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A hard disk can be divided into at most four primary partitions, one of which can be an extended partition. The extended partition can be further subdivided into multiple logical drives. The following reading describes an issue when you can lose an NTFS formatted logical drive in a dual-boot system using Windows XP. While such problems, you should make sure to have a valid data backup to restore it. But if it is unavailable for any reason, you need to use a powerful Windows Partition Recovery utility.

Consider the following scenario:

You configure to dual-boot between Windows 98 or 95 and Windows XP
One of the primary partitions is FAT formatted
You have two or more logical drives in an extended partition of Windows XP
An NTFS logical drive exists before the FAT logical drive
You use Fdisk to delete the FAT logical drive (occurring after NTFS logical drive), but can see only FAT logical drive labeled with drive letter of NTFS drive. You delete the FAT drive
You restart Windows XP, but the NTFS drive is no longer accessible in Logical Disk Manager

Cause

Such issues are observed because NTFS logical drive is not recognized by Fdisk in an extended partition. So, if an NTFS logical drives comes before FAT drive, it deletes the NTFS drive instead when you try to delete the FAT drive, for which you might not have complete backup.

Solution

To prevent such events from occurring, you should use Windows Logical Disk Manager to change logical drives' information. It is recommended not to use Fdisk when dual-boot configuration between Windows 98 or 95 and Windows XP is being used.

After you accidentally delete the NTFS partition, its entire data is lost. To restore it, you should check the availability and status of backup. If it exists in valid form, you need to apply it. Alternatively, you can use data recovery software products to recover it.

Windows Partition Recovery utilities are exclusively designed tools with powerful technology and interactive design that provide complete recovery of lost, deleted, damaged or missing Windows partitions.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a reliable and globally known tool to recover lost and missing data. The tool uses advanced scanning algorithms, while adhering to data security. It is a comprehensive windows data recovery application that supports Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It provides powerful features, which include RAW File Recovery, Drive Status, Disk Cloning etc.