Welcome to RCF - WHF

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

I'm trying to not use this computer much till I figure out what I am going to do.

I crashed bad got locked out of windows totally tried every trick I could think of but finally had to format the c drive and reinstall XP Pro.
Of course now windows does not see the other 3 partitions and i cannot get it to do so.

I am looking at a Partition / File recovery program called Active file Recovery it looks pretty nice, I tried the demo and it sees all that is in those 3 partitions and also some things still in the C drive.

I'm not sure what to do. I have Partition magic but it will not fix the partitions and I can't get partition expert to fix them cause it says files in the program its self won't work.. I really don't want to keep trying things as the constant reading writing will take more away.

Has anyone here used a recovery program that works? I figured best to recover files then mess with the partitions so as to not lose more if can't get the partitions to fix.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Gee KeeKee, I feel your pain. I've not come across such a problem. I usually keep a fairly up to date image of each partition that I can restore in case I need to.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

That's a strange problem. If XP can't see your partitions, there is probably something wrong with them. If you have TrueImage and had created images of those partitions, you might want to restore them. Have you tried logging into Safe Mode to see if XP has the same problem there with the partitions? If so, you might want to try running some of the disk tests on Hiren's Boot CD to see if they can correct the linkage problems...

munky2

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

You could also try to repair the Master Boot Record (MBR). That is probably corrupt and would explain all of your problems...

Repair the Master Boot Record In Windows XP

munky2

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

Ran across the name Hirens's Boot CD in some reading will have to check it out. I have another hard drive that won't load and I have refused to format the C: portion of it even though it is partitioned cause I was afraid of windows not seeing those other partitions after wards. It seems to be standard fair for me with windows. And it is also standard fair that my burned CD's with programs I really like become mysteriously unreadable.
It is so bad I burn extras and give them to friends for safekeeping.

Anywhooo....

I found a (free) program called Partition Find and Mount Had it do a thorough scan of the whole 250 gigs which didn't really take very long.

It doesn't rely only on boot record information. It finds partition info then displays it as partitions 1- however many it finds.
Then you click on a partition and assign it a drive letter. When you open the windows explorer window each partition is there (read only) just like your other drives and you can copy everything over to the real drive or an external.

I broke down and bought a 500 gig external today it works with win 2000/XP/Vista and Mac.

So far all is going very well.

I'll check out the program you mentioned NR. I do need something that I can get into a HD with from scratch.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

Why don't you try repairing your MBR record before you try anything else? That is probably the problem...

munky2

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

Because I have never been able to do anything but damage the MBR further.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

It sounds like the reason why your fresh XP install can't see the other partitions is because the MBR record has gotten corrupted. If true, the only way to correct this problem is to fix the MBR record. Or you could delete everything on the HDD and start with a very clean install...

munky2

KeeKee · Mar 20, 2006

I have been busy today so haven't got to look at that program you mentioned.
Is that what will fix the MBR?

I can't get into dos when the computer boots up don't know how.

If I looked at the boot record would not know what to do with it.

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

I don't know if Hiren's Boot CD includes any tools to work on the MBR record. There may be. The link I provided above offers instructions on how to fix the MBR using the XP CD. Let me know if you have any trouble with those instructions. They seem pretty straight-forward to me...

munky2