Cant see data on 2nd partition but gigs are 'used'

[pxe328]

I recently reinstalled windows xp on my computer.

xp was installed on a drive that previously had two partitions

During the reinstall i deleted the partition windows was on (c drive as usual) and recreated the partition, same size e.t.c.

I did not want to do anything to the other partition. However, windows said it did not recognise the other partition and needed to do something I now can not remember....

I let it...

Now When my computer starts i see the c drive with windows on it and the same size everything as previously.

I see the other partition (let's call it d drive), same size e.t.c. and with the same amount of the drive available for use (i.e. the same number of gigs are used), but when i go into the d drive i can not see any data.

I have no idea what I have done. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[shabaa]

What is the file structure type that XP shows the "D" drive having?

 

[pxe328]

Thanks a lot for your reply Shabaa.
The file structure XP shows the "D" drive as having is:
Type: Local disk
File System: NTFS

Apologies if I have misinterpreted your question. Thank you once again

 

[shabaa]

I have had this happen to me as well. I would first make sure that Windows is showing all files including hidden ones as well. If you are not sure how to do this let me know. I have had something similar happen to me as well and after making sure that the OS was showing all files and still not being able to see the files I wound up pulling the hard drive and putting it into a second machine and configuring it as a secondary drive (non boot drive) I was able to see the files and copy them. There is also a way to do it in repair console but that is a little difficult if you do no know how to use the repair console in windows. Let me know what you find or what happens as there may be other options.

 

[pxe328]

Thanks for that Shabaa. Windows is showing all files including hidden files. I do not know how comfortable I would be taking the drives out e.t.c. as I'm certainly not the greatest at these things. Is there any way of leaving the partition as is and have the files recognised?

 

[shabaa]

Well what may have happened is that windows has lost the” table of contents" for the partition. This is the best way to explain it. Without transferring the drive to another computer as a secondary drive your installed O.S. will not see the files.
HOWEVER
If the files that you need on the "D" partition are of a particular type ... like Photos or word documents there are some free programs out there to recover the files.... One of them is called "Recover My Files". This program works on several file types and is easy to use. If you need everything that is on the partition and the items that you need are of "non standard file types then the only way to truly get them all is to transfer the hard drive or use a data recovery service ... which is e$pensive.

 

[pxe328]

Thank you very much for your help Shabaa. You've been a great help. I'll try the program you've mentioned and see what I can recover. Otherwise, I'll bite the bullet and remember next time I'm reinstalling windows to backup all the data on both partitions. I'll let you know how I go.