Hi,

Open an elevated command prompt (start, type CMD, right click entry in the
program menu and choose 'run as administrator'), then run:

Diskpart

That will change the prompt, then run:

List Volume

Post back with the results (use edit/mark to drag over the results, then
edit/copy to paste into a response).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"stephen" <stephen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6478DAE5-2CCA-4C8F-80BE-A9EED2FA1222@microsoft.com...
> Rick,
>
> The recovery is in a hidden partition, which is before the C partition. It
> is healthy. C (boot) is also healthy. D was empty.
> do you know how to reformat using the hidden partition?
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> First, I do hope you realize that D: was likely your recovery volume that
>> would allow you to reinstall the operating system should something go
>> drastically wrong. If you've deleted the volume, then you should contact
>> the
>> manufacturer (Acer) about obtaining recovery media to guard against
>> disaster. They may charge a nominal fee for this, but the alternative
>> would
>> be to go out and purchase a new copy of Vista.
>>
>> As to what you've done, I would use a tool like mbrwork
>> (terabyteunlimited)
>> to get a better look at what's going on.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "stephen" <stephen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:8CE6ED09-0C2E-401B-A425-BF8ED6396EB3@microsoft.com...
>> >I have an Acer aspire 3680 with Vista Home Basic pre-installed.
>> > There are two partitions C and D. I was playing with the D and now it
>> > won't
>> > format at all.
>> > The space is unallocated and when I choose new simple volume it says
>> > "operation could not be completed because the disk management console
>> > is
>> > not
>> > up to date"
>> > When it starts formatting I get a popup that windows discovered new
>> > hardware
>> > unidentified device and it can never figure out what the device is.
>> >
>> > Please, help. Thank you.
>>
>>