cannot boot into XP as hard disk cannot be accessed?

Question

i have a dell inspiron 6000 notebook with 100GB sata drive(toshiba)
i deleted a logical partition through windows disk management then another drive also got deleted and 2 extra drives other than the deleted drives appeared with a space of 20000GB and in the tray it gave the message 'hardware is installed and ready to use'
.I restarted my notebook thinking that problem might be resolved but now i am unable to boot XP. safe mode is not working (giving blue screen).
XP CD recovery console is accessing only 1 drive(not primary partition) in the hard disk and it is unable to check for errors in the disk.
XP setup gives a message that it cannot access the hard disk and cant give the details of the partitions in my disk.
can i get back my notebook to working condition without losing any data if possible

Answer 1

Create a BartPE boot cd of for XP and boot to it them you can access you data to copy it to something else and then rebuild your pc.

Answer 2

Wow - this is one of those life lessons.

Here's what I would do.

First - lets call the partition you can see part1 and the one you don't see part2.

On part 2 in the XP load screen off the CD, you can create a partition and install XP on that.

Then, when you do finally get up, get into part 1, get the data off with a thumb, and start over with that part 1.

That's the easiest thing. You might find that you can uninstall the XP OS from part 1 but if you can't I'd suggest flattening part 1 after the data is off of it and then redoing the whole drive or at the very least part 1 (flatten it and rebuild it).

If that's a bit too dramatic, then you'll need to make the existing partition a primary partition. I posted a KB article from Microsoft to help.

If that doesn't work, then I am sure Dell gave you a "restart" disk, which might be super dramatic, but it may be all that's left unless you have another way to slave the hard drive to get the data off. The Geek Squad or your company's IT guys might be able to help.

And, next time use partition magic. :-)

Answer 3

I suggest you get a Live linux CD you run the Linux operating system from the cd, i.e It doesnt install to the hard drive. Then while in Linux you copy files from the HD to a flash or what ever. You need a Linux version which can read NTSF drives though.

Or take the HD out plug it into one of those external cases and try reading it on another PC.

Answer 4

Yep, easy, wipe hard drive start a fresh windows install then recover data from your backup . . .

YOU DO HAVE a backup don't you ? "NO" ? Ah damn.

In that case you need the help of someone used to performing windows repairs, doing it yourself after seeing what you just did will likely make matters worse.

Either find a techie friend of take it to a shop, and pay. Depends if your data is worth the money though.

Answer 5

Sounds like you have deleted some of the windows files. You will probably need to do a destructive reinstall of your software. This "will" cause a loss of your data. Next time do a backup before you start deleting.

Answer 6

Are you using a valid copy of XP, or one you downloaded and burned from the web? I had similar issues with a web one.

Answer 7

A livecd of windows or knoppix may let you get some info before a format

Answer 8

i think you might be screwed, format the hard drive, start over