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Retrieving Data from NTFS drive
I recently encountered some problems installing software on my Dell System. I am running Windows XP Professional. After several attempts to fix the problem, I purchased a new hard drive and installed my OS on it. It seems to be working fine but I have some files on the old hard drive that I need to retrieve. My system recognizes both hard drives (new and old) but will not assign a drive letter to the old hard drive. When I go into Disk Management, the old hard drive shows up as Healthy (Active) but does not have a drive letter assigned. If I right-click on it the only option available is Delete Partition. All of the other options are greyed out. Can anyone suggest how I might be able to access the drive and retrieve my files? I've been told that I need to re-format the drive but I don't want to lose the files if I can save them.
1st Sep 2007
Answers (3)
0
Votes
Re:Retrieving Data from NTFS drive
Format your drive and use a program like easy recovery to recover your deleted files. I don't know any other solutions
1st Sep 2007
Replies
What Operating System are you using to try to accesss the drive from.
carlsf@...
1st Sep 2007
Windows XP Professional SP 2.
m_sheppers@...
2nd Sep 2007
XP PRO with SP 2
carlsf@...
3rd Sep 2007
0
Votes
Re: Retrieving Data from NTFS drive
Have you tried Steve Gibson's SpinRite 6 program as this should allow you to retrieve your data on the old drive.
The url is www.grc.com
The url is www.grc.com
1st Sep 2007
0
Votes
Two possible options
If the BIOS recognizes the drive, the problem is most likely in the partition table or boot record. Try downloading a partition manager/recovery tool. I recommend Ranish (http://www.ranish.com/part/) or TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk). Allow the program you choose to repair the partition table on your old drive. Then reboot to your XP and you should be able to get the data.
You might also consider downloading a recovery CD like the Ultimate Boot CD (http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/) or a live Linux CD (http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php). My preference is PCLinuxOS, but Knoppix and Ubuntu are also good choices. I find that Linux will often access data that Windows says is lost.
Best of luck with the recovery.
You might also consider downloading a recovery CD like the Ultimate Boot CD (http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/) or a live Linux CD (http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php). My preference is PCLinuxOS, but Knoppix and Ubuntu are also good choices. I find that Linux will often access data that Windows says is lost.
Best of luck with the recovery.
1st Sep 2007
Replies
Ask a buddy if you can put the drive in THIER computer as a slave (try for w2k or another xp) and see if their computer's bios/board will recognize it.
I would NOT recommend formatting until you've tried the drive on a few different boxes.
CuteElf
I would NOT recommend formatting until you've tried the drive on a few different boxes.
CuteElf
CuteElf
2nd Sep 2007
In the lower 48, I see. But if you're in East Wenatchee, you aren't much closer to civilization than you were in AK 
Only format if you really don't like the user...
Only format if you really don't like the user...
NickNielsen
2nd Sep 2007
I have used CG Security's TestDisk and recovered my data. I few files were lost, but I was able to salvage most of my files. I really appreciate all of the responses and help. I've learned my lesson and have now copied my files to DVD backups.
m_sheppers@...
4th Sep 2007
If you really appreciate an answer to one of your questions, you can click on the "Mark Helpful" button while viewing that answer. (Hint, hint!) 
NickNielsen
4th Sep 2007
I have used this freeware program before several times with good results. As you may have noticed, you don't usually get back 100% of your files, but under the circumstance, consider youself lucky.
dave@...
20th May 2009
