Question : Problem: partition errors..

hmm.. lets just start off with saying i am very frustrated right now..

I have 6 partitions on my Hd (500 gb), each set up for various reasons, ie music, local files, etc..

earlier today, i attempted to reinstall my windows xp copy.. (which is located on partition C).. So i figured the easiest way would be to format drive C, then boot the xp install disk during restart.. so i tried to format drive C via acronis disk director, but it said that the pc needed to be rebooted in order for that action to take place, which makes sense.. so i clicked okay, and it restarted, & formatted it.. so i threw in the xp disk, and to my surprise, the main install screen (after u read the terms of service and whatnot), only contained 2 partitions which were available to select to install xp on, partition "C" and "D".. so i thought to myself, hmm.. how can D be available?  It also stated on the side that each of those partitions belonged to the same hard drive (which they did,), and it also said they were the same size (which was obviously wrong, since my C was 30 gb, D was ~50). Also, it stated the sector ranges as identical, which really seemed fishy at this point.. so i went on to install xp, and it asked me to do a "quick ntfs" format before it could start.. so i did (selecting the first of the 2 identical options), and it went on fine and dandy.. then after that, the pc was supposed to restart and continue the installation, but instead, it stalled after the BIOS screen...  ithought to myself, hmm, thats odd.. so i restarted it again, and it froze after BIOS once again.. so i threw in the disk director CD to check out whats up with the partitions, and it only showed 2 partitions in my HD, both of which were inaccessible and contained wrong data (says 840 gb free for one partition, even though the HD is 500 gb capacity).. something is really strange here, but  i'm hoping that it's small enough that it can be fixed and i won't have to go through the route of data recovery, which will cost a fortune..  also, when i finally managed to boot up the pc with an emergency copy of xp, only 2 partitions besides C show up under my computer, and they do not contain and information on disk size, etc.. double clicking either one to open it will say "D:\ is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect"..

thanks for ur time!

Answer : Problem: partition errors..

i always wonder why people think using more partitions will do any good; imho, you only need 2 max for normal users : OS, and data.( personally, i prefer having only one - to avoid confusions)
the confusion can be caused by the fact that you have different  kinds of partitions : primary and extended  

You can make 3 Primary partitions and 1 extended partition, although the extended partition can then be split down into drives, but the answer you need here is 4.

>>  something is really strange here, but  i'm hoping that it's small enough that it can be fixed   <<   Data recovery (as suggested) is the first way to go here; you risk loosing all otherwise

a couple of links :
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm                  pc Inspector -free
      http://www.stellarinfo.com/                              Stellar
      http://www.runtime.org/                              GetDataBack
      http://www.ontrack.com/                              Ontrack
      http://www.recovermyfiles.com/                        RecoverMyFiles
http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/                        Easy Recovery