data backup drive not recognized!

[gyppo]

I haven't yet found a solution with Google so I'll post my question here.

I recently re-installed XP on my desktop computer. On this machine I have:

OS drive, 640GB
storage drive, 3TB WD green partitioned using the Paragon 3TB utility.

I backed up my important data (photos, videos) to this 3TB drive before doing my windows re-install. The drive was divided into 2 ~1400GB partitions.

After a fresh install, I can't use the 3TB drive. The Paragon utility tells me that the drive already has 4 partitions (???) and that it can't work with it. Under the "convert to GPT option, the drive is detected, but I understand if I convert it to GPT (which it already should be since I was using it with this very same piece of software before) I'll lose all my data.

Plan B, I bought a "toaster" (enclosure) to try to read the drive using my laptop running windows 7, hoping the GPT drive would be recognized by the newer OS without the 2TB limitation. Neither my laptop nor my wife's, both running windows 7, can read the drive. Disk management on both machines sees the drive as unpartitioned.

Using the toaster, Windows XP disk management sees the drive as "healthy, GPT protective partition, 2794GB". When I click properties for that drive, it says under volumes "partition style: MBR" and size is 2.8TB, if any of this helps.

Is it time to start looking at recovery tools? I have used REcuva before but many of the files recovered couldn't be opened, and all the directories are screwed. I'd rather not lose the directory structure (dates etc).
Any ideas?

Thanks for your time!
Benoit

 

[Paul NZ]

You need a system that supports UEFI so it can read most or all of that hdd

Probably not a good idea putting it on an XP system, since it doesnt support GPT

Whats the motherboard?

 

[gyppo]

You need a system that supports UEFI so it can read most or all of that hdd

Probably not a good idea putting it on an XP system, since it doesnt support GPT

Whats the motherboard?

Hi Paul,

The HDD was formatted and used in XP using Paragon software. The utility allows a drive over 2TB to be formatted using GPT. It worked before I re-installed Windows, so I thought it would work after a new install. The motherboard is an MSI G33M.

Like I said, even my windows 7 laptops won't read the drives, through a USB dock anyway. They are detected in disk management, but the two old partitions aren't.

 

[Paul NZ]

Yup you maybe able to format in GPT but since XP cant read most or all of it thats the prob

And 32 bit systems dont support UEFI you need 64 bit

 

[gyppo]

I finally found a way to recover my data - recovery software made by EaseUs managed to get all of it, including the directory structure and original file names. The free version allows you to scan the drive for files and save the results. I then bought the basic version and was able to get everything back.