Okay, I've got my motherboard up and running, CPU clock/FSB problems all sorted out.

I installed windows on an old 4gb hdd. Now, I've got my WD 80gb set up as a slave.

The 80gb was/is in 4 or 5 partitions.

I want to salvage some of the data from that (school work, websites, graphics all that good stuff) before I reformat it and install windows on it.

Is there any way I can get to the data on it without having to reformat it? I haven't found one... I've tried going into CP->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Disk Management, but I can't quite figure out what to do...

I tried adding it as a partition but it comes up with the whole disk as empty and when I try to 'explore' it, it asks me to format it.

Help is appreciated as always.

First what format it the information stored on the drives - Windows XP (i assume) for the 4GB - what is the 80GB?

Not quite sure what you mean, but I'm guessing Windows XP is the answer your looking for.

i am assuming that you have just installed Windows XP on the 4GB drive.

The information that is on the 80GB drive - what OS was in put on there with - ie. was it a windows 98 machine that was used to put the infomation there?

Okay, yea, Windows XP for the 80gb and the 4gb.

on the 80 gig drive did you make the files private? if you did there is no way to get them back off unless you put the drive back in to the machine that it was orginally in.

No, I didn't do anything to them...

Its in the same machine... kinda... I got a new motherboard, tried booting up the windows on the 80gb (which I had been using before I got the new board) and when it wouldn't, it always flicked to a blue screen for a milisecond when it should go to the logon screen then the screen goes blank and after a minute it restarts itelf.

So I installd XP on the 4gb so I could try to burn the files I need to a CD so their not lost when I reformat the 80gb.

if your 4gb drive is formatted in FAT32 and the 80 gb drive is formatted in NTFS, that may be your problem cause FAT32 cant read NTFS. if thats the case reformat the 4gb to NTFS and reinstall XP. you shoul;d be able to read the 80gb than. hope this helps

I formated the 4gb to NTFS using the WinXP installer.

So I guess its just a lost cause?

try to reinstall windows on just one of the partitions on the 80GB drive and then just try to burn the files to cd or even put the files on the 4GB drive.

Windows is installed on one of the partitions on the 80gb it just isn't working right ... at all ...

Is there some way I can reformat just one partition on the 80gb without having to go into windows or anything? Like through DOS, or the recovery console that you can get to when you boot with the winxp cd?

You don't have to reformat. Just reinstall xp to the 80. During instalation it will ask if you want to repair the old installation. Just say yes and everything should be ok.

EDIT: I don't mean typing r to go to the repair console. Continue with the installation at that point. Eventually it will ask if you want to do a fresh install or repair the old.

if you have a windows boot disk - it should contain fdisk - if you reboot and run fdisk you can reformat 1 of the partitions and then reinstall windows on the newly formated partition.

Is there any way I can make a boot disk that would work with the other computer? (I have XP on this one if that helps).

Otherwise, I'll try and reinstall/fix the old installation on the 80.

just go ahead and do the repair install. it will take about 20 minutes and will save you a bunch of crap. everything will be where you left it and all will be well with the world..... had to do a repair when i went from AMD to Intel. been running like a champ!!

Well... No dice right now... I popped in the XP cd... booted with that, went to install, and when it has be select a partition the whole HDD shows up as unpartitioned space.

I had GoBack installed on the 80gb (I origonaly tried to use that to get XP to load up properly again but it didn't work no matter which restore point I used). So, I'm going to try that again to see if it will still come up as all unpartitioned space.

Wish me luck

Well here is your best option. This problem has come up in the past and I found were the thread was. http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread....highlight=ENUM

Twisted posted the solution to get it to convert over.

Summarized quickly the answer is that you have to perform a registry hack.

Put your old mobo back in and the 80GB drive back also then reboot up windows and perform the hack as Twisted outlined in the Enum thread above.

As a side note - this is a "it works" or "it doesn't work" solution. - Basically it is a one shot deal, but it is also the best and most likely solution that I have heard or seen to date.

Also note that once you do hack the registry - immediatly shut down and perform the swap. Some have had problems with the HDD becoming corrupted if you don't perform the swap immediatly

I've tried that trick too Slick but have never had any luck, but at this point I don't think he has anything to loose.

Quote: Originally posted by mjm953 Well... No dice right now... I popped in the XP cd... booted with that, went to install, and when it has be select a partition the whole HDD shows up as unpartitioned space. I had GoBack installed on the 80gb (I origonaly tried to use that to get XP to load up properly again but it didn't work no matter which restore point I used). So, I'm going to try that again to see if it will still come up as all unpartitioned space. Wish me luck

GoBack modifys the MFT to redirect file read/write operations to gobackio.bin which allows you to recover files on the fly. This MFT modification makes the drives unreadable to any system without goback, and windows installer.
Boot back up into windows, Install goback and your drives will be back.
If you still want to install to your WD 80GB, please disable or uninstall goback to make the drive recognizable to windows setup.

Next time remember to disable/uninstall goback BEFORE installing an o/s, formatting, or moving the hard drive to another PC.