[markraymond]

I'm trying to fix the hard disk on my IBM t41. I've managed to make a USB boot disk using Flashboot so now I can boot up into FreeDos. The problem is it recognizes the USB as the C: drive and I want to be able to run chkdsk on the hard disk which I think should also be C:

I there anyway I can find the hard disk in dos?

[JohnWill]

Well, FreeDOS is not going to recognize the NTFS partition on the hard disk, which is probably why that drive doesn't appear. What is the version of Windows on the machine? What is "broken" about the hard disk?

[markraymond]

Originally I had an IBM T21 running XP Pro, a couple of weeks ago the hard drive sounded like it was losing power then the laptop just went dead. I could switch it back on and it would work for a few minutes then die. I carried on using it until finally when I switched it on nothing would appear on the screen, the hard drive was still running but nothing else happened.

I have now bought a T41 – XP Pro which works fine. I removed the hard disk from the new T41 and replaced it with the old T21 disk to see if I could recover any of the data on it. After switching it on the first screen comes up telling me that windows did not shut down properly last time and that I can start up in safe mode or normally or at the command prompt, trying all of these options results in the same error screen which I have attached (error.jpg).

I want to know how to boot up into dos on my T41 with the old T21 hard drive installed so I can try to use chkdsk /f or something similar to fix any errors. I don’t have a floppy drive so my only option is to use a USB flash and boot from that. I’ve used a program called Flashboot to put FreeDOS onto the memory stick (actually a Creative TX200) and have had some success, when I start the laptop it boots from the memory stick, seems to go into DOS and I end up with the C:/ prompt. My problem is I can’t now find the hard disk. Is there some way I can start up at the A:/ prompt, or can someone recommend another course of action to try and save my old hard drive.

[JohnWill]

You can boot from something like a Linux live CD and copy the files in question to a USB drive. That's one way that's frequently suggested for this kind of issue.

Personally, I connect the laptop drive to a desktop using a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter as a slave drive.

[rainforest123]

You could also connect the HDD from the t21 to an external drive / USB, then run check disk from within Windows.

Or, you could boot with a Win XP CD and run chkdsk.

Don't have a Win XP CD? Create one.
http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/

RF123