XP Pro setup destroys 2nd hard disk data?

On Wed, 24 May 2006 17:13:38 -0500, "philo"
wrote:


The error was on your end.
A win9x boot floppy would NOT see an NTFS partition...
it would only see the fat32 partition...

Yes it will. FDISK sees partitions, and whether the
partition is NTFS or FAT32 formatted does not change whether
FDISK can see it. Since DOS can't understand NTFS, the
filesystem itself on that partition can't be accesed, but
the partition is as a whole, accessible and visible.

so when you thought you were formatting your XP drive
you really formatted the data drive...

if this even comes up again do NOT use a boot floppy...
it can all be done by booting with your XP cd.

I suspect WinXP had logically called "C", "E", the opposite
of DOS conventions and so when he formatted, he was
formatting "E".

"kony" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 May 2006 17:13:38 -0500, "philo"
wrote:


The error was on your end.
A win9x boot floppy would NOT see an NTFS partition...
it would only see the fat32 partition...

Yes it will. FDISK sees partitions, and whether the
partition is NTFS or FAT32 formatted does not change whether
FDISK can see it. Since DOS can't understand NTFS, the
filesystem itself on that partition can't be accesed, but
the partition is as a whole, accessible and visible.


I was referring to the format procedure which would only "see" fat/32

Fdisk of course could delete the NTFS (non-dos partition) but I don't think
the OP
did that

"philo" wrote in message
...

"kony" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 May 2006 17:13:38 -0500, "philo"
wrote:


The error was on your end.
A win9x boot floppy would NOT see an NTFS partition...
it would only see the fat32 partition...

Yes it will. FDISK sees partitions, and whether the
partition is NTFS or FAT32 formatted does not change whether
FDISK can see it. Since DOS can't understand NTFS, the
filesystem itself on that partition can't be accesed, but
the partition is as a whole, accessible and visible.


I was referring to the format procedure which would only "see" fat/32

Fdisk of course could delete the NTFS (non-dos partition) but I don't
think
the OP
did that



Right. I did not run FDISK.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
news
I understand. Just grasping at straws for the moment. As I said earlier, I
have backups on tape, but won't have access to the external tape drive
until
the weekend.



snip

hope your tape backup is good.

BTW: if you did not write to the drive that was formatted...
there are 3rd party utilites that should be able to get your data back...

So you might want to restore your backup to a different drive entirely
as a precaution.

"philo" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
news
I understand. Just grasping at straws for the moment. As I said earlier,
I
have backups on tape, but won't have access to the external tape drive
until
the weekend.



snip

hope your tape backup is good.

I made two. These were my son's mp3 files - very important to him. For my
work files, the routine is nuts. Smaller tape drive, because it's sufficient
for my data. (We borrowed the larger drive for the enormous number of music
files). I use one tape for each weekday. On Monday, the first four tapes go
to a bank safe deposit box, and the stored set comes out for action.


BTW: if you did not write to the drive that was formatted...
there are 3rd party utilites that should be able to get your data back...

Right. I've left that drive alone completely. And, I'm waiting for a
response from the maker of an undelete utility. The trial version doesn't
list mp3 in its file type list (for searching). I want to be sure the full
version handles those files.


So you might want to restore your backup to a different drive entirely
as a precaution.

Yep. It'll all go to drive C: until the process is complete.

snip
Right. I've left that drive alone completely. And, I'm waiting for a
response from the maker of an undelete utility. The trial version doesn't
list mp3 in its file type list (for searching). I want to be sure the full
version handles those files.


So you might want to restore your backup to a different drive entirely
as a precaution.

Yep. It'll all go to drive C: until the process is complete.



Well good luck to you...
BTW: I never have used a tape drive...I just burn DVD's whenever I need to
backup data.
I've got most everything backed up two or three times...just not terribly
organized though!

"philo" wrote in message
. ..

snip
Right. I've left that drive alone completely. And, I'm waiting for a
response from the maker of an undelete utility. The trial version doesn't
list mp3 in its file type list (for searching). I want to be sure the
full
version handles those files.


So you might want to restore your backup to a different drive entirely
as a precaution.

Yep. It'll all go to drive C: until the process is complete.



Well good luck to you...
BTW: I never have used a tape drive...I just burn DVD's whenever I need to
backup data.
I've got most everything backed up two or three times...just not terribly
organized though!



Here, it has to be organized. One hour = $10,000.00.

snip

Here, it has to be organized. One hour = $10,000.00.



If that's true, I've lost millions of dollars !!!! G

"philo" wrote in message
. ..

snip

Here, it has to be organized. One hour = $10,000.00.



If that's true, I've lost millions of dollars !!!! G




On good days, it's true, in my business. And, in order to make that revenue
happen, the computer HAS to work. So, I've got a mirror-image laptop that's
tested once a week.