"convert" vanishes drive ! HELP

I have been running two hdds.

1) XP pro on C, 40 GB seagate barracuda IDE, NTFS and

2) Drive E, 40 GB seagate barracuda also, IDE, FAT32 for data storage.

Abit KT7A motherboard, 1GB Ram.

All has been running well for two years.

I finally decided to "convert" the second drive to NTFS so as to have a
unifrom setup with all the "advantages" that would bring.

I therefore issued the "convert" command in the terminal window, and as
it was not able to close all handles, the system decided that I needed
to reboot at which time the conversion (verbose) to NTFS would take
place. There was about 14 GB of free space and I had defragmented the
day before.

On rebooting the "conversion" took place, and I saw the lists of files
flash by. The sytem then continued to boot into XP, but...the converted
disc is now not visible in "my computer", although it is shown as
existing in device manager, hardware, and as functioning normally.

I uninstalled it via device manager and rebooted. The system detected it
and re-installed and said that it's software had been installed but a
further reboot might be needed before it would work properly.

After another reboot, the drive is still not shown in "my computer",
although it is once again in the hardware, device manager functioning
normally.

Partion Magic shows it as existing as "type 17" with no free space, and
there appears to be no way to get back all the extensive data including
program installation exe's archived there.

What should I do now ?

Does convert always fail in this miserable way ?

What has it done with the MFT which was on the FAT32 drive ? Can it be
recovered ? What program would I need ?

I am thinking that I should junk XP Pro and go to SuSe Linux, which
doesn't seem to be so unreliable-I have it on another machine and it
handles file systems flawlessly.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Tom

Convert has always worked properly on the systems I have
converted, but that is less than a half dozen. But before
you give up, right click My Computer and select Manage.
Then open the Storage/Disk Management function. Assign a
drive letter to the drive.


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But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
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"Tom Goodman" wrote in message
...
|I have been running two hdds.
|
| 1) XP pro on C, 40 GB seagate barracuda IDE, NTFS and
|
| 2) Drive E, 40 GB seagate barracuda also, IDE, FAT32 for
data storage.
|
| Abit KT7A motherboard, 1GB Ram.
|
| All has been running well for two years.
|
| I finally decided to "convert" the second drive to NTFS so
as to have a
| unifrom setup with all the "advantages" that would bring.
|
| I therefore issued the "convert" command in the terminal
window, and as
| it was not able to close all handles, the system decided
that I needed
| to reboot at which time the conversion (verbose) to NTFS
would take
| place. There was about 14 GB of free space and I had
defragmented the
| day before.
|
| On rebooting the "conversion" took place, and I saw the
lists of files
| flash by. The sytem then continued to boot into XP,
but...the converted
| disc is now not visible in "my computer", although it is
shown as
| existing in device manager, hardware, and as functioning
normally.
|
| I uninstalled it via device manager and rebooted. The
system detected it
| and re-installed and said that it's software had been
installed but a
| further reboot might be needed before it would work
properly.
|
| After another reboot, the drive is still not shown in "my
computer",
| although it is once again in the hardware, device manager
functioning
| normally.
|
| Partion Magic shows it as existing as "type 17" with no
free space, and
| there appears to be no way to get back all the extensive
data including
| program installation exe's archived there.
|
| What should I do now ?
|
| Does convert always fail in this miserable way ?
|
| What has it done with the MFT which was on the FAT32 drive
? Can it be
| recovered ? What program would I need ?
|
| I am thinking that I should junk XP Pro and go to SuSe
Linux, which
| doesn't seem to be so unreliable-I have it on another
machine and it
| handles file systems flawlessly.
|
| Any help would be much appreciated.
|
| Tom

I have always found covert to be totally reliable.
Could the drive letter have changed? Do you use Power Toys (or any
equivalent system utility) to hide unused drive letters? If so unhide them.

I hope you have good backups...



"Tom Goodman" wrote in message
...
I have been running two hdds.

1) XP pro on C, 40 GB seagate barracuda IDE, NTFS and

2) Drive E, 40 GB seagate barracuda also, IDE, FAT32 for data storage.

Abit KT7A motherboard, 1GB Ram.

All has been running well for two years.

I finally decided to "convert" the second drive to NTFS so as to have a
unifrom setup with all the "advantages" that would bring.

I therefore issued the "convert" command in the terminal window, and as
it was not able to close all handles, the system decided that I needed
to reboot at which time the conversion (verbose) to NTFS would take
place. There was about 14 GB of free space and I had defragmented the
day before.

On rebooting the "conversion" took place, and I saw the lists of files
flash by. The sytem then continued to boot into XP, but...the converted
disc is now not visible in "my computer", although it is shown as
existing in device manager, hardware, and as functioning normally.

I uninstalled it via device manager and rebooted. The system detected it
and re-installed and said that it's software had been installed but a
further reboot might be needed before it would work properly.

After another reboot, the drive is still not shown in "my computer",
although it is once again in the hardware, device manager functioning
normally.

Partion Magic shows it as existing as "type 17" with no free space, and
there appears to be no way to get back all the extensive data including
program installation exe's archived there.

What should I do now ?

Does convert always fail in this miserable way ?

What has it done with the MFT which was on the FAT32 drive ? Can it be
recovered ? What program would I need ?

I am thinking that I should junk XP Pro and go to SuSe Linux, which
doesn't seem to be so unreliable-I have it on another machine and it
handles file systems flawlessly.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Tom