Computer Woes

SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
edited November 24, 2006 in Digital Darkroom
While trying free up some space on my C drive, and increase the size of the partition, I screwed up! I tried to run Partition Magic to take some space from the D drive and allocate it to the C drive. The C drive has about 5 gig free space, and the D drive has about 35 gig free. Low and behold, the D drive has disappeared!

Windows XP, my computer, does not see a D drive. Partition Magic sees a drive, but without any letter designation, and will not perform any task, or operations on it.

Does any one have any ideas to fix this?

Sam
www.samlinvillephotography.com

Comments

  • David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,250 moderator
    edited November 23, 2006
    So C and D are the same physical disk?

    Can you go to a prompt line and type d: ?
    My Smugmug
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  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited November 23, 2006
    David_S85 wrote:
    So C and D are the same physical disk?

    Can you go to a prompt line and type d: ?

    Yes it's the same physical disc. I'll see if I can do that.

    Sam
    www.samlinvillephotography.com
  • ChrisJChrisJ Registered Users Posts: 2,164 Major grins
    edited November 23, 2006
    Right click on My Computer.
    Choose Manage.
    Click on Disk Management. (In Storage section)

    If you have one disk and two partitions, Disk 0 will show C: on the left side, and then show some space on the right without a drive letter. It's possible that all you need to do is re-assign a drive letter to the missing partition.

    To be safe, post a screenshot before doing anything...

    I'll attach mine for comparison. I have two physical disks. The first is separated into 2 partitions (C: and M:). The second disk is D:

    disk.JPG
    Chris
  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2006
    Chris,

    Thanks for any help you can provide. I would think if were able to asign a drive letter all would be well, but I have no idea how to do that.

    Here is a screen shot of my disc manager.
    www.samlinvillephotography.com
  • devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited November 24, 2006
    Sam wrote:
    Chris,

    Thanks for any help you can provide. I would think if were able to asign a drive letter all would be well, but I have no idea how to do that.

    Here is a screen shot of my disc manager.

    Sam,

    you should be able to right-click on the volume and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths.."

    Give that a go.

    Cheers,

    David
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
  • ChrisJChrisJ Registered Users Posts: 2,164 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2006
    devbobo wrote:
    you should be able to right-click on the volume and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths.."

    Yep, just make sure you choose the NTFS partition!

    The EISA partition is a utility partition, and you should leave it alone.
    Chris
  • devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited November 24, 2006
    ChrisJ wrote:
    Yep, just make sure you choose the NTFS partition!

    technically, it can be converted to NTFS at anytime, but yes it is a good idea.
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
  • ChrisJChrisJ Registered Users Posts: 2,164 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2006
    devbobo wrote:
    technically, it can be converted to NTFS at anytime, but yes it is a good idea.
    ??? I don't think the EISA partition would be able to do its job if it was converted to NTFS. It's usually a DOS Boot partition created by the system manufacturer (eg. Dell) which has system utilities on it. Often it includes a system-restore to the state the system was shipped in.

    The particular partition he wants a drive letter on is already an 85.59 Gig NTFS partition.

    EDIT: Nevermind, looks like his EISA partition is already NTFS. But still, it's better not to mess with it.
    Chris
  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2006
    I tried ro use the "change drive letter paths" but while the window sees the (formally D drive) and will allow you to highlight and click on it. When I tried to use the tool it changed my H drive to D. No harm was done. I was able to change it back. But this is frustrating! I have space I can't access or use. ARG................

    Sam
    www.samlinvillephotography.com
  • devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited November 24, 2006
    ChrisJ wrote:
    ??? I don't think the EISA partition would be able to do its job if it was converted to NTFS. It's usually a DOS Boot partition created by the system manufacturer (eg. Dell) which has system utilities on it. Often it includes a system-restore to the state the system was shipped in.

    NTFS partitions can be accessed in DOS using NTFSDOS from SysInternals.
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
  • devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited November 24, 2006
    Sam wrote:
    I tried ro use the "change drive letter paths" but while the window sees the (formally D drive) and will allow you to highlight and click on it. When I tried to use the tool it changed my H drive to D. No harm was done. I was able to change it back. But this is frustrating! I have space I can't access or use. ARG................

    Sam

    Sam,

    Perhaps try this software, it's meant to recover lost partitions.

    I haven't tried it myself, so i don't know how well it works, but it might be worth a try.

    Cheers,

    David
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
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