Partition disappears

[Humpty Dumpty]

My old laptop (20 GB Hard Disk) had two partitions, which I called C: 14 GB)
and D:
Suddenly, when trying to access disk D:, I see in Explorer, that it no
longer exists. Gone, for good.
Panicked, I attempted a System Restore. After selecting a Restore Point, I
press "next", and a message appears saying (approximately): "This System
Restore will not restore changes made after this point to disk D:, which may
have been deleted, moved or removed from your network".
I didn't fully understand the message, so I performed the Restore
nevertheless, but disk D: was not there.

What can I do to recover the files that were in disk D:?
What can have happenned that caused the kidnapping of the partition?

Thank you,
Humpty

 

[Brian A.]

My old laptop (20 GB Hard Disk) had two partitions, which I called C: 14
GB) and D:
Suddenly, when trying to access disk D:, I see in Explorer, that it no
longer exists. Gone, for good.
Panicked, I attempted a System Restore. After selecting a Restore Point, I
press "next", and a message appears saying (approximately): "This System
Restore will not restore changes made after this point to disk D:, which
may have been deleted, moved or removed from your network".
I didn't fully understand the message, so I performed the Restore
nevertheless, but disk D: was not there.

What can I do to recover the files that were in disk D:?
What can have happenned that caused the kidnapping of the partition?

Thank you,
Humpty

Right click on MyComputer.
Click "Manage" in the popup menu.
In the Computer Management window in the left pane expand "Storage" if not
already expanded.
Click "Disk Management".
What shows for the drive In the right pane?

Also, right click on MyComputer.
Click "Properties" in the popup menu.
In the "System Properties" window click the Hardware tab > Device Manager
button.
In Device Manager expand Disk Drives.
Double click on a listed drive to open its properties.
In the drives properties window click the Volumes tab > Populate button.
What is shown in the Volumes pane?

--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://members.shaw.ca/dts-l/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Humpty Dumpty]

Right click on MyComputer.
Click "Manage" in the popup menu.
In the Computer Management window in the left pane expand "Storage" if not
already expanded.
Click "Disk Management".
What shows for the drive In the right pane?

Also, right click on MyComputer.
Click "Properties" in the popup menu.
In the "System Properties" window click the Hardware tab > Device Manager
button.
In Device Manager expand Disk Drives.
Double click on a listed drive to open its properties.
In the drives properties window click the Volumes tab > Populate button.
What is shown in the Volumes pane?

--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://members.shaw.ca/dts-l/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Thank you. I performed the actions advised.
Partition D: is absent always.
In Disk Management three items are shown:
- removable storage
- disk defragmenter
- disk management (local)
Opening the last item does not show, as I would expect, both partitions, but
only one (C with HALF the original disk capacity. The other half, which
had been allocated to the second partition is inexistent.

About Device Manager, again, the missing partition never shows up.

Thank you again,
Humpty

 

[db]

firstly, 20 gig hard drive is
too small.

what likely occurred with the
d drive is that the ntfs may have
crashed.

what you can try is a trial ware
called acronis disk director.

it can scan the disk and show
you if anything is recoverable.

but it won't recover anything
until you buy it.

however, the quandary you have
is the lack of hard disk space to
install the program.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Bill in Co.]

My old laptop (20 GB Hard Disk) had two partitions, which I called C: 14
GB)
and D:
Suddenly, when trying to access disk D:, I see in Explorer, that it no
longer exists. Gone, for good.
Panicked, I attempted a System Restore. After selecting a Restore Point, I
press "next", and a message appears saying (approximately): "This System
Restore will not restore changes made after this point to disk D:, which
may
have been deleted, moved or removed from your network".
I didn't fully understand the message, so I performed the Restore
nevertheless, but disk D: was not there.

What can I do to recover the files that were in disk D:?
What can have happenned that caused the kidnapping of the partition?

Thank you,
Humpty

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard might be able to recover the data, but it's not
free. Or possibly, Easeus Data File Recovery, which is free, but not as
effective.