Help! NTFS disk drive now listed as RAW after attempted dual boot partition

J

justsimplyme

Member
A newbie who needs help, very badly...

Computer: Compaq SR2150NX (Vista preinstalled, no disks) with 2nd HD installed

My Goal: wanted to be able dual boot vista with XP (vista is too slow for this computer)

PROBLEM: Cannot boot to windows because my NTFS drive with OS Vista is now listed as RAW, so it can't find the OS!


WHAT HAPPENED:

*Created Windows Vista Recovery Disc (Download) and downloaded and ran Easy BCD

*Created windows partition (right clicked unallocated space (17.06GB), followed "new wizard" and accepted defaults, inserted volume label (XP), and selected Quick Format.

:angry:At this point my son sat down, downloaded and ran HaloTrialSetup.exe, clicked some more, and the computer restarted...

*Black screen saying Which OS Vista or XP? **I did Not yet start any type of XP installation. Error: No OS found, so it can't boot.

*DISKPART - My NTFS disk drive is now listed as RAW

This is what I did

*list volume
select vol. 4 (XP) 17GB
delete

*Attempted to repair using System Recovery Options, states no OS, if OS not listed click load drivers, cannot repair automatically, lists problem details(Problem Signatures)

**I boot using the CD "Windows Vista Recovery Disc" from your site, click Repair Vista, System Recovery Options, states no OS (exactly as above)lists problem details (**there are a few different Problem Signatures than before)

* I checked forums for any solutions for a similar problem, thought I was getting close, by to no avail

FYI, at DISKPART list disk

Disk 0 Online 75GB 1528KB
1 Online 112GB 17GB
2 NoMedia 0B 0B

DISKPART list volume

0 D NTFS Partition 75GB Healthy (my 2nd HD)
1 F UDF DVD 120MB Healthy
2 C RAW Partition 89GB Healthy
3 E NTFS Partition 5899MB Healthy (Label: Recovery)
4 G Removable 0 B No Media


I have spent hours looking for any info, but have come up empty. So if you can help, I'd be greatfully indebted.

Again, this is my first post to any type of forum, so I apologize in advance if this is not "in forum format".

:|Terri
 
Hi Terri,

I'm not sure it was a good idea to run those DiskPart commands... :frowning:

At any rate, do these two:

1) Use GParted to change the type from RAW to NTFS/HPFS and see if that fixes the problem. Failing that:
2) Grab yourself a copy of testdisk from CG security and see if it can find and recover your partition.

Oh, and welcome to NST :smile:
 
Thanks for the quick response. I'll try those.

BTW, the NTFS disk was changed to RAW immediately after the restart. I never got the chance to start the XP install. The XP partition of 17GB was listed on Volume 4. I had created that partition just prior to restart, so there was nothing on it. That was what I removed after realizing that RAW meant unformatted.

Does this make sense? Thanks again for your help.
 
A corrupt MBR or Partition Table can do that.... give TestDisk a try.

Worse comes to worst, get yourself a copy of Acronis Disk Director and use its partition recovery feature.
 
This also happens if you've encrypted that volume and you are booted into a different system in a multi-boot situation. It'll show strangely from the other boots.

Just FYI.
 
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