> Ok so far, I've only recreated a primary partition and that doesn't > seem to work. I guess I'll try setting it as a logical partition and > see if it restores things back to normal. > > A quick question. If the partition was originally a primary partition, > and now I'm setting as a logical partition, would it screw up the data > beyond repair? > ehhmmm ... yes - you would screw up exactly one sector. i cannot tell you, if you will destroy important data. probably you'd shoot at the fat. if you are sure, that it was hda2 and not hda5, then it WAS a primary partition and you needn't to try to make it logical.
> As you can see, all I care about now is to get the data out of that > partition, and I'm a little nervous about trying things that could > further corrupt the data on it. > yes ... one last idea: take a program, which can show you a hex-dump of the hda2 block device (eg, mc or some disk editor) and search for a boot sector (first byte 0xeb, second something around 0x38-0x50, third 0x90, then a signature like "MSWIN4.1"). then re-create this partition, so that it begins exactly at this sector (will be at sector 1, possibly head 0). if everything else fails, then find a colleague, wich has deeper knowledge of fat32 internals (possibly the 15-year old son of some friend? :-)). the last resort is a professional recovery ... but it's ruinously expensive (i've heard) ... good luck! -- Hi! I'm a .signature virus! Copy me into your ~/.signature, please! -- Linux - the last service pack you'll ever need.