BleepingComputer.com: corrupted MDIS?

I have a 320GB external harddrive from Acecom (I think, the brand is not stated very clearly on the box. But it's a iSmart series classic case elite edition) for about 2~3 years now. It adruptly stopped working well about four days back and stopped working altogether two days back (thursday +8GMT). For some reason the computer kept telling me that "USB device is not recognised" even when I tried it at different ports and it usually took awhile before it could be read again. After a few days it told me to format my disk drive about three to four times, before crashing altogether.

Today I took my harddrive to a repair shop that's in this huge electronic mall, hoping to get it fixed. Initially I thought there was a problem with the cable as I realised that the drive was not able to connect well and would only light up when the cable was slanted at a particular angle. But at the shop the serviceman told me that it was nothing to do with the cable, but rather with a corrupted MDIS. I was unwilling to actually spring for the price that he asked to recover the data, so I decided to ask here instead.

Is there any way to recover my data or fix the disk? At the moment even if it is plugged in the computer(s) refuse to acknowledge it.

I can't get a handle on what a "corrupted MDIS" might be...but I would remove the actual hard drive from the enclosure...and see if the system detects/reads it from a direct connection.

Louis

Louis,

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately I'm not really sure about what you mean by connecting it directly to the computer, unless you mean removing the harddisk from its enclosure and using another thing to plug it into the computer. The serviceman did that for me and he says it's corrupted. :/

What is the make and model of your computer?

Does this hdd show up in Disk Management?

If it is a desktop, Hamluis is suggesting that you install it inside the computer. If the connection is an IDE, connect the hdd as a Slave drive, you will need to change the jumper on the rear of the hdd to change it to a slave.

If the connections are SATA, it doesn't need to be configured as a slave drive, just connect it and see if the computer recognizes it in My Computer, or Disk Management.

MDIS errors usually are associated with older computers running Windows 98. I couldn't find much more than that in the short search that I did, but it makes me wonder just what this tech was referring to. If you could call them and ask for a clarification of this problem and post it here it may shed some light on your situation. I don't have a lot of faith in some repair shops, they will often do something just to make some money.

This post has been edited by dc3: 04 September 2010 - 11:46 PM

dc3,

I am currently using a Windows 7 home prenium on a HP pavillion dm3 notebook PC. It has the same specifications as the one here: http://forums.vr-zone.com/notebooks-netboo...dm3-sealed.html

And no, the hard disk can no longer be detected by the computer. It could not be detected since thursday (three days ago for me, today's Sunday), and it also no longer shows up in Device Manager. I have a desktop (windows vista), but it has been 'broken' for some time and I'll need to repair it before I can attempt your suggestion. Also, I have no idea what's IDE and SATA. :/ I will do a google search on that once I have finished typing this reply.

I don't think that they are actually legitimate technicians. They have a space in Sim Lim Square, which is the local electronics building (think Akihabara, but in a building) and some shops there are shifty. The serviceman told me that I have a corrupted MDIS and that he would be able to recover about 90% of it, but the price he asked was not a figure which I was willing to pay. I don't have the number of the shop, so I cannot call them up, and the earliest time in which I would be able to head down to there again is next week.

I am providing the following information to hopefully provide the correct definition for MDIS.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdat...8a2/content.htm

If I have found the correct and only possible answer as to what MDIS is, as this site above is the only reference to a computer system, then there should be an initiation file called MDIS.INI and an MDIS.EXE on your hard drive.

Under Windows, mdis.ini is located in the same directory as mdis.exe. Under Unix/Linux, it is located in the working directory of MDIS (the one from which MDIS is started); this is typically under the home directory of the user account used to launch MDIS.

Below is a help data base on MDIS SAP

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdat...35/frameset.htm

As for SATA and IDE, here is some information below on what which one is.

SATA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

IDE/E-IDE/PATA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA

Hope this helps.

Bruce.

This post has been edited by MrBruce1959: 05 September 2010 - 03:11 PM

There seems to be a problem with the link to the MDIS SAP.

Since it appears that SAP/MDIS is something that is installed on a system...I fail to see how such could call for a new hard drive.

Seems to me that...if that were the problem, a simple wipe and O/S reinstall would take care of it.

OTOH...a failed hard drive could result in the symptoms thus far depicted by the OP.

As for recovery options...I would try data-recovery software which has been installed on a different system.

Louis

Dear all,

I have tried plugging it in again in hopes of reformatting the entire disk (which is my last resort, as I do have important files in there that I should have backed up beforehand. I fail) and it doesn't show up on my computer, so there's no hope of reformatting through there... I have tried seeing if Recurva could detect the drive, which it couldn't.

Is there a freeware data recovery that I could try using?

Thank you all for your assistance.

I like GetDataBack - Data Recovery Software - http://runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm, which is not free...but does allow the prospective user to ascertain whether any data is recoverable, at no cost.

Other tools which I've seen recommended:

Recovery Software, Partition Table Doctor - http://www.ptdd.com/

Recovery Software, Recover My Files - http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

Louis

dc3, on Sep 6 2010, 04:37 AM, said:

I tried the link I posted above again and it connected to the web site.

Are you getting an error when clicking the link?

I am not even sure this web site even applies to kuraberri's situation, it was the only thing that came up on a Google search that was computer related.

Here is a few lines from the web site.

Several parameters used by MDIS are configured in the mdis.ini file, which is stored in the directory where the MDIS executable is located.

Under Windows, mdis.ini is located in the same directory as mdis.exe. Under Unix/Linux, it is located in the working directory of MDIS (the one from which MDIS is started); this is typically under the home directory of the user account used to launch MDIS.

Each parameter name in the mdis.ini file is followed by an equal sign (=) and either a value or nothing. There is no space between the name and the equal sign and each name is case sensitive.

The parameters are described in the table below.

Global: The following parameters affect imports to all repositories handled by MDIS.

Version: String. The MDM Service Pack version

Server: String. The name or IP address of the MDM Server on which the target repositories reside

Interval: Integer. The number of seconds MDIS waits between scans of the MDM Server

Verbose: Hexadecimal. A troubleshooting parameter used to create tracing and audit trails for an import task in the MDM Server log. Default is 0x0000.

· Verbose OFF: 0x0000

· Verbose ON: 0xFFFF

· FI Verbose: 0x0001

· XML Verbose: 0x0002

· MAP Verbose: 0x0004

· THRD Verbose: 0x0008

· PARSER Verbose: 0x0010

· STRUCTX Verbose: 0x0020

· VALUEX Verbose: 0x0040

· IMPORTX Verbose: 0x0080

· CHUNK Verbose: 0x0100

· VxR Verbose: 0x0200


So your guess is as good as mine.

Who is to say the tech was offering expert advice.

Bruce.

This post has been edited by MrBruce1959: 06 September 2010 - 12:08 PM

I have than update.

Recently while researching another issue I went to the Microsoft TechNet web site and tried searching for NDIS, I came up with a result as to what NDIS is.

It is related to the 802.11 Network drivers.

Thus NDIS stands for Network Driver Interface Specification.

Here is a related link http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Search...wnload&ac=1

I do not know what association this NDIS has to do with hard drive issues, at least not yet, but I posted this for clarification.

Bruce.

Apparently...there's NDIS which relates to networking...and there is MDIS, which relates to SAP programming.

Neither would seem to have any correlation...to the requirement to purchase a hard drive or write off a Windows install, unless I'm missing something (has been known to happen with regularity:).

Louis