mbr

I installed Vista over XP on a 300 GB HD with 4 partitions (C, D, E, F) where C drive is the partition I installed the OS on. I formatted the C drive that XP was on through the Vista setup disk and setup went fine. I needed to regain the functionality of my peripheral devices, and since most manufacturers replied they would not be writing any vista drivers until it is no longer a 'beta' I had to go back to XP.
Seemed easy enough, just as I installed Vista over XP using the setup disc, I put in the XP setup disc to overwrite Vista. Problem was that in XP setup it only shows the hard drive as one partition (C:). I aborted that setup using the 'cancel' feature fearing a format would in fact format the entire hard drive and I don't want to lose the data on the othe partitions. Now Vista will not boot. I have not attempted to use the recovery console on the XP setup disc, specifically fixmbr, yet. When I run the auto disc repair feature on the Vista setup disc, it says it is unable to repair it. I suspect the MBR has been corrupted from the XP setup disc being installed. Is there any way to fix the mbr so as either vista or xp will again recognize the partitions? At this point I would be happy if Vista would boot again so I could get some of the data back off the other partitions.

I would try to boot with a windows boot cd if you have one and attempt to copy your data files to a CD or other removeable device. Did you have your data on a separate partition? If it is on a separate partition, you could even use an imaging program to create an image of your data partition to reinstall after you get WinXP back and running.
It is also possible, from what you say, that your Vista install reformatted your drive so you only have one partition, now. Did you install from a boot of the CD? I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know what options you were given. It is ALWAYS important to back up your data before doing anything with a new os, especially a beta! Good luck. I hope your data partitions are still there. (I use Terybyte's Image for DOS to do my imaging. You could search for it and give it a try, though you'll need another computer to make the boot floppy or CD. If you still have the other partitions on your drive, it will find them and give you a chance to image them to CD's or a USB hard drive.)
"Jeramie" wrote:

I installed Vista over XP on a 300 GB HD with 4 partitions (C, D, E, F) where C drive is the partition I installed the OS on. I formatted the C drive that XP was on through the Vista setup disk and setup went fine. I needed to regain the functionality of my peripheral devices, and since most manufacturers replied they would not be writing any vista drivers until it is no longer a 'beta' I had to go back to XP.
Seemed easy enough, just as I installed Vista over XP using the setup disc, I put in the XP setup disc to overwrite Vista. Problem was that in XP setup it only shows the hard drive as one partition (C:). I aborted that setup using the 'cancel' feature fearing a format would in fact format the entire hard drive and I don't want to lose the data on the othe partitions. Now Vista will not boot. I have not attempted to use the recovery console on the XP setup disc, specifically fixmbr, yet. When I run the auto disc repair feature on the Vista setup disc, it says it is unable to repair it. I suspect the MBR has been corrupted from the XP setup disc being installed. Is there any way to fix the mbr so as either vista or xp will again recognize the partitions? At this point I would be happy if Vista would boot again so I could get some of the data back off the other partitions.