OOOoops, Deleted Partition, Need Data Recovery

[Slip400]

This is my first post, after doing a search for "Undelete", etc I'm writing this question

My Unattended CD was coming along fine, then when I installed a new serial ATA H/D, the drivers were NOT picked up during the install, the "setup" bypassed my 1st, and 2nd serial H/D and did a fast format and installed on my 8 partition, 80 gig IDE harddrive... After putting this drive in another pc and trying to "View" the deleted folders/partitions, NOTHING old was present.

Yes this was Dumb, but over 50 ISO's,MP3's etc are no longer accessable, Any Ideas? I looked online and most "Data Recovery" firms charge by the GIG, and I'd rather not send my H/D thru the mail.

I haven't defragged or installed anything but my setup CD (about 2 gigs or less used) This H/D was 80% Full of stuff, How I get it back?

After trying "Undelete" (http://www.active-undelete.com/) The H/D Freezes during an Advanced "Scan"... I'm unable to see whats Under the New NTFS install... Any Ideas?

[WwTIPPYwW]

GetDataBack

http://www.runtime.org

Easy Recovery

http://www.ontrack.com/software/#dr

ERD Commander

http://www.winternals.com/products/repaira...002.asp?pid=erd

But the chances of getting anything back are pretty slim. Also, make sure to install anything on another hard drive and to restore on another drive as well. But that should go without saying.

[Astalavista]

can this be done? after a repartition and format?

[neuro42]

It should be able to especially if it was a quick format.

Then the data is still there, it just does not appear that way.

also even a full format does not remove the data.

Only zeroizing will do that.

Even then some physical recovery devices can extract it (but you are talking about forensics units then)

You might lose some of your data, due to it being overwritten, but most of it should be accessible.

Good luck

[rompom7]

I have lost my partition info before, I recovered it with a program called Test Disk.

It has a DOS based GUI and it works even faster through command lines.

Google knows where to find it.

[DLF]

Hirens Boot Disk (CD) V6. http://62.253.162.19/hiren.thanki/bootcd.html Any number of utils on here will recover a del partition. This is basic stuff and not the end of the world. Its about 36mb total. PM me if you cant find a d/l site. I have it on a bootable iso image.

[Tilosach]

Hi,

Once it happened to me, and I used File Scavenger 2.1 and File Recovery 5 to recover my personal data.

First, don't write on your deleted partition anymore (the best would be to turn it read-only).

Also, a lot of patience and self-control is required as not to apply some irreversible process on that disk.

[sixpack]

use Active@ Undelete

Active@ UNDELETE is a powerful data recovery software that helps you

to recover lost, deleted and formatted data from Hard Drives, Floppy

Disks, Basic and Dynamic Volumes, Hardware or Software RAID's.

Compressed, encrypted sparse and fragmented files are supported.

Besides hard disk drives and floppies program supports recovery from

removable devices like Secure Digital, Compact Flash, SmartMedia,

SONY Memory Stick, ZIP drives, USB Hard drives etc ...

works every time

[Slip400]

Undelete did not work...H/D freezes the OS halfway thru an advanced scan... OLD files are not ever viewed

[BritishBulldog]

If you partitioned, formatted and installed anything then the chances are very slim, more like impossible. IT is when new data is recorded over the top of the boot sector that makes it a problem

[thegreypilgrim]

What type of partition was it ? NTFS ? FAT ?

Wha type of format did you choose during install ? Quick or standard ? in which type of partition ? NTFS, FAT ?

Don't want to give false hope but if your partition was NTFS the Mirror copy of the Master Files Table is probably still still there, just not pointed out correctly by the partition table.

GetDataBack should do it and get the MFT back in place now you may have definitively loose some stuff

In any case, I would strongly suggest to ghost the original 80GB drive and to work on the copy !!

[XtremeMaC]

i've used r-studio nfts recovery.. it got all my files back but my partition table was fubar i've recovered all my files, but u need another hdd bare that in mind..

also acronis utilities have recovery as well. they claim that they are able to recover even after couple of hard formats...

[Slip400]

Origanally this was a 10 partition, 80 gig drive that I believe most of the partitions were NTFS, some possibly not. However, during the destructive install, it did a "Quick" format then installed windows according to a UA CD...

With "Active@Undelete", a simple scan produces the new directories created by the UA cd and a few deleted Directories deleted during IT's Install... (C:\Install/ ect)

I am unable to see any of the old data thru a quick scan, when i choose "Advanced scan", it freezes up the whole OS about 80% into the scan...at same point each time I'd say...

I"m running "GetDataBack for NTFS" now,, cross your fingers

[WwTIPPYwW]

if you installed anything over the drive, like you unattended install - then you've done a lot more damage than just a repartition and format.

Oh well, I guess a little is better than none!

[blinkdt]

The same darned thing happened to me about a year ago while installing on a new ASUS P4C800-E, what with SATA, SATA RAID, and IDE controllers (note to self: never use primary machine as testbed machine!). 200GB of ISOs down the tubes!

Along the way I discovered that the real money in this computer industry lay in the data recovery side. :angrym: I did find one top-notch program, cost an arm-and-a-leg, but it allowed recovery of a mere three files on a trial basis. Talk about hell! I could see ALL of my files but recover only three! Yes, they were all there, even after a fresh partitioning, format, and install on what had been my "storage" drive. I could tell you stories from my days with the federal government that would curl the hair on the back of your neck: certainly in your case, the data is ALL there and it is ALL recoverable.

Sorry, the program name escapes me, but it was not the kind of program you find on a warez site. You got to pay to play. I didn't pay. For me, it was an opportunity to start fresh, and everything has worked out fine.