Re: 160 Gb drive in a removable caddy give "disk error press ctrl alt del" on boot

Just to ensure we're talking about the same type of component - a mobile
rack that's affixed to a desktop's 5 1/4" bay that has a removable tray
(caddy) housing a HDD -- that's right, isn't it? And if so, you're working
with only a single mobile rack, right?

That is correct..

1. First of all, has this problem just arisen, i.e., has the Seagate
*ever* worked properly while it was installed in the mobile rack or has it
*never* properly functioned while installed in the mobile rack?

The Seagate drive has never worked in the caddy, I thought it was faulty and
sent it back under warrantee but the replacement acts just the same as the
original drive. This made me investigate further by connecting it directly
to the IDE cable and that is when I found out it will boot in that
configuration...

2. And you say that when the removable tray contains your bootable 120 GB
HDD it boots & functions just fine, right? Obviously indicating there's no
problem with the rack itself, right?

That is correct..


3. But when you insert your bootable Seagate 160 GB HDD in the *same*
removable tray in the *same* mobile rack, you get the "disk error..."
message you refer to and the drive is not bootable. Right?

I fit it into my second removable tray and that is when I get the boot
error..I have always left the 120Gb drive in what I call my 1st tray,
suppose I could try putting the Seagate in the second tray..


4. But you know there's nothing wrong with the Seagate because it boots &
functions just fine when you connect it as an internal HDD, right? And
when you do this the Seagate is jumpered as Master and is connected to
your Primary IDE connector on the motherboard, right? And your mobile rack
is similarly connected as Primary Master when it's in use? So that when
you connect the Seagate as an internal Primary Master (for testing
purposes), you disconnect the mobile rack's IDE cable connected to the
rack and use it to connect the Seagate, right?

Yes, but I use cable select for either the 120Gb or the 160Gb and when I
have use a 20Gb drive in the second bay.. The 250Gb permanent drive is also
set as cable select...


Think there's any chance that the problem you're experiencing may be in
the HDD jumpering as related to the IDE cable connections/configurations
to the motherboard's IDE channel(s)?

I have tried both cable select & master links.

Anna

P.S.
You indicated in a subsequent post that you think the problem may be due
to the large-drive limitation involving HDDs > 137 GB. But didn't you
indicate that the full disk capacity of your 250 GB HDD is detected in
your system without any problems?

The full capacity has always been seen of all drives it is just a boot issue
not a full capacity issue...


(I note the comment from a responder to your query to the effect that
"Caddys are not that reliable for the larger hard drives (greater than the
bios LBA limit of 137GB.)". That has not been our experience and we have
worked with a wide variety of mobile racks in many, many systems over the
year. As long as the BIOS supports large-drive capability and your XP OS
contains SP1 and/or SP2 at the time you install the OS onto the HDD,
there's no problem with the mobile rack itself not detecting HDDs > 137
GB. At least we've never once encountered that problem.)

It just crossed my mind that it might have something to do with the 137Gb
limit as the drives I swap that are less than 137Gb do boot, but the first
time I use a drive >137Gb (as a boot drive) in the caddy it doesn't.

Thanks for taking the time to run through the issues, hoping you can come up
with a resolution.

Neil


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 160 Gb drive in a removable caddy give "disk error press ctrl alt del" on boot
    ... rack that's affixed to a desktop's 5 1/4" bay that has a removable tray ... HDD it boots & functions just fine, ... I fit it into my second removable tray and that is when I get the boot ... Primary IDE connector on the motherboard, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
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  • Re: 160 Gb drive in a removable caddy give "disk error press ctrl alt del" on boot
    ... But the 120Gb does boot. ... so, you're working with only a single mobile rack, right? ... GB HDD it boots & functions just fine, ... The full capacity has always been seen of all drives it is just a boot ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: 160 Gb drive in a removable caddy give "disk error press ctrl alt del" on boot
    ... if so, you're working with only a single mobile rack, right? ... it will boot in that configuration... ... 120 GB HDD it boots & functions just fine, ... The full capacity has always been seen of all drives it is just a boot ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)