sudden extra drive missing

[Guest]

ok i have a problem here. i believe my c drive has partitions to make a "e"
and an "f" drive, which is where i had put everything i wanted to keep. i was
planning on reformatting my c drive, so i put stuff there for safe-keeping.
the other day it started making a funky noise, almost like it was the fan,
but neverless, i shut it all down, and when i got it up and running again, my
2 drives had *poof* dissapeared. no warning, nothing. i tried running a
system restore (even tho it was shut off for e and f drive) - it tried, and
failed. it can't even do a restore. i am running out of things to try. i
don't know that much about partitions anyhow, and a friend of mine built this
box.

 

[Guest]

Your post is unclear.

Let me ask: If your drives have failed, then how do you manage to 'run' and
what are you running?

A system does not by itself delete partitions and their contents.

What have you done?

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Hard drives do not normally have "fans".

If you only had one hard drive, which was partitioned as C, E, and F, and
the drive "died" (*proof* disappeared), you may have lost everything. The
partitions were all on the same drive and if the drive is not working, then
the partitions E and F are gone.

 

[Guest]

a drive - 3 1/2 floppy
b drive - 5 1/4 floppy
c drive - hard drive
d drive - cd rom
e - gone
f - gone
i am running windows xp professional. i did nothing, as i stated. heard a
strange noise and shut down my computer. turned it back on, and the two
drives are gone...

 

[Guest]

ok, this computer has 3 visible fans (my cpu tower isn't fully boxed in, i
can see into it) so i know they have fans. i'm looking at them. i didn't
loose everything, i still have the c drive and am running windows as i type.
i believe all the partitions were on the c drive... but why would only 2 out
of the 3 drives (c,e,f) dissapear?

 

[yabbadoo]

Something odd here - when partitioning an hdd, usually the partitions are
logical on the hdd (a 3 partition hdd would have drives C: D; and E:, the
system would automatically re-allocate the CD drive to F:
Is it possible for an hdd to be partitioned non-logically, with a floppy in
between the hdd partitions?

In My Computer, you should see all your drives. If you only see C: (Hdd) and
D: (CD drive) - look at the properties of C: - is the correct size reported
(is the size the same as the installed disk?). If it's smaller, then -

That funky sound which first prompted you to re-boot could well be the hdd
starting to fail. Try running a disk diagnostic program.
Hope this helps - Len

 

[EasyFeelings]

there's not a fan usually on your harddrive....

 

[Guest]

Hi,

If you can still startup the PC, right click on My Computer, click manage,
and then click disk management.
Post back to NG what you have seen in the right pane (upper and lower pane).

By the way, if the Hdd was partitioned by your friend using third party
software after windows XP installed, ask your firend for the emergency disks
which should be created when he partitioned the Hdd.

Pls don't do anything which you are not sure at this moment or you may
permanently lose all the data files stored in the other logical drives.

Peter