lennox wrote:
> I had two drives an F and a C drive. Now when I check my computer I only
> have a C drive ,what happened to my F drive......
>
First, it helps to know how many physical drives you actually have.
The things with the letters, like "C:" and "F:" are partitions,
or a portion of a hard drive. A single partition can span the size of
the entire drive, or a drive can be split into multiple partitions
of some size.
--------------
Single drive | C: | F: | single drive, two partitions
--------------
------
Two drives | C: | two separate drives with
------ one partition on each one.
------
| F: |
------
If you go to
Start: Settings: Control Panel: Administrative Tools: Computer Management
and run the Disk Management item, you'll get some kind of picture
of your hard drives and the partitions on them.
If you see what looks like a partition, and there isn't any information
displayed for it, the partition could be damaged and the file system
may no longer be mounting.
If you don't see a partition at all, and you only see "C:" plus
a bunch of empty space, then you're in a bit more trouble.
You really need someone with some knowledge about computers,
to help you out now. Perhaps, if you can describe what you see
in Disk Management, maybe someone can suggest how to find F:.
There are tools you can use, but you have to know a bit about how
disks work, to use a tool like this safely. This one, for example,
can scan a disk, find a lost partition, and build a partition table.
But then, you, as the operator of the program, have to use your
judgment, as to whether what this program comes up with, is correct
or not. And that isn't always an easy thing to determine. This isn't
a "magic bullet", but it is free. On one of my disks here, it found
a partition I removed some time ago, so in some sense, it can be
"too good" at what it does, for all usages. About 50% of the time,
I have to reject the new partition table this program comes up with,
due to issues I may have created myself.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
The thing is, when you work on a disk (expert or otherwise), there
is always a danger of erasing something or making a mistake you'll
later regret. The safest action, is to stop using a computer when
something like this happens, and find local help. A knowledgeable
friend, or a local computer shop. While there may be nice programs
around, that promise to find all your data, you have no way of knowing
what they're about to do.
One thing I advocate, is copying the affected disk, sector by sector,
to a backup disk. That backup disk, is then your copy for safekeeping.
Then, if you make a mistake trying to recover F:, you have something
to fall back on. I learned this the hard way, when I used a tool
written at work, to recover data, and instead, it erased the data.
I've been skeptical of utility writers and their skills, ever since
Backups are your friend, no matter when you decide to do them.
And when a partition is fried, a sector by sector backup is the kind
you want to make, of the entire disk, so you have a copy of the
(damaged) goods.
Paul
