Partition Table

[slivester]

I had managed to install a fresh copy of Windows XP this very morning, on a 160GB harddisk, partition into:

PRIMARY partition, C:\
EXTENDED with FAT32 E:\ (Where the Operating system was)
EXTENDED with NTFS F:\ (Where my backup files were before the installation)

I had moved the important files into F:\, and proceed by installating a fresh copy of windows xp home edition into e:\, reformatted through the setup.

However, the F:\ partition was not there when the installation is completed.

I urgently need some help. I attempted to recover the files via GetDataBack for NTFS, however it gave me this error:

Error 65284 reading partition (sector 304592400) of drive 'HD128:'(FSIFC:343) 00490774

Thanks in advance.

[Big Booger]

I believe you can access them either with partition magic, or through the XP disk management in the administrative tools.

If not post back and someone should be able to offer a better solution.

[slivester]

I had tried Partitionmagic earlier, however the partition do no exist.

[Big Booger]

How large is the drive total? How large is the partition you reinstalled Xp on? Did you check the XP disk management tool?

[slivester]

160GB, partitioned 120GB to C:\, 30GB to E:\ and 10GB to F:\.

I did check with the disk management tool, the partition is healthy however empty.

[egghead]

if your windows installation is fat32 you will not see the ntfs partitions

convert drive c: to ntfs first and you will see the other partitions

[slivester]

For your information, C:\ is formatted as NTFS

I had installed the operating system in a FAT32 drive previously before F:\ disappears, F:\ is formatted as NTFS.

I reformatted E:\, and F:\ disappears.

E:\ is currently formatted as FAT32, while the missing drive is unformatted.

[egghead]

ok,

if your windows is using ntfs it will see all the partitions

if your windows is formated as fat32 it will never see the ntfs partitions until you convert your windows file system to ntfs

[slivester]

Thank you so much, I had converted it and moving to restart now.

[Big Booger]

I had assumed he was using an NTFS partition.. oooppps.

[slivester]

The conversion was a disaster.

Could that be of anything to do with the partition table or something?

Im pretty sure the partition wouldn't pop up just by using some partition software or so; I attempted partition magic, the lost partition was displayed empty.

I used the Windows Disk Management, again it was empty. I had attempted to recover the files with both getdataback for ntfs and fat, and it failed, with the error message:

Error 65284 reading partition (sector 304592400) of drive 'HD128:'(FSIFC:343) 00490774

I do really appreciate your patience and help, however the files are really important, and am totally no clue of what has gone wrong. Thanks again and in advance for your assistance.

[Big Booger]

Reinstall windows on the partition. This time use NTFS as your file system. That should allow you to view the contents of F:

Could be that the F: partition somehow became corrupted. Have you tried running a disk scan on it? If that is the case, you can kiss your data goodbye, especially if you tried recovering it with a recovery software.

[slivester]

Anyway, the specs of the drive is here

Maxtor 160GB
BEFORE THE PROBLEM

120GB to C:\ | NTFS | Common files

30GB to E:\ | FAT32 | Operating system and Program files

10GB to F:\ | NTFS | Created a day before the problem, to backup files for reformat of E:\


I had reformatted E:\ while I am in Windows, using PartitionMagic. I was prompt to reboot, and so I did. The partitioning process went on in DOS, and when it says suceeded, I insert the Windows XP cd and went on to install the windows.

When asked for the partition to install, F:\ was no longer there. I did not realised that was a problem, and went on to install in the reformated E:\.

After boot-up, F:\ wasn't there. Thats where the panic began.

[slivester]

Current State

120GB to C:\ | NTFS | Operating System
30GB TO D:\ | NTFS | Common Files

While the rest of 10gb is missing.

[keege]

Just a question but have you tried to run fdisk from a dos prompt and see if the partition is recognized. If it is then you should be able to right click on my computer..select Manage..then under Storage Management select Disk Management. If it is just a drive letter missing you can assign one to the partition here by right clicking. At least you will know if the partition will exist in windows.

[Berserker]

You may want to look into getting Hard Drive Mechanic (Google for it). I had a severe alignment problem with my hard drive (something in the data got mis-set). I bought this $49 program and had it check, then repair it, and everything came back 100% functional.

[beelzebub]

if you have another computer or another hard drive laying around, put your wierd hard drive into that computer or put the spare hard drvie in your computer.

Boot to windows on the different hard drive, the one without the problem. Then see if you can see all of your partitions in "my computer", they will appear as seperate drives. If you only see 2 new drives instead of three that means that a partition is no longer partitioned and you have lost your data.

Or boot to the XP cd and check all of your partitions. If you see unpartitioned space that is more than 8mbs then a partition was deleted,

[Tanglefoot]

Don't know if slivester is still around or solved his prob but I had the same recently. After much headscratching and trying numerous 'variations on a theme' it became obvious that this could not be remedied from within Windows through Admin tools or Partition magic, nor could Fdisk help in DOS. The solution is to run a start up disc that gives CD support and at DOS prompt access CD Drive with PM on it then run the Dos variant of PM. This picks up the NTFS partition and allows you to change format to FAT32, at which stage you can re-boot to Win and use the normal progs to do whatever you wish. Hope this helps anyone else who has this glitch.

[drvondoom]

Silvester i dont know if you are still around, but considering there are quite a few proposed solutions i was wondering if you found a solution that worked. I have the EXACT same problem and I am using the exact same computer. Thanks

[blackhat]

If your Windows XP OS is in a FAT32 partition, It wont recognize an NTFS partition. So you cant access the files you are trying to recover. You can try converting the OS system partition to NTFS or if you insist on running FAT32, the whole disk must be FAT32, meaning you will have to work on the disk before Windows loads. ie Change 1st boot to CD and use a disk utility disk. Quote that you can find anywhere- " Large disks need the NTFS, not the neolithic(stone age) FAT32". DOS prompt=C:\ went away during the versions development of Win95. Windows DOS prompt=C:\>, Windows template over the DOS. In XP, you have a "Command Prompt", willing to perform some DOS commands. DRB

[drvondoom]

All my drives are NTFS