Accessing "Lost Volumes"

[Highstaker]

Hello everyone. There is a problem with my Sony VAIO PCG-GRX670. My windows has crashed and I don't see any way to revive it without formatting.

I have a 40 GB HDD, it is initially split into 18 and 22 GB (C: and D: ).
The problem is that, whenever I try to access the HDD, whether I do it from Windows XP Live CD, Ubuntu Live CD or some utilities (like Norton Commander - like programs and Partition editors), it is either not recognized whatsoever, or recognized as a whole unpartitioned 40 GB drive, and I see only the contents of C:. They say that the amount of occupied space is about 37 GB, which is true if you sum the amount of occupied space on C: and D:. But, they dont recognize it as a split disk, and (the main part) I cannot access the data I have on D: .
When I access the 40 GB file system on Ubuntu and run "fdisk -l", it gives:

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x21d565dd

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4864 39070048+ 44 Unknown


The question is, is there any way to access the D: from Ubuntu, so I could backup my data from it onto a USB Hard disk?

Thanks in advance.

[Irithori]

Sounds like that harddisc is damaged.

Depending on how important your data is, you should:
a) contact a professional rescue service
b) create a 1:1 image of that disc with the linux tool "dd" and perform all file restore operations on that image.
The reason is not to inflict further damage on the disc by accessing it.

Good tools for recovery:
TestDisk - CGSecurity
PhotoRec - CGSecurity

[Highstaker]

I'm not sure about the HDD having been damaged, cause I checked it with Disk Commander, chose the option to find lost volumes and it gave me both C: and D: . The only thing that prevented me from backing up the data was the lack of usb support.

BTW, having backed up with dd, can I extract those files on a different device (e.g. external usb hard disk) afterwards?

[Irithori]

The purpose of dd in this case is to create a 100% copy (imagefile) of your harddisk.

You can then experiment on that image file as you see fit, without the danger of further damaging the disk.
Which I believe has already happened as you describe:
- sudden crash in windows, no disk afterwards
- fdisk showing *one* partition and of unknown type

But ok, if that Disk Commander gives you access, then the fastest way might be to
- disassemble your laptop
- attach the disk to another computer with enough space left for the recovering process
- and run Disk Commaner there

[Highstaker]

The thing is that I've been experimenting with Ubuntu Live on VAIO even before I had problems with Windows. It gave me the same thing in Ubuntu (no access to D: and "unknown" type), although everything worked fine with Windows.

About crashing, there was a sticky situation, when I had to tamper with the Windows boot files, probably I've messed them up. And the boot/recovery CD has been lost by the previous owner a long time ago. Now the Windows shows me the logo and running blue sqares, after that I see a blue screen of death for about half a second, then notebook restarts. But that's not the point, I simply want to save my data, format the HDD and install the system again.

ps. this Windows has been used for about 5 year without reinstallation, so that is another reason for me to reinstall the system