my one HD is not visible

sambro

New Member
i had a hard time with viruses. so i decided to format C: and reinstall XP.i am using two IDE hards of 40 gig and 160 gig. i have xp's on both the drives but i am working with the xp on 40 hard disk. so i booted with an xp CD, although i was supposed to format only the partition C: unfortunately i had formatted the whole 40 gb. that way i lost all the data on my 40.(because there it didnt show me the separate partitions of disks)

after installing the xp when i open the "my computer" i realised that the volumes on my 160 is not visible there. so i opened disk mgt in computer mgt wondering there i saw both the disks(40 and 160). but for the 160 it was visible only a one partition and there it shows, that partiton takes the whole capacity of the disk. but i had 3 partitions on my 160.(here i have attached a view of my disk mgt window pls have a loot at it. there also you can see some unusual two capacities showing for that partition in above window(12.15gb) and the bootom window(153.38gb)) .

my all the important data are on my 160. i suppose the data is still there since i didnt format that.

so can anyone please help me to access the partitions on my 160.
thanks in advance.
 

Attachments

  • MMC.JPG
    MMC.JPG
    76.1 KB · Views: 43

kimsland

New Member
Remove the 160gig Hard Drive (ie unplug it)
Put your 40Gig Hard Drive into IDE0 (where the 160Gig just came out of)

Put your Windows CD back in and remove all partitions, and install Windows clean
Update all drivers and Windows Service Packs and all other Security Updates
Install Antivirus (I recommend free Avira) Update it

Then mount your 160Gig into IDE1
Then turn back on and check again
 

The_Other_One

VIP Member
Since it shows up in Disk Management, you should be able to right click on it, select assign drive letter, and add one to the list. It then should appear in My Computer.
 

kimsland

New Member
"C" states 2gigabyte FAT
It looks a bit strange to me, even if the drive letter assigning fixes the issue

I'd still do clean install with only the 40Gig plugged in
 

sambro

New Member
"C" states 2gigabyte FAT
It looks a bit strange to me, even if the drive letter assigning fixes the issue

I'd still do clean install with only the 40Gig plugged in
no that C: came because i did a partion using a win98 cd theres nothing with that.
why do u suggest me to reinstall it. i did it earlier using the whole space of my 40. "ide0" and all those stuff are due to i was tring all the possible combinations to get the thing up.
what do you think about the MMC showing the whole capacity of the disk and showing two differnt valued for that partion "windows"?
i tried my 160 with a ubuntu live cd to see whether i can see my partitions then, it also shows only a one partion (of "windows") .
what can i do?i cannot even install the softwares which i lost because all those setup files are on the 160.
 

The_Other_One

VIP Member
Oooookay... I mostly was just going by the image. Reading it clarified things (well...mucked them up :p)

How's the 160GB connected and what kind of drive is it? Western Digital drives are very picky about jumper settings (single drive, master with slave present, slave...) If you haven't already, try using the drive on one channel without anything else connected and confirm the jumpers are set correctly (master or master single drive)
 

sambro

New Member
How's the 160GB connected and what kind of drive is it? Western Digital drives are very picky about jumper settings (single drive, master with slave present, slave...) If you haven't already, try using the drive on one channel without anything else connected and confirm the jumpers are set correctly (master or master single drive)

its a samsung one.
i have tried all the possibilities of connecting it(with jumpers and all those stuff). as you said i also tried it using a separate channel even.
before formatting thing happen i used these two hds without any fault.
 

The_Other_One

VIP Member
Now the 160 does have an OS on it still, correct? Have you tried booting from it just to confirm it is in fact working and such? If it does boot (or at least attempt to) maybe you could try some kind of LiveCD from Linux; perhaps Ubuntu. If it's still readable at all, Linux should allow you to read the drive and copy the files to another drive or burn to a CD.
 

sambro

New Member
ya..it has a os. but i cannot boot from it due to a 'norton go back' error which i have installed. i tried using a ubuntu live cd. i can see the files in the windows partition(which is of size 12.15gb). but in ubuntu also it doesnt show anything about the other partions on it.
 

sambro

New Member
i tried with 'partion doctor' and tried to rebuild it. thanks! i could see my lost partitions there. but since it is a demo version i cannot save it. so if you know free softwares pls let me know..
 

sambro

New Member
[solved]

thanks for the replies for you all.
i got my data back, using the tool 'test disk'.
it is a free tool.
:):):good:
 
Top