Windows Vista OS partition corrupted?

I have a 500gb hdd that is partitioned, 120gb (vista OS), and 380gb for backups, etc.
I installed Windows XP on a seperate 80gb hdd that works fine.
Now when I try and boot off my Vista drive, it goes past the BIOS and then goes to a black screen with a white blinking cursor in the top left hand side of the screen.
In Windows XP it only picks up my 380gb partition and now my 120gb (vista OS) partition.
In XP Disk Management, this is what I get, see below:


http://the-jack3l.deviantart.com/art/Fault-screenshot-109633968

Please can someone advise me on what I can do to recover some of the data on the partition. I cannot format it, as it contains invaluable data.

Thank you!
Jack3l

 

Did this problem happen after you install xp as a dual boot?
Or where both OS working good at one time in a dual boot configuration?

If it happen after you install xp, you might be able to get it to work again by removing the xp hard drive. XP doesn't recognize the vista hard drive as valid, due to the vista MBR. On a failed dual boot, you need to do some repairs to get it to work, but it is a fixable problem.
When you do a vista/xp dual boot, it is always recommended to install xp first than add vista later.

vista preinstalled than xp added later
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about88231.html
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about92429.html

If both OS where working good at one time, and the vista drive all of a sudden stop working, it could be caused by corrupt system files. A simple chkdsk c: /f can fix that.

As far as your data on the vista hard drive, it's all good. If you slave that drive onto another vista computer it should recognize it as a valid drive. worst case scenario you can use the free "testdisk" to recover all your data. But I think a simple repair of the vista bootloader with the vista installation dvd can get it fixed. I've encountered these "unallocated" partitons before numerous times, I've recovered all the data from them. Not only that but I've got them to boot again, it's not as bad as it looks.

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD

The only things you can't recover from is 1. "physical damage" to a hard drive and 2. a reformatted hard drive.(actually you can recover data from a formatted drive, but it takes longer.)

 

Hi!

Thanx for the suggestions!
I tried them, but because the partition is unallocated, it doesn't get displayed when I tried to rebuild the boot sector, so I don't have a Drive letter to work with (eg. C:\)
Nowhere can I access the drive or even see it, except in Disk Manage in XP.

Is there any other method I can try or maybe something you can correct me on?

Jack3l