Hard disk partition problems under XP

> Hi, I have bought some weeks ago a new PC with XP Professional. I added it
> my
> old hard disk, which had 3 partitions. As I not longer needed them, I
> copied
> all the information in the new hard disk, and in the older one I
> eliminated
> the partitions, created a single one and formated. And put back on it the
> information (only data, not a bootable partition or something like that).
> Yesterday, three weeks later, I installed the broadband connection (first
> time I connected this PC to the internet), the antivirus and all the
> updates
> that Windows Update indicated.
> Today, I was surprised seeing the old hard disk in one of the intermediate
> states that existed during the partitions modification: three partitions
> (more exactly, two primary plus free space) and no information. My
> questions:
> 1) how is it that possible??? Could it be related to the updates?
> 2) moreover and more important: may I recover my data??? How?
>
> Thanks a lot in advance,
>
> Adeline
>