My first post... Help needed!

[DMS Video]

I was hoping to make my first post a little different but I am in need of some help. I'm a long time editor and after a lot of research have decided to upgrade and purchase a couple of high-end edius systems in a couple of months. That's the good part. Here's the bad part. I have two older Canopus DV Storm systems that I use Premier 6.5 to edit. Believe it or not there are a lot of us still out there that were waiting for the new Sony cameras (ex1 and 3) before we decided on an upgrade path. I just can't buy a mac when edius is so much faster. Anyhow, I was editing earlier today when we had a power failure. After the power came back on I re-started my pc (with my fingers crossed) and everything was fine. I turned off the computer for lunch, came back to the studio and turned on the computer again. This time it doesn't see the two removable drives. However, It does see the internal drive. So I took out both of the drives and put them into my second computer. It's the same exact set-up (Windows XP professional). After a REALLY tense boot-up I can see the drive and all the work is there, no problems. So obviously computer number 1 is having a problem seeing the drives. I, am having a problem trying to make computer number 1 see the drives. Any ideas? I don't want to risk loosing weeks worth of work on the drives so I need help. I look forward to participating on here in the future (If this is not the appropriate forum for this type of question I would appreciate some direction). Thanks

David
DMS

[Bluetongue]

David
First welcome to Edius, great stuff
Now to your problem, I take it the drives are USB?
If so this is a possible remedy, remove the drives from Computer 1
Restart the computer and HOT Plug the drives one at a time in their drive order into the computer waiting for the computer to recognise each, try another USB input if it does not recognise the drives.
If you are using a USB Hub try going straight into the computer
Had this recently at a friends place and the hub was burnt out
If the drives are hot swap IDE then there could be more problems and you may need REAL help from a service man, just check everything is plugged into the drive housing I have seen IDE connectors come loose on the back of old computers
Regards Barry

[DMS Video]

Hi Barry,

Thanks for the response and the welcome. The drives are not usb. They are removable drives that simply slide out of the tower. I just can't seem to figure out why my pc can't see the drives. As I menioned, all of the projects and files on both drives work perfectly in my other computer.

Best,
David

[antonsvideo]

go to disk management and see if the drives are there? they maybe listed as foreign disks, in which case you can right click and choose import foreign disks

they may also have a yellow warning icon stating drive at risk, in which case you can right click and reactivate

[Bluetongue]

David
It looks like you may need more help than can be provided here, there are too many variables and the last thing you want is to loose your data, but one thing to check is that all connections on the back of the drives are secure, give them a slight riggle and then try again.
Make sure to completely turn off the computer from the power before doing anything as the power is still active in the Box when connected to the power (Soft switch)
Have seen IDE and power connectors come loose over time
Regards Barry

[DMS Video]

Anton,

Thanks for the reply. I went to disk management and it doesn't show that the drives are there anymore. The drives are most certainly there. The computer just doesn't see them. Any other ideas?

Thanks

[antonsvideo]

are the drives IDE?

if so, reboot and go into Bios setup, do you see the drives? is so, press enter on each drive and Escape again, this will refresh their info, then exit bios with saving changes

[peterC]

Also if raid whether striped pairs or not (just singles in raid config) you may need to reconfigure your raid setup. Had this many times. But sounds like this is not your situation.
If you can, put other dives into the same setup, that may help isolate and focus your troublshooting regime.

[DMS Video]

are the drives IDE?

if so, reboot and go into Bios setup, do you see the drives? is so, press enter on each drive and Escape again, this will refresh their info, then exit bios with saving changes

No matter what I do I cannot access the bios. I have been googling everything I can think of in terms of accessing it but it seems impossible.
I'm stumped.

[DMS Video]

Also if raid whether striped pairs or not (just singles in raid config) you may need to reconfigure your raid setup. Had this many times. But sounds like this is not your situation.
If you can, put other dives into the same setup, that may help isolate and focus your troublshooting regime.

Actually the drives are not setup in a raid. However when I reboot it says array is defined then it gives me two options. ctrl-f, which takes me to Utility 2.0 Promise Technology or esc to continue rebooting. Ideas? Thank you.

[peterC]

Actually the drives are not setup in a raid. However when I reboot it says array is defined then it gives me two options. ctrl-f, which takes me to Utility 2.0 Promise Technology or esc to continue rebooting. Ideas? Thank you.

MMM,....... well I don't use Promise, ........but it may be you or your system has tripped up on the original raid config, whether you use it or not, locking out your drives.

I have experienced this many times and it requires a re-setting of your raid config and there you have to be very careful in order to restore the drives to be recognisable by your computer and not destroy your data.

Each maker has it's own way of going about this so you may need to start doing some heavy reading specifically related to your Promise raid model.

But before that, getting into bios should not be a problem and I would be starting there. Reset your config data, either manually or auto if you have that Bios functionality.

[antonsvideo]

there are 2 common methods to enter bios, some PC use delete button during boot, others use F2 button during boot

shut down fully

wait 30 sec

start PC and keep tapping F2

if that fails, shut down again and repeat the same with the Delete button

[DMS Video]

Peter, (and everyone else who reponded)

I appreciate your help. I am a little hesitant to start experimenting with the internal settings. I have been editing for a very long time but when it comes to the bios and such, my lack of expertise makes me a little tense (to say the least). I wish I could simply upgrade to a super-charged Edius system right now but I can't. I'm going to try to find someone who can consult with me and get it fixed correctly (hopefully) the first time.

All the best
David
DMS Video

[DMS Video]

there are 2 common methods to enter bios, some PC use delete button during boot, others use F2 button during boot

shut down fully

wait 30 sec

start PC and keep tapping F2

if that fails, shut down again and repeat the same with the Delete button

Anton,

I have tried every potential combination I can think of (and then some) to try to access the bios. I even spent at least two hours googling and trying ideas that were suggested in other forum archives from several years ago. Maybe the power failure caused multiple problems. I'm going to attempt your suggestion one more time. I could use a little luck. Thank you.

[DMS Video]

are the drives IDE?

if so, reboot and go into Bios setup, do you see the drives? is so, press enter on each drive and Escape again, this will refresh their info, then exit bios with saving changes

Okay, so just for the heck of it I tried rebooting while hitting the delete button a lot of times. Now I finally entered the bios. I was starting to think it didn't exist. On the main page it says the following...

Primary IDE Master :[WDC WD800JB-00JJC0]
Primary IDE Slave :[Not Detected]
Secondary IDE Master :[PIONEER DVD-RW DV]
Secondary IDE Slave :[Not Detected]
Third IDE Master :[Not Detected]
Fourth IDE Master :[WDC WD2500JD-00HBB]

* Note - The above information was obtained when only one of the two removable drives was inseted.

To me this could be Chinese at this point. The computer has a system drive as well as an internal storage drive. Both seem fine and work with all the original files that were there prior to the power failure. I have two removable slots that had harddrives in each slot when the power failed. Neither drive nor any other drive I have tried are seen by the computer. All the drives that I use work by themselves and were never setup in a raid config. Any specific ideas?

Thanks

David