Data recovery - do I have any chance?

[jaclaz]

It might help to occasionally describe the specific info you would like to get, rather than just point out the general failures of info you didn't get. Some people learn better from examples rather than trying to guess what you are looking for. Just sayin'...

It might help with people that ask for help and actually want to have it, it doesn't for those that don't.

On hindsight, my original mistake was to presume that there was an interest in attempting recovering (if possible) some data, now re-reading the OP it is more clear to me how it was just a rant.

For future use, the standard litany (not so casually called "standard" and not so casually called "litany") is here for everyone:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/problem-report-standard-litany.html

I guess everyone can adapt it to his/her specific situation well enough.

On the specific topic, this was IMHO a good hint:

To completely wipe (or "format full") a 1 Tb hard disk takes A LOT of time (hours), if it took you minutes to do the install it is not possible that you have wiped the whole 1 Tb.

that can be re-worded as:

How long did it take to wipe/format/install?

(simplified) If it took minutes, you have some chances if it took hours you have NONE. (of course proportioned to the size of the whatever - disk or partition/volume - that was wiped)

As a comparison, we have a report about wiping times:

• 
  

http://reboot.pro/13601/page__st__75#entry1194932.5" 250GB HDD took 82 mins to erase using HDDErase <- this is native ATA command, nothing can be faster than this, because there is no data going through the interface
http://reboot.pro/13601/page__st__75#entry119521
with DBAN the same 2.5" 250GB drive took 3.5hrs <- this is a software wipe, more or less a software wipe will have this kind of speed, i.e. max speed of data transfer

jaclaz

Edited October 1, 2012 by jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

I am extremely curious what the hell happened there. Disk 0 is always disk 0, isn't this kind of decided by BIOS?

Disk numbering in WinPE is determined on the speed it takes to enumerated the detected disks. I have done a ton of testing in the past using Spindle disks, SSDs and card readers. On certain systems, the numbering can change between a HDD and a card reader on multiple boots. Plus, how the devices are connected physically (board-level) seems to have an effect on disk numbering. Disks connected via the PCI or SATA bus typically enumerate faster than those connected via the USB bus. But this isn't always the case.

When it comes to installing an OS onto a system with a data disk, I always unplug that drive for instalation just because I don't trust Windows to install on the correct disk, whether or not I am using an answer file.

[myselfidem]

Have you configured your Disks as Disk0 = Master and Disk1 = Slave ,first ?

I think we can also improve the Autounattend.xml file, like this, adding more values:

(Using your example):

<DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Size>100</Size>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Size>51200</Size>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Active>true</Active>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Label>WINDOWS</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order> 
                            <Format>NTFS</Format> 
                            <PartitionID>3</PartitionID> 
                            <Label>PROGRAMY</Label> 
                            <Letter>D</Letter> 
                        </ModifyPartition> 
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage> 
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                            <Key>/IMAGE/INDEX</Key>
                            <Value>1</Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                    <InstallToAvailablePartition>false</InstallToAvailablePartition>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>

Check also the letters for CD\DVD drivers (usually E:\ and F:\) !

Edited October 2, 2012 by myselfidem

[Octopuss]

Tripredacus, that's interesting. Looks like we have no control over this then.

myselfidem, now you got me. I thought master/slave was only relevant to ATA cables with two connectors. I just kind of plug the cables into the mb, starting with port 0.

Redoing the partition/drive letters is actually not a bad idea. I'd have change lots of things though, which apparently is why I simply put F on the new SSD partition back then.