UNSOLVED
Hard Drive "D" DISAPPEARED! after a system restore
The Short Story: My "D" Drive has disappeared. That is the drive where all the dell/windows/restore/etc is stored.
I did a "restore" prior to it disappearing. Then I went back to the point before the restore - still no "D" drive.
Then I came here and downloaded the latest Bios (A10) for the 4700 thinking that may help - no go. Still no "D" Drive.
Now what?
*************************
The Long Story: Norton Internet Security (which I should have tore off the system the minute my Dell arrived last July, as I have had horrible problems with all things Symantac on previous computers) has been causing my computer to "lock up" every evening after it checks for updates. I was tired of having to reboot it, so I decided it was long past time to UNinstall the whole mess.
Surprise! It wouldn't let me!!! (grrrrr!)
It left just enough of itself on the drive (UNinstall couldn't find all the files it wanted to find - even with me doing "searches") to muck it up. I was getting warning flashes all over my task bar - so I finally decided I would just do a restore to earlier this evening and keep the bleeping program on my system for now.
After I did the restore - when the computer rebooted - I got this message that the "c:/dell/etc./etc. file" it was looking for couldn't be found. I thought "Silly computer - of course you can't - it's on D Drive".
No D Drive! YIKES! So then I took it back 5 days (yes I'm extreme, but that lack of a D drive really shook me up) and had the same result; it said the "c:/dell/etc" and again, NO D Drive! (After this, I took again restored it back to the point just before I started uninstalling the Norton garbage.)
My "D" drive is now the DVD, the "E" Drive is now the CD. Just for fun I made sure that all "hidden" files were visible. They are.
Then I came and downloaded the latest Bios for the 4700 (A10 ... I had A9 on it prior to tonight) to see if that would help my computer find it's missing drive. It didn't.
I mean, the info - or at least part of the info - still exists, as when I did the restore back to just before my FIRST restore of the night, things came back just as they were. (I had downloaded a program but had not installed it - - it reappeared on my desktop, so I know that the restore was/is working properly - other than losing my "D" drive!)
But as far as finding the "D" or any of the official files that were/are on "D", it's gone.
HELP!
I did a "restore" prior to it disappearing. Then I went back to the point before the restore - still no "D" drive.
Then I came here and downloaded the latest Bios (A10) for the 4700 thinking that may help - no go. Still no "D" Drive.
Now what?
*************************
The Long Story: Norton Internet Security (which I should have tore off the system the minute my Dell arrived last July, as I have had horrible problems with all things Symantac on previous computers) has been causing my computer to "lock up" every evening after it checks for updates. I was tired of having to reboot it, so I decided it was long past time to UNinstall the whole mess.
Surprise! It wouldn't let me!!! (grrrrr!)
It left just enough of itself on the drive (UNinstall couldn't find all the files it wanted to find - even with me doing "searches") to muck it up. I was getting warning flashes all over my task bar - so I finally decided I would just do a restore to earlier this evening and keep the bleeping program on my system for now.
After I did the restore - when the computer rebooted - I got this message that the "c:/dell/etc./etc. file" it was looking for couldn't be found. I thought "Silly computer - of course you can't - it's on D Drive".
No D Drive! YIKES! So then I took it back 5 days (yes I'm extreme, but that lack of a D drive really shook me up) and had the same result; it said the "c:/dell/etc" and again, NO D Drive! (After this, I took again restored it back to the point just before I started uninstalling the Norton garbage.)
My "D" drive is now the DVD, the "E" Drive is now the CD. Just for fun I made sure that all "hidden" files were visible. They are.
Then I came and downloaded the latest Bios for the 4700 (A10 ... I had A9 on it prior to tonight) to see if that would help my computer find it's missing drive. It didn't.
I mean, the info - or at least part of the info - still exists, as when I did the restore back to just before my FIRST restore of the night, things came back just as they were. (I had downloaded a program but had not installed it - - it reappeared on my desktop, so I know that the restore was/is working properly - other than losing my "D" drive!)
But as far as finding the "D" or any of the official files that were/are on "D", it's gone.
HELP!
@osprey4 wrote:
Sounds like a very good case for a clean reinstallation. I suggest you pull your second hard drive out until everything is installed, then pop it back in.
I didn't make this clear.
Sorry. Let me set this straight:
My "D" drive is NOT a second drive. I have only one drive. "D" Drive was a partition on Drive "C".
I think that is common with the factory to set systems up this way? My last 2 computers were set up that way and they were not Dell!
So ... how do I make my "C" Drive recognize the part of it's drive that was always "D" drive, where all the pre-installed Dell things are (example: I do NOT have a copy of Windows XP! The information for Windows XP install was on this part of the "C" Drive that was named "D". All backup/restore was on this "D" drive.)
signed,
sleepless in CA *grin*
osprey4
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Posted April 22nd, 2006 10:00