Old system Slave NTFS HDD 120GB Samsung Spin Point 8MB cache, SP1213N.
New system tried install Slave disk was not recognised, I now know why it wasn't recognised, cos it was a dynamic disk, and I only had pro on my old comp, I was too poor so I only got home for this New system.
Anyway the problem is this, I've got about 80gb of personal photos and movies, ill cry like a new born baby if I lost those. Okay so what I did was this, at the time of the mistake I didn't know about home wouldn't work with the disk. The New system would recongise the drive and knew it was there but I could not activate it as it was dynamic and home only used basic. So I tried a various thing to no avail, until I stuck it in 32gb jumper mode, that was my mistake, the HDD is seen by both systems, it has one primary partition 31.50gb, and a unallocated space 80gb odd. However I cant use the HDD until I format, the partitions, which im not going to do. So I've been told that it is the operating system that has set the partitions.

Now how do i fix this?

1. Disk Management in WinXP console and then highlight both partitions on the Slave HDD and convert to dynamic disk will this work?
2. Is there a magic jumper setting to get it back?
3. Get a HDD recovery tool or something along those lines, If so you guys are the experts in this area and I am open to your suggestions but i want some nice detailed step by step insturctions, practically i want you to hold my hand cos im excreting breeze blocks (cinder blocks) at the moment cos if i lose this information as said im going to cry a river.

As Always Thanks In Advance Black Jack

Well as a last resort find some data recovery specialist. Try the hd recovery tool first if you can find one that will work.

Did you partion the thing to get it to 32gb mode or something, or is that a bios setting? As long as you dont partion the drive then the the FAT (dont know what itis called for NTFS, but it is on every partioned hd) table that contains the map of the data on the drive should be fine. As long as that is there then you should be able to set the thing back to the way it was. I dont know why xp wouldnt recognize the disk. Just slave it and start it up and go directly into setup. As long as the drive is detedted here, then save changes and exit and then it will reboot. Then windows should find the drive.

The drive was automatically partioned by XP, to a 32gb primary partition and 80gb was left unallocated. Windows could find the drive and it was always in the bios and device manager but disk management would not allow me to activate it cos it was a dynamic drive. Currently I dont think the drive even has a file structure. So im kind of scared to do anything that I will lose all my pictures etc.

Could you advise me only any particular tool?

Well if the drive was partioined then your data will still be there, but you just will not be able to get to it. There are some hd recovery utilities that might work. Just dont put any data on the drive and your other data should be fine. Your best bet would be to get a hold of a professionial data reovery specialist and see what they recomend.

I think that i recomended this hd recovery tool to someone else, but it has been a while. It should allow you to get your data back, just read the insturctions first.

Hi, above mentioned information are very useful for us. You can also try http://www.diskemergency.com it’s one of the best data recovery service provider among the all. It has many ways to recover our data from any disk. Hope this will work out for you. All the best!

3+ year bump!!!!  Please be careful of the date of the posts before yours!