I'm running Windows 98 SE with two HARD drives set up as primary master and primary slave. When I boot up the BIOS recognises both hard drives correctly, and the Control Panel \ System tab shows both hard drives are working correctly, but the slave drive doesn't appear in My COMPUTER or when attempting a Windows search. Is there any way to make it appear so it can be accessed in the normal way, or failing that is there any way to gain access to the files on it via ANOTHER path?

ThanksWhat does My Computer show?  What drive letters are being used for all drives (HD, CD-ROM, ETC.)?  Was this working right at one time?  If so, what drive letter was assigned to the slave hard drive and what has changed?  

Are both hard drives attached to the same data cable?  Is the master attached to the end of the cable and the slave connected to the middle connector?  For a reference with some graphics for illustration, see Install Hard Drive - A guide to installing an IDE hard driveThe drives are connected as you said, and they've always been that way - I haven't moved any of the connections. When everything was working properly the two hard drives were showing up as C: and D: and the CD drive was E:. Now the master hard drive is C: and the CD drive is D:; there is no drive E:.Have you opened your computer case and checked the cable connections to make sure one has not somehow come partially pulled off.  Probably ought to do that to eliminate that as a possible cause of the problem.  Other than that, I don't know what to suggest.  But, stay tuned and SOMEONE else will chime in.Free diagnostics are available from the appropriate drive maker's site. Let's make sure the hardware is  intact and then we can deal with Windows.

THey are both showing up correctly in the BIOS?