Explorer cant see a 2nd HDD

I use NTFS format on all drives, the system HDD c: & d: partition is fine; everthing works there as far as I can tell, bios detects the 2nd HDD in question, is listed in device manager, computer management lists the drive as system, active, healthy but with no drive lettter, only option listed available on a right click is format & windows explorer doesn't list it at all. Have checked drivers for this 2nd HDD, tried different cable master/slave & IDE positions. The drive contains photos, daughters university word files that she now needs (I should have checked first..damm... but I took her word for it) & some program files but no operating system. I need to recover information from it. It was a storage drive from an old computer that was upgraded.
System details as follows:

AMD 2600, Gigabyte GaVT7600 1394, 80gb Seagate SATA C:, partioned in half to a D: on NTFS file system, SATA drive is optioned as IDE drive in the bios, XP service pack 2 with updates, E: is 52x CD rom. The 2nd HDD in question is a Seagate 7200rpm 80gb ATA.

Can the data be accessed with XP or do I need 3rd party software to access it? If I do, can I get it without spending a truck load of money?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Does this second drive or has it ever had Linux on it?

 

Is the logical disk management services on?
control panel>administrative tools>services.

 

Kadavill - Checked logical disk manager & logical disk manager administrative services: they are set to auto in start up type & are running. Still no joy...

But I wouldn't have thought to check that either unless you suggested that -Ta!

Brownizs - No the disk has only ever had NTFS under XP on it.

 

In disk management>action>rescan disks
Also when right clicking on the new drive what options do you get?

 

Right click the disk gives all options greyed out except for format & help. Going disk management>action>rescan disks brings up an action window but it flashes through so quick I can't read it. However the end result is the disk is still not brought up as active with a drive letter. Disk management knows it is there but it can't do anything with it.

I was thinking maybe that Windows Explorer/Disk Management or some fundamental file(s) they rest on is either missing or corrupted. Is it possible to run an install of XP (SP2) CD from the desktop that will not destroy the current installation but will write/replace the OS files that are missing or corrupted, if that is what the root cause is? The only issue might be that my current install with updates is a later version than the CD. I can always fix that with re updating but the data & program files on the current c: & d: I can't afford to lose.

 

Sorry, correction to: right click on drive options avaialable; they are Delete Partition & Help. All other options are greyed out.

I can post quicker than I can read?

 

At a cmd.exe prompt:

Type: Diskpart
enter
Type: select disk 1 (assuming this is the second disk on your system. Check Disk Management to be sure)
Type: list partition
enter
Type: select partition 1
enter
Type: detail partition
enter


Tell us what the partition type is listed as. It will be a numerical value.

 

Hmmm. command prompt shows only 1 disk with two partitions, which is the C: & D:as primary, no other disks listed or able to be selected.

You live & learn...I put the drive into another computer (not mine) & that computer's XP found the drive, installed it & I was able to access its entire contents through that computer's explorer. The drive is listed as a logical drive of two partitions, just as it was originally formatted & used.

At least I can retrieve the docs on the drive through another computer now...

Reinstalled the drive back into the original computer, re checked the bios, it was there, booted up XP & back to square one, the drive is there in disk management but no drive letter, unable to be accessed & explorer can't see it.

(tHe sOunNd oF haIr puLLing foLLowed by aAn ahhhh sound... as the meds kick in...)

 

Now that you have got the data recovered,do you want to try formating it?
Also in dos if you try accesing drives e: and f:,what happens?

 

Fancy that, back at the command prompt, the other CD drive E: is not there either.

I must not be chanting the spells the right way, maybe an Australian accent throws them off...

Ok, back to computer management, right clicked the drive, chose "delete partition", it is the only command not greyed out & message came up that all info would be lost. Drive went to "black" after selection, selected format, chose NTFS & logical drive then hey presto! drive is there now as an F: after the CD drive, E:

So I've got the drive now but the mystery remains...unsolved in the "X"p Files!

I really should stick to driving trucks:

"sicks munce ergo I koodnt spel truk driva, now I is wun!"