helpppppp! hard drive problem

[Kernel32]

hi, ok i was out at university, and when i came home i found that my secondary hard drive (D:) had disappeared. i checked disk manager and it says its online etc.. just unallocated, now i cant access it becoz of that. i really need to get some of the stuff from it like university work that needs to be handed in next week so i'm really trying to avoid formatting it. anyway, this is what my disk management looks like...

http://img13.photobucket.com/albums/v39/Kernel32/diskmanagement.jpg

this has happened before and it came back after i rebooted and it did the "checking drives for consistency" thing at startup.. or something like that, cant really remember now.

i've uninstalled/reinstalled drivers.. i've tried system restore but it says i cant reverse any changes on D.. i dont know what else to do, any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers in advance

[Herr.Wenz]

What kind of hard drive do you have? Is it western digitial. I know for sure that WD has a lot of tools on their websights that can fix disk errors. Give that a shot

Another suggestion is try system restore or if you have Norton Ghost you and made a ghost image. Both can bring back your system to the original date and time. T

Thats all I can think of besides formatting. Best of luck and hope you will find your solution

[artsonic]

Right, go into Disk management, right click on Disk 1 and then select "Change Drive Letter and Path" and then add. Now choose what letter you want.

This is what I did when I had the same problem!

[Kernel32]

its aN 80GB maxtor 6Y080P0, i've tried system restore.. and it wont even let me change the drive letter/path anymore... i think reformatting may be my only option.

[Herr.Wenz]

why dont you try going on the maxtor websight and see if they have tools too. I had a maxtore before too and the tech support for the company was pretty decent so you can also try that

[mr.jip]

i was talking to some mu hoys i know and they recommend that you shut down your computer, and then throw it in the bin..

[Krell]

Just use the Max Blast Diag tools from their website, make a floppy, then run the diagnostics, and do a Low Level Format.

If you dont get error codes from the drive with that, then after you Low Level Format, use the Disk Management in W2000 or XP to make a New Partition, Primary, and format NTFS.

I could send you on goose chases using Partition Magic 8 in hopes of saving your data etc, but trust me, this is the way to get on with your life.

If the Diag tools DOES give you an error code, such as a SMART failure then be sure to write it down!!! Then cal the Tech Support, that will get you started on getting an RMA # to have the drive replaced.

.