Partition Magic/HD partition puzzle

I have a strange problem with my HD's partition, at least according to Partition Magic. I have a 60GB HD partitioned into a 40GB primary and a 20GB secondary/logical. Both are in use successfully from XP.

Now the problem. While checking the Partition Magic 8.0 diskettes I just created, I noticed 2 issues the second being the strange one:

1) There are a couple of errors, "Bad file record signature." The 'Fix" button is grayed out. What are these and how can I fix them?

2) The 20GB logical partition shows as being unallocated. How is that possible when XP can access the data on it just fine? Assuming some stored HD configuration information glitch, is it safe to simply allocate it with PM and not have to format and restore the data? It does make me wonder how XP can recognize that there is a partition there to use.

TIA.

 

Thanks for the reply but I don't see how that relates to my problem?

 

gw1500se

Does your 'My Computer' show two drives? You should have a C: and a D:.

In PM, you should also show your two drives. One listed as Primary then one extended with a logical partition named D: If it says unallocated, it means it has not been formatted.

As far as XP using data from an unallocated space..I don't think it can do that. Maybe the data you think that is on the 20 Gig is actually on your 40 Gig?

 

I guess I was not clear enough. Yes, XP shows two drives. As I said in my original post both are working fine ( "C:" and "D: "). The problem is that PM only shows 1 allocated partition ( "C:" 40 GB primary). The space where the "D:" drive (20GB logical) is supposed to be, shows as unallocated under PM, which is clearly not correct.

Refering to my orignal question, can I simply allocate the partition with PM without destroying the data that is there?

How is this condition even possible? If the partition is not allocated, how can XP ever find it?

 

The thick plottens. It seems that this problem only occurs with the rescue diskettes. When I run PartitionMagic in XP, the partitioning shows up correctly.

Are there any Partition Magic experts out there that can help explain this anomoly?

 

Wow, wish I had a plottening thick.
You've isolated the problem to the rescue disks. I would try making another set. The rescue disks may be having trouble reading the MBR.
PM has done some strange things for me, but expert I am not.

Hope this helps.
Matt

 

Yeah, what Matt said.

I have the disks made and have checked them to see that they will work.

They are the way to use a slightly different looking PM when you can't boot into Windows. I use PM 6.0 so your 8.0 may be a little different.