Megafile 60 problems

[markus44uk]

Hi. OK, followed your instructions and got to the screen after the scan of my selected HD (Seagate ST277R) and I get an info screen with descriptive info about the Seagate HD (in particular 6 Heads and 820 cylinders - which might be data the program has for the ST2777R HD or perhaps it was able to read this from my HD during scan). Unfortunately the PARTITION button is greyed-out so I can’t select it. Format, Rescan and Quit are the only available options.

Interesting is that while the program was scanning, the HD was definitely spinning as it also was during initial booting.

What next?

[tzok]

So it doesn't see low level sectors on track 0. You have to (low level) format it prior to partitioning. Of course then you will lose any data that was left on it.

[markus44uk]

Low level formatting of the C partition I can deal with since I think there was a D partition that held the data. Is there a way to low level format without deleting the entire HD data?

[jd]

So that's good that your HD isn't dead and can be seen.

You could try booting with the ICD floppy then running HDUTIL.PRG then select boot to see if it can write a bootsector to the HD so it can boot itself.

Again if this doesn't work first attempt then leave the HD on and spinning for an hour say and try the above again. I have two megafiles and have recently discovered that one will stop working after it's warmed up (I get about 2 hours out of it) and another that will only work after 15 mins of being on. As they are soo old they are really finicky so you definitely try it cold and hot.

[markus44uk]

I tried ICD Boot and the program doesn’t see the HD

[jd]

Try this :

https://www.hddriver.net/en/demo.html

Run HDDRIVER.prg
then HHDUTIL.prg

post a pic here what you see.

Click on device window (should be middle one)

Select your device

And try the Restore Root Sector option.

[markus44uk]

Hi. I don’t see a file called HHDUTIL.PRG. Did you mean HDDRUTIL.PRG?

Also did you mean “Restore Root Sector” or “Restore Boot Sector” option

[jd]

yes HDDRUTIL.PRG

Where are you seeing “Restore Boot Sector”? that isn't in HDDRIVER as far as i can see.

Restore Root Sector is the option, if the option isn't greyed out this means your Atari can see the drive, can you post a pic of what you can see that would help.

You have the data on D: you just need the root sector restored and the FAT table written correctly/restored.

If you want exact details on what the Restore Root Sector actually does and see if any thing else you could try then ask on here :

https://www.hddriver.net/forum/

Not alot this guy doesn't know about hard drives and Atari's, he has also written other software (free) that could help once you have some usability of the drive.