formatting C without harming D

guyweisz · 04-12-2009, 04:26 AM

Hello, while trying to format the boot partition (C) from partition D (where all my data is stored) something happened and the format process could not be completed. Since then I have no access to any of my hard disk's partitions. While trying to access them from the OS installation CD, it said there is no hard disk installed on my computer (Acer laptop). Later on I tried the Western Digital's diagnostic tools (the HD is WD's) and it recognized the two partitions, yet there is not much to (you can't get access to files through diagnostic tools, you just see what there is). When I boot from DOS, it recognizes C: but when typing Dir it says the disk has no name and shows no files. It doesn't recognize D: though. So, I decided to execute an FDISK on C from DOS, but I was wondering whether it would harm the D partition, which is not even recognized by DOS. Any ideas? Thanks

**vladimirb** · 04-12-2009, 05:04 AM

Hello and welcome to TSF...
I would suggest to take this HDD and plug it to some other PC and try to backup data, just to make sure your data is safe.
Later you can play with your HDD, you can wipe all the content on HDD and do a clean installation.
During first Setup which ended up bad, I think MBR [master boot record] where information about partitions are stored, has been corrupted.

Keep us posted...

04-12-2009, 04:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
guyweisz Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 1 OS: windows vista	formatting C without harming D Hello, while trying to format the boot partition (C) from partition D (where all my data is stored) something happened and the format process could not be completed. Since then I have no access to any of my hard disk's partitions. While trying to access them from the OS installation CD, it said there is no hard disk installed on my computer (Acer laptop). Later on I tried the Western Digital's diagnostic tools (the HD is WD's) and it recognized the two partitions, yet there is not much to (you can't get access to files through diagnostic tools, you just see what there is). When I boot from DOS, it recognizes C: but when typing Dir it says the disk has no name and shows no files. It doesn't recognize D: though. So, I decided to execute an FDISK on C from DOS, but I was wondering whether it would harm the D partition, which is not even recognized by DOS. Any ideas? Thanks

04-12-2009, 05:04 AM	#2 (permalink)
vladimirb Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Banja Luka, Serb Republic Posts: 3,661 OS: xp pro sp3, Server 2003, Windows 7 Professional x64bit My System	Re: formatting C without harming D Hello and welcome to TSF... I would suggest to take this HDD and plug it to some other PC and try to backup data, just to make sure your data is safe. Later you can play with your HDD, you can wipe all the content on HDD and do a clean installation. During first Setup which ended up bad, I think MBR [master boot record] where information about partitions are stored, has been corrupted. Keep us posted... __________________ MCP - MCSA Cisco SMB Account Manager