Hello World, I have a dual boot computing with Win98 on C: and WinXP on D: By mistake, when I booted with WinXP, I deleted all the files from C: (excluding Boot.ini). When I rebooted my machine it displayed that my NTLDR is missing. I then rebooted my machine with Win98 boitable. This time it showed the same message. Moreover, it also showed a message that it cannot determine the C drive's file system, i.e. it failed to determine whether my C: is FAT or FAT32 partitioned. Also, it refused to identify my D:, in which I have 10GB of important data. Please somebody help me to recover my D:. Do tell me what should I do to reinstall OS, with the data on D: intact.

The first thing I would do is put the hard drive in the machine you are using right now and back up the important data on it. Second, Did you want to get rid of the 98/XP dual boot is that why you erased C:? If you wanted to keep 98, reinstall it on C: then do a repair install of xp with the XP cd. Don't pick the 1st repair option but pick to install then the repair option. If you don't want 98 anymore install XP on the first partition after install you can move files to c: and format d: if you want and then have d: for back up partition or to put person files (pictures mp3s and stuff)on.

Hi domass I deleted all the files from c: so that i could format the c: and reinstall Win98. The main problem with me is that, the machine is refusing to detect any d:. It shows illogical dirve error. I am worried because my data in D: may be gone. Please help me how can i reinstall win98 or winXP without deletinig all the data that was present in D: before i deleted the NTLDR

Hey man, si your drive D: NTFS, then I say get a bootdisk, which you can get here. Get Win9x bootdisk, so you can use fdisk and delete drive C:. Format it (e.g. A:\>Format C: /s /c /v:(drive label)) Or If you have a friend that has a computer, use partition magic to repartition your drive C: and D:. If he does not have partition magic, get it here. Expert™

The main problem with me is that, the machine is refusing to detect any d:. When you say "the machine" do you mean the bios, or when you put in the 98 bootdisk or have you already installed 98 on the c: drive again? If you are trying to get to the d: prompt with the 98 bootdisk, I assume it will not see d: because d: is formatted NTFS. If you have a dual boot and the XP partition is NTFS, 98 will not see it either. Did you try to put the drive in another XP or 2000 machine and see if that will see it? To back up your important stuff.

You 'had' a dual-boot '98/XP; you deleted the all files from c: (presumably where '98 was installed) - apart from the boot.ini. Now you cannot boot (or otherwise access) XP. Think about it for a moment. When you had a dual-boot the XP boot/start-up files were in the Primary partition alongside the '98 OS itself. XP provided the boot-loader and the boot-menu – in effect it was the boot-manager - for the dual-boot. You deleted all files that were in c: (except the boot.ini from XP). That means you also deleted the XP boot/start-up files... (ntldr/ntdetect.com) - thus no boot to XP... It sounds as though you then re-installed '98 (to c: ) and can boot to ‘98 OK; but you cannot see/access XP. Presumably XP = ntfs? If so then that's why neither '98 itself nor Fdisk will see the d: drive/partition. '98/Fdisk cannot see/access ntfs partitions. Also when you re-installed ’98 the setup routine would have overwritten the mbr (if it still was the XP version at time of ’98 setup) on the c: partition with ‘98/dos version - thus again XP would not boot (even if all its boot/start-up files were still there). As long as you did not do anything to that d: partition (i.e. you did not run Fdisk and delete the ntfs partition it will be still be there. Fdisk identifies ntfs as a non-DOS partition.) To recover access to d: partition and restore the dual-boot there are various approaches. You have to both restore XP boot-loader etc., ‘and’ create a bootsect.dos which allows ’98 to boot via the XP boot-loader. This latter file can be manually created but I suggest it’s easier/simpler to allow XP setup to do it for you during the process of regaining access to XP. Presuming ’98 is again on the c: partition: Boot with the XP CD or the 6 XP floppies and start a fresh installation of XP as: c:\temp\winnt-t You can either (a:) allow it to complete and thus re-establish a dual-boot, and then tweak the newly created boot.ini (in c: ) to recover the original XP boot; or (b:) cancel it at first reboot and tweak the entry in the newly created boot.ini (in c: ) to allow access/boot to the version on d: . At this point regardless of which option you choose next – XP setup will have already recreated the missing bootsect.dos for you; thus you can (should be able to) boot to '98 via the XP boot-menu options.. (a) Presuming you allow c:\temp\winnt-t to complete installation (and do not install any SP or apps/utils, as this temp version will not be there very long...): If you still have the original boot.ini on the c: partition then that boot.ini will automatically be update to include both the ARC c:\temp\winnt-t version - and the ARC path statement to the version on d: . If it does still exist and the path to d: version still exists, just manually boot to d: version (it will have the entry partition(2) in its ARC path/statement). Then set it as default OS to boot (control-panel\system-folder\advance-tab\start-up/recovery). Once able to boot both to '98 (on c: )/XP (on d: ) just locate/delete the c:\temp\winni-t folder. If no original boot.ini still on the c: partition then you have to tweak the 'newly' created boot.ini entry for XP to point to d: installation. You change (i.e. edit) the (new) XP ARC path entry/entries for partition(1) to read partition(2) (and save changes); then reboot and you should be able to boot OK to d : version. (Use Notepad/Wordpad to edit the boot.ini - or the edit option in the same place that you set the default OS to boot.) Then once able to boot to ‘98/XP OK simply locate/delete the c:\temp\winnt-t folder from the drive. (b) If you cancel/abort the c:\temp\winnt-t installation at first reboot and tweak/edit the boot.ini to gain access again to XP on d: you will probably find that the entry for that cancelled version will not be a so recognisable (when compared to a standard XP installation) – and thus a little not quite so clear to edit… Allowing the c:\temp\winnt-t version to complete is probably the easier route rather than tweaking/editing the rather confusing boot.ini entry for the c:\temp version when it’s not a completed installation. Once the dual-boot is re-established, locate/delete any folders/files that start with the $ symbol. These are temp items used during XP setup and normally deleted upon completion; you (may) have to do it manually this time. Finally, once is OK again with the dual-boot, empty both ‘98/XP recycle-bins and defrag both drives/partitions – to tidy up the scene. Job done.