Used fixmbr and now my Windows partition is inaccessible

[cyris ng]

A recap to what happened.

 

I have a PC with 1 physical SATA HDD. I made 2 partitions that would accomodate Windows & OS X. OS X's boot manager handled what OS to load upon boot.

 

A few days ago I decided to reformat the partition in which OS X was installed using Windows XP's built-in formating utility. It worked and I was able to transfer all the data that needs trasfering from C: to my newly created D:. C: was where Windows was installed and D: was the former partion of OS X and now another NTFS partition

 

I then shut down for the night. The following day I booted my PC and an error msg came about. The message read 'Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot

device'. Then I realized that my PC still prioritized my former OS X partition and seeming I erased my OS X partition my PC wouldnt be able to find my OS X Loader. So I asked help on this forum.

 

It was suggested i use the 'fixmbr' command. I did so and followed this syntax as mentioned on Microsoft's website

 

fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0\Partition0

 

at the C:\Windows> prompt. I added Partition0 to make sure fixmbr focused on the partition where Windows was present.

 

Before Windows allowed me to proceed it did show me a warning similar to what was shown below.

 

If an invalid or nonstandard partition table signature is detected, you will be prompted whether you want to continue. If you are not having problems accessing your drives, you should not continue. Writing a new master boot record to your system partition could damage your partition tables and cause your partitions to become inaccessible.

 

Being naively trusting I ignored the warning and thought it was placed there to scare away newbies. I was wrong and now C:\> is unreadable. Window's Disk Management says it is healthy but isnt formated.

 

Before anyone jumps in and starts claiming C:\> is OS X think of this first.

 

C:\ is where I installed Windows and is now inaccessible

D:\ is where OS X used to be installed but after I used XP's formating utility it became another NTFS partition.

 

Now my new question is. Is there a way to gain access to my now inaccessible C: partition? The least I am hoping for is a way to recover my data. The most I could wish for is my not having to reinstall, all my apps and retweak everything to my specifications.

[thrunner]

Now my new question is. Is there a way to gain access to my now inaccessible C: partition? The least I am hoping for is a way to recover my data. The most I could wish for is my not having to reinstall, all my apps and retweak everything to my specifications.

After reading your posts again, I think you need to use a partition program such as Acronis or Partition magic to unhide the C: partition. Somehow, it might have been set inactive and/or hidden. There are other free utilities out there that can do the same.