What happened to my F drive

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......

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...

What *was* your F drive?
What changed between the time it was there and now?
What is the manufacturer and model of your computer?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

On 25 Feb 2010, lennox wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

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......

It's removable and is now in your pocket.

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

You should be concerned about your CD drive as well? It is normally a D
drive but it doesn't have to be. Perhaps your F drive was a CD drive and
now something has gone wrong in Upper and Lower filters. See if this
article is of any help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

hth

"lennox" wrote in message
...

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......




--
lennox

Maybe a dingo ate your F drive?

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......

]lennox wrote:[color=blue][i]
I had two separate hard drives C and F there was a reason why it was called F,but I don't remember .I had this for several years. Lately I have been having trouble booting up Internet explorer.. Sometimes it won't boot up at all....


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[/quote]

On 26 Feb 2010, "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

Maybe a dingo ate your F drive?

Starring Meryl Streep!