Please help find the lost partition!

[LeftCoast]

Hi all,

Thanks in advance

BG info: Dell 400sc,200 gig WD HDD w controller card, C:| is 15 gigs, D;\ is 180 gigs.

I had been having some issues with XP Pro and wanted to reinstall (after migrating b/u files to the D drive). My bright idea was to click "Install Windows" and then taking the recommended step of upgrading vs a fresh install, as I thought it would keep all my settings (which it did). In hindsight, I wish I'd have wiped and done a fresh install.

Now, C and D drive both appear on "My Computer", but only the C drive shows its size, which is correct at 10 gigs. The D drive is empty. When booting to dos, the D drive is not recognized.

What I think may have contributed is the fact I had resized the partitions using Partition Magic and somehow made both drives "primary" (there is nothing bootable on D, just storage, and it's been like this for a while). I discovered this by checking PM to see if D showed up, which it did, with the correct size (180) gigs, but NO UNUSED SPACE (there's over 100 gigs free on D). I tried to convert D to a logical drive, but PM has error message stating not enough space available.

So should I free up a little space on D and convert it to a logical drive (and hope it gets recognized), run an unerase utility or what?

Sorry for the long post, but it is critical I get these files back!

[Bovon]

If possible, and by using Partition Magic, change the drive back to what it used to be..i.e., 15 gb for the primary and 180 gb for the secondary (or, active partition and extended partition. This may allow the files to be found again.

Anytime you repartition a drive and change its size, anything stored on that drive becomes invisible?.. (I think) due to the change in the boot record (or other drive setup particulars...I forget the terms...but have lost data myself by fiddling around with the partition table).