Can't acess drive.

[eyeCpc]

The first image there looks a lot like one drive split into separate partitions since that was never specified.

When entering the List Disk command at the Run command line you should see the Disk Management screen appear right away in Vista. In XP that will come up a dos looking command prompt there. In Vista you will see something similar to this.



I was about to ask about posting a screen from the DM anyways once you finally revealed having 3 internal drives not one being spit up due to the smaller partition sizes.

 

[Thorn]

How to work with partitions in Windows Vista / XP when Disk Management doesn't work | Vista Rewired
see what diskpart can tell you about the drive.
diskpart
list disk
select disk #
list volume

Alright, I'll do this.

Not exactly since you were never specific to start with. In ubuntu you can see the files since it gets past the unreadable volume problems. In Windows you need a data recovery tool to backup everything up and then reformat the drive to make it usable again. Then you mention ubuntu was on a laptop and not a desktop once the tool was pointed to for Windows access to Linux drives/partitions.

The working solution since you don't enough space for everything is to boot from a live ubuntu cd to copy what you can over and burn to data dvds. Once you have so much burned to removable you delete those files for recovering the rest in increments.

Perhaps not, but you should have asked questions, considering my problems are usually quite detailed. I never said Ubuntu was on a laptop.

Yes, I know I could do this, but I am trying to not have to waste a bunch of money.

Now with that said this issue goes deeper than just deleting these 3 files. Those 3 files could have been your XP Boot files which i see you made reference that you had installed. But NTDETECT and NTLDR could also be used for Windows Vista but Vista uses the BCD not boot.ini.

I would go with Office Politics and try his Disk Part steps. See if you can get you about the drive. I would also post a screen shot of your disk management screen within Vista. That will give me a much more clear picture as to what is going on.

And when I deleted them, Windows was not installed. There were also some other files. Are there any files visible while in Linux that deleting would make Windows not be able to recognize the contents of the drive? This is the other partition on the windows drive. I deleted similar files from the unreadable disc I have now. Would the deletion of any of these make it unreadable?

Alright, I'll boot up VIsta and try this.

The first image there looks a lot like one drive split into separate partitions since that was never specified.

It's two drives, F: is the 500gb that isn't reading properly, the other two are just another hdd.

 

[KSoD]

Hello Thorn,

None of those files would cause your issue.

Autoexec.bat is a bat file used by earlier versions of Windows. I dotn think that is even in use in XP anymore. I remember modifying that file with Win98/98.

boot.bak is just a backup file.

boot.ini is a XP Boot file.

bootmgr is of course the boot manager.

bootsec.bak is the boot sector backup.

config.sys is the configuration file. Mainly used for DOS.

grldr is the Grub Loader file.

io.sys is another DOS related file.

msdos.sys is the MS Dos System.

NTDETECT and NTLDR are boot files.

So as you can see none of the files listed would cause your drive not to be recognized. They are mainly config files and boot files. It may be that when you logged of or restarted from Linux that the drive didnt unmount properly which cause the partition tables to be lost. It is unknown what truly happened. But from what i see the partition tables are lost.

I would need a screen shot of your Disk Management Screen to confirm my suspicion.

 

[Thorn]

see what diskpart can tell you about the drive.

This is what it says.

So as you can see none of the files listed would cause your drive not to be recognized. They are mainly config files and boot files. It may be that when you logged of or restarted from Linux that the drive didnt unmount properly which cause the partition tables to be lost. It is unknown what truly happened. But from what i see the partition tables are lost.

I would need a screen shot of your Disk Management Screen to confirm my suspicion.

It had to be something, because it was only after I deleted those files that it stopped getting recognized. I've restarted a few times switching back and forth, but it never shows up in Vista and always does in Ubuntu.

Here is the screenshot.

 

[KSoD]

The file system was lost. Look at it in your shot. It says RAW. Windows can not access a RAW data partition. So what i said was correct. The file system was lost at some point. It could very well be due to some actions taken in Linux.

Linux can access RAW data but Window can not. Which is why you can access it in Linux but not Windows.

So you can try to recreate the file system by formatting the drive and then using file recovery software, or google around to see if there is a fix to getting RAW data back. But most of the results i have seen are to format to NTFS and recover from there.

Program Cannot Access a Raw Partition on Your Computer's Hard Disk

That might be of use.

Partition Recovery Software, provides partition recovery for lost Windows partition of FAT &amp NTFS partition

This could work.

But jsut deleting those files would not cause the file system to be lost. I have deleted those files myself without having this happen to me. From both XP and a Vista Drive.

 

[Thorn]

So, if I wanted to be sure all my files were saved, my only option would be to copy all the files to some form of storage medium, correct?

 

[KSoD]

Yes. Sadly. Maybe some of the software for recovery might work but there is no chance to say it would work 100%

 

[Thorn]

Alright, well, at least I know.

Always helpful Mak, thanks.

 

[eyeCpc]

No, that was my storage drive, my Linux drive was on my lap at the time.

Perhaps not, but you should have asked questions, considering my problems are usually quite detailed. I never said Ubuntu was on a laptop.

Yes, I know I could do this, but I am trying to not have to waste a bunch of money.

Linux drive was on your lap at the time? That right there suggests you had Linux installed on a laptop. You are the one being vague.

Mak is quite correct about needing a screenshot of the partitioning scheme seen in the Disk Management tool. The autoexec.bat was originally seen in the 9x-ME family and returned with Vista not XP as you can see from the dual boot of XP with Vista here.



Windows NTFS Partition Recovery is just another data recovery backup tool for retrieving files from an unreadable volume. Windows NTFS Partition Recovery

 

[Thorn]

Linux drive was on your lap at the time? That right there suggests you had Linux installed on a laptop. You are the one being vague.

my Linux drive was on my lap at the time.

Uhh.... Since when did "drive" mean laptop?

Mak is quite correct about needing a screenshot of the partitioning scheme seen in the Disk Management tool.
Windows NTFS Partition Recovery is just another data recovery backup tool for retrieving files from an unreadable volume. Windows NTFS Partition Recovery

Mak already told me there is nothing I can do. I trust him since he didn't make insane conclusions like I had a laptop. Also I posted screenshots. However, I will look into the Partition Recovery, thanks.