Hello, seem to be having problems. For some reason I am unable to see my other hard disk (with all my data on it) in my computer. It is set to Primary master (IDE), and it shows it in the BIOS and shows it in device manager correctly... just not in my computer! I think it would be possible to get it on there with casper xp, or something else - by formating it - however I have lots of data on there which i don't want to loose! The disk is also partitioned into two parts. NR

Why would you set a disk that is not your "C" disk as "primary master?" What was on it originally? Did it have an operating system? Was there some "drive overlay" software? What KIND of partitions? Any linux stuff?

Sorry not primary master, Secondary master - my optical drive is Primary master. No it just had my documents on - no operating system - never has done. The partitions... erm well I just partitioned it into two, its an 120GB seagate disk, 100GB on one partition, and 20GB on the other. My SATA disk on IDE Third Master has XP on it. NR

Neil, This is your fourth thread covering the same issue. Didn't any of the past threads help? 141405 (XP Forum) 38133 (Hardware Forum) 38148 (hardware Forum) i_XpUser

Its not the same issue... well it sort of is, but progressed and more problems, so I thought I'd make a new post. I can boot windows now no problem, was something to do with the general hardware setup. Now I just want to find a way to get my 'documents' disk to show up my computer, with out formatting it. NR

Maybe you could experiment a little with knoppix as it boots from cd and use it to access the data. I am unsure if you can backup files through knoppix or should i say i cant help you with that but a old friend has mentioned in the past that he has used it for data retrieval and such when windows just wont be nice. The full cd is available for download for free @ http://www.knoppix.org/ Just an idea maybe a search of the linux forum will enlighten you some more. Even without your issue its a nice change. hmm i guess so

How is the drive jumpered? It needs to be jumpered as Master IF you have it on the Master connection of the IDE cable and as Slave if you have it on the Slave connector. ps - Your SATA drive will not connect to an IDE connection. Your terminology above is incorrect.