Anagoge

I'll make this as brief as I can.

I have a 300GB HD partitioned into two. 170GB and 130GB. On 130 is Windows XP, on 170 is everything else.

I had to format 130 because Windows wouldn't start up. I reinstalled Windows, installed all relevant motherboard drivers and whatever else was needed and I also downloaded Service Pack 2 from Microsoft. However, Windows still cannot see the 170GB partition when I go to My Computer.

When I go into Disk Management though, the 170GB is there, right next to the 130GB partition except Windows has labelled it "Unallocated".

How do I get Windows to recognise that this 170GB is an actual partition? Please bear in mind that this isn't a blank partition either. It has countless important files on it, so I can't just format the space and partition it. I just need to get Windows to see the partition that's already been made.

Many thanks for your help. I need to fix this asap.

justpassingby

Hi Anagoge and welcome to TSF !

When you reinstalled Windows the MBR informations were deleted. Use one of these programs to restore the lost partition :

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
http://findandmount.com/
http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?Language=1
http://www.ptdd.com/ (free demo will say if it can recover your files but you'll have to pay to recover them)

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Anagoge

Thank you for the information, but unfortunately, it didn't work. I tried TestDisk and followed the instructions exactly and then restarted, but Windows still can't see the partition.

I've also just tried Find And Mount, which didn't find anything either, but there IS a partition there because it has all of my stuff on it and I certainly haven't deleted it!

Any further help would greatly be appreciated.

justpassingby

Try partition table doctor and see what the free demo can find : http://www.ptdd.com/ (rebuild partition table).

You could also try Active @ Partition recovery or Active @ Undelete.

The free demos will tell you if they find something but you'll have to pay to recover your data. If none of those commercial tools can find anything then there's a big problem...

Edit : I'll move you to the hard drive support section, they may have other things to try.

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Anagoge

I'm currently doing a Full Scan using Partition Find and Mount. Surely that should find what I want? It's at 35% currently and hasn't found anything, though. I'm getting worried. It's literally three or four years of work that is unreplaceable. Some of it is backed up, but the majority isn't and I refuse to believe that I've lost it when I've not deleted it. It just has to be there.

Is there anything else I can try?

eneles

Hi,
Have you tried these steps with TestDisk? Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer?

If that doesn't work - run TestDisk again:
A. At the first window, select “No Log” and press the <Enter> key.
B. Select which drive to analyse, choose “Proceed” and <Enter>.
C. Select partition type – Intel if it’s a PC then <Enter>.
D. Choose Advanced > press <Enter>.
E. Choose Boot > press <Enter>.

New screen - please post back with a screenshot.

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Anagoge

TestDisk was the very first thing that I tried and I followed the steps exactly. Sadly, it didn't work.

Screenshot attached as requested.

http://www.filehost.org.uk/download....screenshot.JPG

After I couldn't do anything with TestDisk and File and Mount, I tried R-Studio, which HAS found the 170GB partition. However, as a friend advised me and as it says in R-Studio's help files:

What would be the risk in recovering them to the same partition? I only have one hard drive so I can't recover them to anywhere else.

Additionally, after more searching, I found this:

http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101625.asp - "How to fix an Unallocated Partition"

According to that, it's as simple as making a new partition and telling Windows not to format it first. Would this work or would there be a risk involved?

More help required please, but thank you for helping so far.

justpassingby

I would recover your files to another hard drive before you do anything else (borrow some friend's external drive for an hour or two if needed), better be prepared than sorry.

You could try to recover your files to the other 130GB partition but don't try to save the recovered files to the same partition you take them from (the missing 170GB partition), you would overwrite the data that hasn't been recovered yet. In your case that partition is currently unreacheable anyway.

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Anagoge

Just so I know, would the "How to fix an Unallocated Partition" step-by-step process not work for me?

justpassingby

The link you provided applies to netgear network storage devices, don't know if it'll work with an internal drive but if anything goes wrong during the process you may lose your data for good. It might work but proceed at your own risk.

If this happened to me I'd spend the 100 bucks to buy an external drive to make sure I don't lose 4 years of work. To stay on the safe side you shouldn't keep all your valuable data on the same physical drive anyway, if the drive encounters a physical failure having the data on a separate partition won't help. Modern hard drives are bigger but a bit less reliable than before.

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eneles

See if GetDataBack finds your files.

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Anagoge

I've recovered my files. I used R-Studio, which found all of them. I restored them to my C drive temporarily and then formatted my 170GB drive. I then put all the files back onto it.

Time to make an image of C I think!

Thank you for your help.