HI i have two hard drives my master is/was running xp and my slave was running lunix ubuntu. i decided i didn't want to run lunix anymore and i formated the hard drive. when i did so and had to restart my master wouldn't work. i tried to use fixboot but it doesn't even see the drive. if i hook my xp/master as a slave under another computer it comes up and wants me to format it. i have very important stuff i need. can anyone help without loosing anything. i don't think the drive die cause i was using it just fine and when it restarted i was confused or something cause it didn't have the option to select the operatiing system.
thanks
Nick

Hi-- welcome to PCHF...
Does the drive appear in the listed hardware in the BIOS at boot ?

yes the hard drive is in the list. when in the command prompt it doesn't see the c drive. but i did the fix boot and it said it completed successfully. but it did it as FAT instead of NTFS. i never had the option either. now when i boot it asks for the first file windows looks for something like ndl. so i know it was NTFS. now i'm wondering if i really messed the drive up cause i need the info on it
nick

You should be able to "fixboot" again-- to NTFS-- I do not think it is possible to go "back" to FAT -- it is an older file system.

There is also the "rebuild" command-- see here:

Langa Letter: XP's Little-Known 'Rebuild' Command -- XP Management -- InformationWeek

will the rebuild command mess up any files that is on the hard drive. will it mess the the partition size or anything. right about now i'm about to go drop some money on a professional. i really can't mess up the info

It should not-- The only thing it should rebuild is the Master Boot files.
If you are leery-- you could do the old take the drive-- slave it to a known good XP install-- on a friend's (?) PC-- and copy the files you must save to CD-rom. This is where the "backup" admonition you alway hear comes into things...

There are all kind of links to many resources from that article-- scroll down... above all be patient read all you can.