OK, for no apparent reason, xp took it upon itself to reset (or something)
my secondary hard drive (slave drive.) It is no longer shown in Windows
Explorer or My Computer!

Disk Management shows the disk as "Heathy and Active" but shows no volume
information, as though xp re-partitioned the drive.

Originaly, the drive had a ntfs partition and was full of nearly 2 years
worth of extremely critical data.

The machine was connected to the internet only briefly in order to download
all the critical updates and was then disconnected completely from internet
access. There's little chance that this is caused by a virus. Plus,
firewall and av was running during update process.

I've experience no problems, whatsoever, with this machine, except for this
problem.

I've seen other posts here where the same error has ocurred on extended
partitions, but have not seen a reply to the problem.

I've searched the MS knowledge base extensively to no avail.

PLEASE, ANYONE, POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!! AT LEAST LET ME KNOW HOW I
CAN GET MY DATA BACK!!

Signed,
Irate in Baltimore

Suggest you call the Drive Savers www.drivesavers.com

They are the experts and they offer free advice.

Do your fix correctly and you should get your data back, do
it wrong and you might just lose it for good (evil).


"spooderstank" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:CAqec.22471$(E-Mail Removed)...
| OK, for no apparent reason, xp took it upon itself to
reset (or something)
| my secondary hard drive (slave drive.) It is no longer
shown in Windows
| Explorer or My Computer!
|
| Disk Management shows the disk as "Heathy and Active" but
shows no volume
| information, as though xp re-partitioned the drive.
|
| Originaly, the drive had a ntfs partition and was full of
nearly 2 years
| worth of extremely critical data.
|
| The machine was connected to the internet only briefly in
order to download
| all the critical updates and was then disconnected
completely from internet
| access. There's little chance that this is caused by a
virus. Plus,
| firewall and av was running during update process.
|
| I've experience no problems, whatsoever, with this
machine, except for this
| problem.
|
| I've seen other posts here where the same error has
ocurred on extended
| partitions, but have not seen a reply to the problem.
|
| I've searched the MS knowledge base extensively to no
avail.
|
| PLEASE, ANYONE, POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!! AT LEAST
LET ME KNOW HOW I
| CAN GET MY DATA BACK!!
|
| Signed,
| Irate in Baltimore
|
|

"spooderstank" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:CAqec.22471$(E-Mail Removed)...
> OK, for no apparent reason, xp took it upon itself to reset (or
something)
> my secondary hard drive (slave drive.) It is no longer shown in Windows
> Explorer or My Computer!
>
> Disk Management shows the disk as "Heathy and Active" but shows no volume
> information, as though xp re-partitioned the drive.
>
> Originaly, the drive had a ntfs partition and was full of nearly 2 years
> worth of extremely critical data.
>
> The machine was connected to the internet only briefly in order to
download
> all the critical updates and was then disconnected completely from
internet
> access. There's little chance that this is caused by a virus. Plus,
> firewall and av was running during update process.
>
> I've experience no problems, whatsoever, with this machine, except for
this
> problem.
>
> I've seen other posts here where the same error has ocurred on extended
> partitions, but have not seen a reply to the problem.
>
> I've searched the MS knowledge base extensively to no avail.
>
> PLEASE, ANYONE, POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!! AT LEAST LET ME KNOW HOW
I
> CAN GET MY DATA BACK!!
>
> Signed,
> Irate in Baltimore
>
>

I have successfully recovered several deleted partitions
with Acronis' RecoveryExpert.

After you've got this little problem sorted out, move out
of the "irate" mood (your word) into the pro-active mood,
and review your backup strategy.