Member Avatar for espn64

hi all,

i just reinstalled xp and sp2. my problem is xp wont recognize my second hard drive (300gb) which has 3 partitions and all my data. it does recognize the full drive but with 1 partition and keeps telling me i need to format to use.

i have reinstalled xp and sp2 before with no problems. but for whatever reason, this time it will not recognize the 3 partitions. keeps telling me to format to use.

i have checked bios and drive seems fine. i have changed drive letter but no luck. i have reinstalled xp and sp2 twice now thinking i did something wrong the first time but still no luck.

can anyone help??? thanks....

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by dcc

Dani AI

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Do not accept Windows' "format" prompt and do basic hardware checks first. As requested, confirm the drive interface and as suggested, inspect jumpers, power and the IDE cable (try a known-good cable, swap master/slave or connect the suspect disk alone on the primary channel). If the BIOS sees the disk but Windows shows volumes as RAW or a single volume, the partition table is likely damaged — but that is a symptom to diagnose, not proof of permanent loss.

Make a sector-level image before any write actions if the data is important (use ddrescue on Linux or a Windows raw-imaging tool). After imaging, use built-in tools to inspect the layout: open Disk Management or run DiskPart to list disks, partitions and volumes:

diskpart
list disk
select disk X
list partition
list volume
exit

If partitions are missing or shown as RAW, do not format. Try a non-destructive partition-recovery tool such as TestDisk to scan for lost partitions and restore the partition table. TestDisk walkthroughs are at [TestDisk] (https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk). For details on DiskPart see [DiskPart] (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart).

If TestDisk cannot find the original partitions, consider a file-recovery tool on the disk image or professional recovery services. Avoid multiple reinstalls or repeated writes to the affected disk — each write reduces recovery chances. The safest workflow: hardware check → image the disk → inspect with Disk Management/DiskPart → run TestDisk on the image → only write recovered table back when you are confident.

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Member Avatar for gerbil

Post a few details... drive types, IDE or Sata, for eg.

Member Avatar for espn64

main drive 80gb (no partition)... second drive 300gb with 3 partitions. both drives are ide and were ntfs before the reinstall but when i click property for my second drive it saids raw with 0 data and no partition.

its weird cuz i reinstalled a week ago and everything was fine after i installed sp2. the reason i reinstalled again today was i got this spyware or virus that i couldnt get rid of and it was freeezing my comp.

Member Avatar for dcc

Did you change the master slave configuration? Did you check to see if the IDE cable was plugged in properly? You might try another calbe.

Did you reformat or wipe the drive prior to reinstalling the OS?

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