Can't access HD full of data.. Says unallocated

[MrCodeDude]

Alright, my computer crashed and left me stranded with a bunch of data on the hard-disk but I coudln't access any of it. So I installed XP on a new hard-drive and then set this new HD to master and my old HD to slave. So I boot up, find the hard-drive in BIOS, Save and Exit.

Win XP boots up, finds the hard-drive, says it's working fine. But then when I go into Disk Management (under Computer Management in Administrative Tools), it says the drive is Unallocated. I don't know what that means, but I have a ton of important documents (records, work, etc.) on this Hard-drive and I'm not going to format it or anything..

The old HD with all the data is partitioned, I don't know if that helps or makes the problem worse.

Things to point out
- The hard-drive with the data on it is partitioned (using Windows XP) into 3 NTFS partitions. I really would just like to access the one with all my school documents and records on it

- I took out the jumper on the old hard-drive to make it a Slave drive. Would that be causing the problem?
-- mrcodedude

[Bires]

Originally posted by MrCodeDude
Win XP boots up, finds the hard-drive, says it's working fine. But then when I go into Disk Management (under Computer Management in Administrative Tools), it says the drive is Unallocated. I don't know what that means, but I have a ton of important documents (records, work, etc.) on this Hard-drive and I'm not going to format it or anything..

-- mrcodedude

I'm skeptical about your ability to reocover your data. Hopefully, XP is just having problems readign your boot sector information, and its still there. If not...let's not think about that...

Your best bet is to find and dl a copy of Partition Magic. If your data is there, PM will allow you to convert it into a format that you can use. Ususally "unallocated" means your drive is blank...no file system. Good luck

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by Bires
Your best bet is to find and dl a copy of Partition Magic. If your data is there, PM will allow you to convert it into a format that you can use. Ususally "unallocated" means your drive is blank...no file system. Good luck
It says "Invalid Partition Table" when I try to boot up with the old hard-drive. So, I've done some searching on Google and what Google's results have basically said.

The data is still on the hard-drive, I just have no way of accessing it without tools. I found a program, Byte Back (http://www.datarecoverysoftware.com/byte.shtml), that claims, "ByteBack III now features fully automated file recovery for NTFS and FAT volumes along with auto-rebuild of Partition Tables and Master Boot Records." Now, assuming the data is still on the disk, I should be able to retrieve it once this proggie is done.
-- mrcodedude

[i6s1]

I'm very curious, could you let us know how it works out?

Thanks

[Jeffbx]

There are a bunch of tools you can try to recover the data with - I've had good luck with Winternal's DiskCommander

http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp

Most tools such as this will let you download a demo so you can see if it will recover the data before you buy it. They limit the demo to view only (no recovery), or only allow you to recover files 20k and smaller, etc.

My one piece of advice - until you have a tool that you can use to recover the data, DO NOT MAKE *ANY* CHANGES TO THE DISK!!

Any changes you make can reduce the chance of a recovery. Do NOT touch the partitions, do not let Windows format it, don't try to write anything to it at all.

Good luck!