Thanks for your time and help.
During a previous problem I re-installed XP Pro and by mistake deleted the 'partition 'E' which was my USB 40Gb backup HDD.
I went into Disk Manager and followed the instructions at: http://kbserver.nerg...les/n101625.asp
At step '8' I selected 'Do not format this partition' and ensured that in step '9' the item File system read 'none'.
However after a restart drive 'J' now shows up on my PC under Computer Management, Disk Management as follows:
Top Menu Section:
Volume: (J)
Layout: Partition
Type: Basic
File system: [blank]
Status: Healthy (Active)
Capacity: 37.25 Gb
Free Space: 37.25 Gb
% Free: 100
Fault tolerance: No
Overhead: 0%
Lower Menu Section:
Disk 2: Basic - 37.25 Gb - Online - (J:) - 37.25Gb - Healthy (Active)
I cannot access the drive from Windows Explorer as each time I try to read it I get a message to 'format' the drive which I do not want to do.
Two programs: File Scavenger and Active@Partition Recovery search and find files on the disk, some of which I would like to recover.
Can anyone help with getting the disk working without formatting it to NTFS or FAT32?
With thanks,
KH