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=2246&st=15
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=7468&hl=

AND
using LBA partitions, i.e. type 0C and 0E and NOT 06 and 0B.

jaclaz

[Multibooter]

jaclaz, on Mar 22 2009, 06:06 AM, said:

Something that may (or may completely fail to ) solve or alleviate the problem is using another MBR, that ONLY uses LBA,
AND
using LBA partitions, i.e. type 0C and 0E and NOT 06 and 0B.

Hi jaclaz,
Great idea. For my next deployment of an internal main HDD to my old Inspiron laptops (in about 2 months) I will try to:
- clone the internal HDD to an external USB HDD
- then change the partition type from currently 06h [= FAT 16B greater than 32MB] to 0Eh [=FAT 16 LBA]
while the HDD is still in the external USB enclosure
- then insert the cloned HDD from the USB enclosure into another Inspiron, as its main HDD

In about 2 months, after my next deployment, I will post here whether PartitionMagic still reports a disk geometry error when the USB-cloned-HDD is inserted into the Inspiron laptop as main HDD. On the HDDs which I am currently using I don't want to try changing the partition type, I don't want to get into trouble now.

PartitionMagic v8.01 build 1312 cannot change partition types. Acronis Disk Director 10.0 build 2117 can change partition types, but does not list 0C or 0E in its partition type menu.

Paragon Partition Manager 9 (is about the same as V-COM Partition Commander 10) and Partition Table Doctor 3.5 CAN change to partition types 0C [=FAT32 LBA] and 0E [=FAT16 LBA]. Which of the 2 tools would you recommend for changing the partition type to 0E? My gut feeling is that PTD works better on partitions used by Win98 than Paragon Partition Manager.

BTW, I have been using in the extended partition of the cloned HDD a mix of FAT16 [type 06] and FAT32 [type 0B] partitions. Should I also change for the next deployment the partition type of the 2 FAT32 partitions inside the extended partition from 0B to 0E? On one of these FAT32 partitions inside the extended partition I am using WinXP. Or is it sufficient to change the partition type only for the FAT16 boot partition C:?

Another complication may be that I am using as boot manager on the Inspirons old System Commander 2000 v5.01 (on my desktop I have installed newer v9 for Windows Vista), which installs its own MBR.

@joe tweaker:
Did the partitioning of your HDD inside of the USB Acomdata enclosure solve your problem?

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 22 March 2009 - 12:36 PM

[jaclaz]

Multibooter, on Mar 22 2009, 07:25 PM, said:

Great idea. For my next deployment of an internal main HDD to my old Inspiron laptops (in about 2 months) I will try to:
....
Which of the 2 tools would you recommend for changing the partition type to 0E? My gut feeling is that PTD works better on partitions used by Win98 than Paragon Partition Manager.
....

NONE of them.

You are missing a point.

As long as the CHS and LBA data are "balanced" there is no problem whatsoever with "converting" an existing CHS partition in it's corresponding LBA one and viceversa.

Even if they are not, it should work allright with CHS->LBA (while it normally WON'T for LBA->CHS)

All it takes is changing 1 (one) byte in the MBR.

You might want to read the links I gave to dencorso here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...130689&st=8

AND this seemingly unrelated one:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=21049

jaclaz

[Multibooter]

jaclaz, on Mar 22 2009, 12:03 PM, said:

All it takes is changing 1 (one) byte in the MBR. You might want to read the links...

Oh me oh my, that looks involved. Any suggestion which byte to change with a disk editor? Or is it maybe easier just to continue cloning the internal HDD to another HDD in an internal drive bay, and forget about cloning to a USB drive?

What about another method of cloning the internal laptop HDD, if I
- insert the laptop drive into a USB enclosure, then
- connect the USB enclosure to my modern desktop with a recent BIOS, then
- clone the laptop HDD in USB enclosure#1 to a HDD in a 2nd USB enclosure (i.e. USB to USB), then
- insert the cloned HDD into another Inspiron
Will the cloned HDD, when inserted into another Inspiron, NOT have disk geometry errors when PartitionMagic is run?

BTW, I have been using Acronis Migrate Easy 7 for disk cloning under Win98. Is that Ok, or any better suggestions?

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 22 March 2009 - 01:59 PM

[jaclaz]

Multibooter, on Mar 22 2009, 08:54 PM, said:

jaclaz, on Mar 22 2009, 12:03 PM, said:

All it takes is changing 1 (one) byte in the MBR. You might want to read the links...

Oh me oh my, that looks involved. Any suggestion which byte to change with a disk editor?

Disk Editor? WHY?

Use beeblebrox:
http://students.cs.byu.edu/~codyb/

ot PTEdit/Ptedit32

Read the given links, particularly this one:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=2959

Comeon , a MBR is not black magic , it's just a bunch of bytes (512 to be exact), of which you are interested in DATA: 4x16=64 of them and there are nice graphical tools to manage them.

jaclaz

[Multibooter]

Thanks jaclaz, I'll give it a try during the next deployment of HDDs to my laptops.

[Drugwash]

Have you tried asking at Wim's BIOS forums for a possible BIOS update/tweak?