lost a partition

[lenny]

Hi,
I have a 40GB drive that has been partitioned into Drive C and Drive D. Last
week Drive D disappeared from the computer and I have been unable to 'see'
it since. I have tried a system restore but no success and Drive C shows at
20GB which is the correct size for that partition. I have quite a large
amount of unbacked up files on D that I would love to see again. How can I
regain access to D?
Cheers
Lenny

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

What does Disk Management say about it?

(Right click on My Computer, select Manage... click on Disk Management)

 

[Rock]

Hi,
I have a 40GB drive that has been partitioned into Drive C and Drive D. Last
week Drive D disappeared from the computer and I have been unable to 'see'
it since. I have tried a system restore but no success and Drive C shows at
20GB which is the correct size for that partition. I have quite a large
amount of unbacked up files on D that I would love to see again. How can I
regain access to D?
Cheers
Lenny

If you don't already have it download TweakUI from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Start tweakui then expand the "My Computer" heading and click on Drives.
Make sure the D: drive is checked.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hi,
I have a 40GB drive that has been partitioned into Drive C and Drive D. Last
week Drive D disappeared from the computer and I have been unable to 'see'
it since. I have tried a system restore but no success and Drive C shows at
20GB which is the correct size for that partition. I have quite a large
amount of unbacked up files on D that I would love to see again. How can I
regain access to D?
Cheers
Lenny

Try MBRWORK from the free downloads section of www.bootitng.com

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Admiral Q]

I don't think repairing the MBR or an extended MBR is going to fix the
problem with the "partition table" - they are located in totally different
areas of the disk. The EMBR is not even available if you have a corrupted
partition table and can see any of your extended partitions.

--
Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
"Google is your Friend!"
www.google.com

***********************************************

 

[lenny]

thanks for all the info, I can only get to the system in the morning so will
reply to Cari's question then.

 

[jeffrey]

Hi,

If the MFT is corrupted, you might not be able to repair the partition. You
could download the demo for Restorer2000 and see if it sees your files, if
so, then you will need to purchase the full version to retrieve the data. I
have it and used it to recover all the data on two hard drives that went
bad. One drive MFT was hosed by the drive going bad, another, corrupted
data in the MFT lost the C drive, but restorer2000 was able to read the
drives and retrieve the data. Its only like a $40 program, but to me, very
good. I keep it on my notebook that I use at work, incase we have another
HDD go bad. But I would really try the demo to see if it see`s the data on
the D drive.

Jeff

 

[lenny]

Thanks for all that again,
I will work my way through it but to answer the first question these is no
sign of the partitioned D drive under computer management.
lenny

 

[Alex Nichol]

I don't think repairing the MBR or an extended MBR is going to fix the
problem with the "partition table" - they are located in totally different
areas of the disk. The EMBR is not even available if you have a corrupted
partition table and can see any of your extended partitions.

They are not in different parts; the MBR code starts the very first
sector of the disk, and the PT is located at the end (except when some
boot sector viruses have got at it)

MBRWORK is there to replace the partition table. You have to use its
options 3 and 4 to clear the initial track, then option A is available
to scan the disk for partitions and rebuild. Then 5 to restore MBR Code

But I do not think that is the case here. What may have happened is
that D has been marked as 'Hidden' (unless it is the TweakUI matter in
My Computer only). For that, I would use BootIT NG, from
http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day full functional trial)

Download, to its own folder, extract from the zip, run the bootitng to
make a boot floppy.

Boot the floppy, Cancel Install, entering maintenance, then click on
Partition work. Highlight the partition concerned, click Properties,
and if there is an UnHide button, click it and OK out

 

[Malke]

If you don't already have it download TweakUI from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Start tweakui then expand the "My Computer" heading and click on
Drives.
Make sure the D: drive is checked.

Lenny - You've gotten great advice in this thread. I'd just like to add
my 2 cents - retrieve that unbacked up data first. Then if things go
sour, you won't lose the data.

I would try with Knoppix, a Linux distro that runs from cd. Linux may be
able to see the partition and data where Windows cannot. You will need
a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw. To get
Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and
third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso from
www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it
will be able to see the Windows files. Use the K3b burning program to
burn the files to cd/dvd-r's.

If the target computer doesn't have two cd drives, you can always slave
the hard drive in a computer that does.

Malke

 

[jeffrey]

Hi Lenny,

Restorer2000 will see the drive even if Windows file manager doesn`t see the
partition. Still, try out the demo and see if it sees the drive and files.

Jeff