http://is7.itookthisonmyphone.com/m/..._568x426r0.jpg

http://is7.itookthisonmyphone.com/m/..._568x426r0.jpg

running test disk

hrrrm.... now the boot disc won't load all the way. it gets stuck on a the loading widows XP screen

oops....it finally went.. just took a really long time

Jim,

If this doesn't work, get your hands on SpinRite 6.0. That WILL be able to recover the partitions, and costs $89.

Yes, I have used it to repair a seriously damaged HD before and get Windows XP bootable when there was no other choice.

if what doesn't work?

using the partition utilities on the boot CD to get you back to normal with a CHKDSK'ed HD.

mitch,

I don't know what the fuck I'm doing! :)

I'm scared to run anything on this boot disc without being told to. I don't want to just run these utlities willy nilly.

the mbr thing made the recovery drive disappear, and the test disk just inspected, but changed nothing.

what next?

Apparently you guys did some things that do not appear here. Spinrite from Gibson Research is one of the tools suggested earlier.

However, anything your do to fix or change a partition (disk software) without first confirming disk hardware integrity can make things even worse. It appears you have an intermittent failure (unless you did something elsewhere to delete that partition).

That Ultimate Boot CD web site has numerous disk hardware diagnostics for each disk manufacturer. You want to confirm hardware is not causing problems (ie deleting a partition) before trying to restore that partition. Some hardware problems, if identified by the manufacturer diagnostic, can be fixed before the intermittent failure causes worse software damage.

Anything more you do to change the drive will make more data impossible to recover. Best is to confirm disk hardware really is working. Right now, your hardware may be intermittent which is why the partition is (temporarily) deleted. Try that diagnostic from the UBCD web site (for your drive). Because that only reports what you have and does not change anything - does not put data at further risk.

how do I run SpinRite 6.0 if I can't boot up? is it bootable? or do I just put it in the drive after i boot with ubcd?

First get the manufacturer's diagnostic. It boots from a CD-Rom (or memory stick). If it says the drive is OK, then consider SpinRite. If it says the drive is not OK, then (based upon errors) we change things until it says the drive is OK.

Once the diagnostic says the drive is OK, then spend the $90. The disk diagnostic is free and does not change anything. If the drive hardware never gets OK, then no reason to waste money on Spinrite (unless you have enough curiosity to learn more or the error is something that SpinRite can fix).

The idea is to establish what you have before changing anything and before spending the $90.

I did not see everything you guys did. Don't understand why the data partition disappeared long before the backup partition disappeared. Don't know if you did that intentionally. So I can only suggest the free manufacturer's disk drive program (the one for your drive) that is probably available in that Ultimate Boot CD website (or from the disk manufacturer's web site). See what you have before changing anything.

I never change disk software (ie partition) if I first don't know disk hardware is stable. Unless you guys did something else, I don't see anything that says hardware is stable.

I pretty much posted everything that I did. with pics mostly.

I got spinrite last night and it's running now. i set it to run at 11:30, and went to bed.... at 3 am, i woke up and realized that the damn thing was unplugged and had shut off.

so i plugged in and reran. got up at 7 and it was at 5%. Looks like it's going to take some time.

Post 182 reported the data (Windows) partition had bee deleted. That partition had to exist previously to boot from the Windows installation CD. Sometime previous to that, the partition was deleted by something.

You have courage. I would never fix something without first executing the diagnostic - without first learning what exists. Otherwise problems can get exponentially more complex. I worry about preserving data.

Spinrite will probably take something like 36 hours – probably will not be done until AM Tuesday.. When done, you should have at least two partitions on the hard drive. One about 8 Gb and a second something like 290 Gb.

Still completely unknown (another reason for executing diagnostics long before fixing anything) is why that problem existed. So that it can be averted. My bet is it will happen again because we are probably only curing symptoms - not identifying and then solving the original problem.

I've only been able to boot from the Ultimate Boot CD. The part where we were talking about the XP install disc was just one of the things I needed to create newer version of the Ultimate Boot CD.

The partition disappeared after i ran MBRFix.

it takes a LOT longer to boot to the UBCD since that changed, but it does still boot to it.

It might be a moot issue (moot boot issue?) but I wonder if your hard drive is ahead of your cdrom drive in the boot sequence. That would explain the additional time needed to boot UBCD now. If it does get to be an issue, you could mess with the boot sequence in the bios settings.