Solved Cant view logical partitions in windows explorer after reinstall

[adamjedgar]

Hi guys,
i have a 1 terabyte drive set up with dual boot windows 7 operating systems.
It is partitioned into 4 with original drive letters
1. contained an older version of Wind 7 (C:\)
2&3 contained data storage (D:\ and E:\)
4. contained a new version of Win 7 (F:\)
I attempted to change motherboards and stuffed up the sysprep.exe process somewhat. I did get the older OS (C:\) up and running again but since it has a registry problem unrelated to this (from a virus i got about 6 months ago and removed) i decided to reformat c:\ drive and start again.
The second Win 7 OS (f:\) basically is stuffed...not that im worried about it as i had only just installed it recently and hadnt put anything important on that partition anyway.
Since i have reformated c:\ and put a new win7 OS on it, i am now unable to view the d:\ and E:\ drives in windows explorer!
I went into control panel>computer managment>disk management and am able to see the missing partitions (labelled D:\ and E:\).
What do i do in order to recover the data off D:\ and E:\ partitions???
i tried using Piriform's software program called "Recuva" but it cannot see those drives either...instead finding all the files on c:\ and F:\ (which it lables as C:\ and D:\ because it cannot see the other 2 partitions)

 

[Brink]

Hello Adam,

It appears that you should be able to just add drive letters to your 195.31 GB and 195.32 GB primary partitions in Disk Management to be able to have them available in the Computer window. Logical partitions would be the blue one instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows-7-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Kaktussoft]

Download and install Partion Wizard HOME Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online
Give me the "partiton info" of the 2 problem partitions. Video help on how to view Partition Properties with partition manager - Partition Wizard.

 

[adamjedgar]

Hello Adam,

It appears that you should be able to just add drive letters to your 195.31 GB and 195.32 GB primary partitions in Disk Management to be able to have them available in the Computer window. Logical partitions would be the blue one instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows-7-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi Shawn,
i cant seem to change the drive letters on these two missing drives...i get an error saying i need to refresh...but refresh doesnt make any difference (i havent tried a restart as yet, but will after i submit this post).

Having said the above, i can right click on the last drive (345 GB Healthy logical...) and was able to change its drive letter no problem.

Just wondering, what would happen if i right clicked on the two 195 GB partitions and choose the "make active option"? (windows warns me that i should only choose this option if they have a functioning OS on them or my computer might stop working)

 

[adamjedgar]

update shawn,
i restarted computer and still get same error...it keeps wanting me to refresh, but the refresh doesnt work!
any ideas???

 

[adamjedgar]

Download and install Partion Wizard HOME Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online
Give me the "partiton info" of the 2 problem partitions. Video help on how to view Partition Properties with partition manager - Partition Wizard.

I have also downloaded the partition wizard software you pointed me to...got it running now...will hopefully get some results!

 

[Kaktussoft]

Hello Adam,

It appears that you should be able to just add drive letters to your 195.31 GB and 195.32 GB primary partitions in Disk Management to be able to have them available in the Computer window. Logical partitions would be the blue one instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows-7-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi Shawn,
i cant seem to change the drive letters on these two missing drives...i get an error saying i need to refresh...but refresh doesnt make any difference (i havent tried a restart as yet, but will after i submit this post).

Having said the above, i can right click on the last drive (345 GB Healthy logical...) and was able to change its drive letter no problem.

Just wondering, what would happen if i right clicked on the two 195 GB partitions and choose the "make active option"? (windows warns me that i should only choose this option if they have a functioning OS on them or my computer might stop working)

Leave the first partition ACTIVE!! it has the boot manager and boot menu.

 

[adamjedgar]

yeah i did that.
In the end, i rang a computer guru mate of mine and he said that realistically the easiest solution was to use a data recovery program. I downloaded "MiniTool Power Data REcovery" (cost me approx $70 and was worth every cent). I have now almost completed recovering all of my data off the middle 2 drives. I reformated the other 2 and should be back up and running with all of my old programs reinstalled soon.

Thanks for your help
adam