Windows Partition Disappeared

[SAeLac]

Hello,

Short Story, After a restart of my computer my windows partition disappeared. With the following error message: “hal.dll” lack or damaged.
I thought that it was about a problem of boot.ini,apparently it is more serious because I do not see even any more the partition since Linux. While launching the disc of Windows, the partition did not completely disappear because it is till there,the filesystem is of type “[Unknown]” (instead of NTFS). Please help me!

[newtech]

A similar thing happened to me once but I was able to get most of my files back by installing linux mandrake on unused space on my first hard drive. Once installed, I was able to browse the missing partition and move the most needed files to the first windows drive. As D:\ is saying 137Gb used, it can see *something* therefore the linux trick could work for you.

[Expertz]

try recovery expert from acronis, i recently deleted partition by accident from the disk management, and this utility saved my precious data.

And also GetDataBack works great and I think you will be pleased by the results.

[nitesh mehta]

This is most likely due to an incorrect or bad HAL file (they are a little difficult to troubleshoot). It also can be attributed to a badly written boot.ini file.
The hal.dll is not directly that file. The HAL in win NT-based OS works with your hardware devices. It can assign IRQ addresses and memory allocations. You might recognize it in the device manager under the computer. It will indicate whether the PC is a Standard, ACPI, Multi processor, etc. If this is changed, then you might have a real problem on your hands. It most likely will result in a reinstall of the OS. This could be a problem considering you cannot install W2K after XP.

I would start with the HAL possibility. To read a bit more about Windows HAL, check out microsoft's KBA Q237556. You will find this on the website: support.microsoft.com. This will also give you the correct HAL file names for your specific PC and how to manually extract and install these files. You most likely have a single processor ACPI computer. This is HAL file: halacpi.dll. Page three of the article will give you step by step instructions on how to replace the file. Keep in mind that the standard PC Hal should work as well, but you will loose the advanced power options (you do gain the ability to move IRQ addresses in the BIOS!!!).

If you followed the instructions to the HAL issue and still have problems, you may want to look at your Boot.ini file. Make sure that it is correctly set up. Also, where does your MBR point? When you boot, which partition (XP or 2K) does the computer grab the Boot.ini file? You may need to write a new MBR or Boot.ini file for Windows 2k. Check out Microsoft's KBA Q289022 for more information about editing a boot.ini file.

Have you done a Windows repair? This might actually cause more problems then help. Also, if you have done this, then this might lead to the problem you are having.

I hope this helps.