T
TerryS
XP Home Ed.
Athlon 3500+
512 MB RAM
WD 160 GB SATA HDD
I have been running the above HDD as the main drive with four partitions.
Of course the first partition is (was) the primary/bootable C:\ (about 40GB)
with only the Win XP system/program files on it.
The three following logicals are (were) D:\, E:\ and F:\ (about 40 GBs each)
containing work area, data and storage.
This has (did) always worked fine.
Why is it....... that when the system is stable and 'working fine', that
there is this irressistable urge and notion that, just one more tweak, and
it will work even finer? Yeah well............
I decided that to suit my cloning and backup purposes I would adjust the 40
Gig partition size of C:\ down to about 25 Gig with the unallocated 15 Gig
going to the D:\ partition.
Partition Magic is a program I have used for several years with no problems,
so I set it to the job.........hit the 'Make the Changes' button.......Hey
Presto!!.......Tah Dahhhh........BLUE SCREEN!! Magic smagic.
Through a fog of despair and sphincter cramp I see white text on the blue
screen telling me that there has been an error and that I should press any
key to restart the computer. This I do do.
I never see the blue screen again. Instead, every restart results in the
system makers splash screen, the blurred system info for a split second and
then a black screen with dos type text telling me that "the NTLDR is
missing" (oh,ok...so wassat?) and "insert system disc". This I do too.
The system install disc loads up to the point of "Install XP or repair
previous XP installation".......I choose the latter,
go through the 'FIXBOOT' process......text tells me that the repair is done,
and I can now reboot the computer.
Result:.....black screen........and "the NTLDR is missing" and "insert
system disc".....this I do several times till I'm contemplating adding teeth
marks to the texture of the monitor case.
Trying another tack, I use a bootable CD that contains numerous diagnostic,
repair and recover programs. To no avail.
Some of the programs do tell me that I do have a damaged primary/boot
partition and three other undamaged partitions (although, one program made
mention of an "overlap") with folders and files. But none of them will
repair or recover.
OK......so lets try a reinstall. The XP install disc sees a 40 Gig primary
partition as C:\ and it wants to reformat and install on that drive, which
it does do.
So now, the freshly installed Windows Explorer shows only a C:\ drive of 40
Gig in size.
The XP Computer Managment/Disc Management shows the same and sees the other
120 Gig as unallocated space, not as three partitions.
I would appreciate any input as to what next.
How can I get the rest of my hard drive back?
Is the data on the three Logicals lost?
Is there permanent damage to the hard drive?
Cheers,
TerryS.
Athlon 3500+
512 MB RAM
WD 160 GB SATA HDD
I have been running the above HDD as the main drive with four partitions.
Of course the first partition is (was) the primary/bootable C:\ (about 40GB)
with only the Win XP system/program files on it.
The three following logicals are (were) D:\, E:\ and F:\ (about 40 GBs each)
containing work area, data and storage.
This has (did) always worked fine.
Why is it....... that when the system is stable and 'working fine', that
there is this irressistable urge and notion that, just one more tweak, and
it will work even finer? Yeah well............
I decided that to suit my cloning and backup purposes I would adjust the 40
Gig partition size of C:\ down to about 25 Gig with the unallocated 15 Gig
going to the D:\ partition.
Partition Magic is a program I have used for several years with no problems,
so I set it to the job.........hit the 'Make the Changes' button.......Hey
Presto!!.......Tah Dahhhh........BLUE SCREEN!! Magic smagic.
Through a fog of despair and sphincter cramp I see white text on the blue
screen telling me that there has been an error and that I should press any
key to restart the computer. This I do do.
I never see the blue screen again. Instead, every restart results in the
system makers splash screen, the blurred system info for a split second and
then a black screen with dos type text telling me that "the NTLDR is
missing" (oh,ok...so wassat?) and "insert system disc". This I do too.
The system install disc loads up to the point of "Install XP or repair
previous XP installation".......I choose the latter,
go through the 'FIXBOOT' process......text tells me that the repair is done,
and I can now reboot the computer.
Result:.....black screen........and "the NTLDR is missing" and "insert
system disc".....this I do several times till I'm contemplating adding teeth
marks to the texture of the monitor case.
Trying another tack, I use a bootable CD that contains numerous diagnostic,
repair and recover programs. To no avail.
Some of the programs do tell me that I do have a damaged primary/boot
partition and three other undamaged partitions (although, one program made
mention of an "overlap") with folders and files. But none of them will
repair or recover.
OK......so lets try a reinstall. The XP install disc sees a 40 Gig primary
partition as C:\ and it wants to reformat and install on that drive, which
it does do.
So now, the freshly installed Windows Explorer shows only a C:\ drive of 40
Gig in size.
The XP Computer Managment/Disc Management shows the same and sees the other
120 Gig as unallocated space, not as three partitions.
I would appreciate any input as to what next.
How can I get the rest of my hard drive back?
Is the data on the three Logicals lost?
Is there permanent damage to the hard drive?
Cheers,
TerryS.