How do I change my active partition?

Question

Help! I was trying to install Linux and I accidentally switched the active partition using Fdisk. Now everything is gone. What do I do?

Here's exactly what I did. I opened up Fdisk from DOS and I have 2 partitions, one of the partitions is 3 gigs and the other is 7 gigs. By accident (don't ask, I'm a klutz) I switched the active partition to the second one and now everything is screwed up. I'm absolutely desperate here! I had a lot of very important information on that drive.

Answer

This question was answered on June 8, 1999. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Usually Windows 95 comes with a start up disk. Put the disk in and boot up and start the computer with it. Then run fdisk from it and change the active partition back to original setting, which contains the start up program. If for some reason you do not have a start up disk then you will need to get one from a friend or a local computer store, however remember that the disk should have the bootstrap program as well as fdisk on it.

Author

Posted by Ken of Data Doctors on June 8, 1999