Hi, when trying to install winxp on an older machine - IBM Aptiva - with an 8G Maxtor 90845D4 hard drive, installation aborts with the message that the hard drive is corrupted beyond repair. According to the MS support site, this is probably caused by the use of drive overlay software, and I should contact the manufacterer for a solution. I've contacted IBM, but got no reply. Googling gets me nowhere. Anyone? Peter PeterG

u may check the drive ... easy way doing so is booting from a win98 cd rom, run fdisk and the format the disk. Today's subliminal thought is: 'Calm down ... it's only ones and zeros.' icq 10183575

Peter, you may well have some sort of HD problem needing attention, dunno. Another thought, XP's quite a memory hog and quite a few older systems couldn't accomodate it. Be sure yours isn't one of them. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Try this utility. I have a maxtor drive. This utility will work on other drives as long as at least one of your hard drives is a Maxtor. I used it and had a trouble free install of XP Pro. http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FSoftware+Downloads%2FView+By+Category%2FDesktop+Storage%2FDiamondMax+Family%2FUtilities&downloadID=57 Utilities DiamondMax Family Download MaxBlast 4 File Name: maxblast4.exe File Download Size: 1.8 MB File Version: 4.0 Revision Date: 11/01/04 Compatible Operating Systems: Windows 2000 ,Windows 98 ,Windows Me ,Windows XP Home Edition ,Windows XP Professional MaxBlast 4 is a one-step, ATA/IDE hard drive installation utility. MaxBlast 4 makes hard drive installations and upgrades hassle-free for novices and professionals alike by automatically identifying, partitioning, and formatting any Maxtor ATA or SATA hard drive, making it data-ready in minutes. MaxBlast 4 replaces all previous versions of MaxBlast and MaxBlast Plus. Creates a bootable MaxBlast 4 installation diskette. Compatible with Windows 98SE, Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. Breaks the 528 MB, 2.1 GB, 4.2 GB, 8.4 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB and 137 GB capacity barriers. Supports both FAT32 and NTFS drive partitions. Easy to use, Graphical Interface (GUI) with mouse and printer support. Supports up to four ATA devices in the same system*. The copy feature lets you make an exact duplicate of your existing hard drive. Fast ATA and Serial ATA compatible. The installation tutorial option allows you to view the installation process before physically installing your Maxtor ATA hard drive. Note: There must be at least one Maxtor ATA Disk Drive installed in the system for MaxBlast 4 to run. Download the file MAXBLAST4.exe diskette creator to your Windows Desktop. Note: The MAXBLAST4.exe file is too large for download to floppy diskettes. To create the Bootable MaxBlast 4 Floppy Diskette: After downloading, double click on the MAXBLAST4.exe diskette creator icon. Insert a new formatted floppy diskette into the A:\ drive. When the program opens select Continue Additional MaxBlast 4 Documentation Win 9.X/Me installs with MaxBlast 4 Answer ID: 1327 Win 2000/XP installs with MaxBlast 4 Answer ID: 1328 MaxBlast 4 Installation Tutorial: 2273 Retail Kit install guide (English Only) in Adobe PDF Disclaimer: This Document is provided as is without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will MAXTOR CORPORATION be liable to you for any damages, including any loss of profit or savings, arising out of the use or inability to use the information contained in this document. Maxtor Corporation makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.

I like Mattie's suggestion the best. Remove any partitioning and repartition. Then format the drive, which will check it out pretty well. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

Considering the price of hard drives, what is the advantage of trying to use an 8GB drive that will barely hold and run XP? Most likely the drive is so old that it is starting to fail. Any drive that is starting to show signs of wear and failure should be replaced as soon as possible. I get customers every day who have systems where the drive failed and they lost their OS and/or data depending on whether it is the primary or secondary drive. You could spend a lot of time trying to repair the drive, but using a suspect piece of hardware is placing yourself into a potential for disaster. Do yourself a favor and get a bigger, newer drive that will be more reliable. Even a recertified can fail in short order. Good luck Richard