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While attempting a non-destructive system recovery, I inadvertently performed a destructive one. I caught my error early and stopped the process, however, not before the drive formatting had begun. In 'my computer', the drive only says that it needs to be formatted, so it appears no data was overwritten. I've downloaded and am running a slew of recovery software (i.e. PC Inspector, File Scavenger, etc.). Is this necessary, or are there other methods to recover the data in this circumstance?
Thank you.
P.S. the Drive is 200 GB NTFS.
My friend has problem with HD. His HD had some error so everything has problem with access, everything was slow and in the end with bunch of errors. I saved all data (it was mp3 disk - fail to save 3 from 5000 mp3's) with program RecoverMyFiles. I try to connect disk to my comp and recover - zero points. Access problem, slow reading of disk... Then I format that drive (RecoverMyFiles can recover from formated drive) and try again. It was recovering smootly (no slowdowns, no errors) except 3 files that was on bad sector I think. Anyway, this collection of mp3's was saved (this friend was 1 year searching this old songs and allmost lost everything). Try that with your HD.
Aloha
P.S. Bad english, sorry.If I'm not back in 5 minutes... just wait longer...
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Buy one of those USB external HD enclosure boxes, insert the HD and connect it to another PC. Boot the PC. You should see the HD in mycomputer. Open it and copy the files to the C drive.
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I have another HDD with Windows, so I can hook up the bad HDD and examine it in Windows, however, Windows tells me the drive needs to be formatted. Is there something different that would happen if I hooked it up with the USB method that would allow it to work?
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Not to work but to try recover files. Personally speaking I think you're already screwed from the destructive recovery you started then stopped.
i_XpUser
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The recovery programs I am running are finding the files, so far at least. I was hoping there may be another way since no files appear to be overwritten, like maybe fixing the MBR or the Partition table, since the recovery programs are very slow and expensive in some cases.
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Hi, Before you give up I would try FDISK /mbr and SYS C:. the first will repair the Master boot record and the other will repair the system boot files on the drive. Worth a try! Jim
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Success! Thanks for the help. I couldn't get FDISK to run, now I know why (thanks ham). I did run a program called TestDrive that re-wrote an MBR. After doing this, I restarted and Windows Check Disk automatically ran on the drive before loading Windows.
A lenghty process began during which messages scrolled across the screen reading first "inserting an index entry into $0 of file [##]" (only done on a few files) then "Replacing invalid security ID with default security ID for file [##]" (done for all 200,000+ files).
When this finished, Windows loaded and all of the data was again viewable on the drive.
Thank you all for your help.
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I looked for Testdrive and didn't find it. Did you mean TestDisk?
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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Yes, I apologize, it is testdisk. That's what happens when I don't double check myself. Anyways, here's the link...
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
Again, thank you for the help.
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One final question. All of my problems began because I wanted to switch my bootable disk from my older 60 GB drive (c:) to the new 200 GB drive (E:). I now have a clean install of the original system on E: (via a non-destructive system recovery, recovered to E:), however, it sill will only boot with C: installed. I have changed the BIOS so that E: is the primary drive, but it just leaves me with a flashing cursor after the blue screen unless C: is first in boot priority.
My guess is that I need to change the drive letter for E: to C:, but, in order to do that, I need to change C: to something else first, which Windows won't let me do. Any ideas? Thank you.
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Sorry IE7, you cannot change the drive letter. All of windows' settings in the Registry point to E:.
If you don't want to leave things the way they are, your only option is to reinstall windows on the C: drive.Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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I should clarify my last post. I meant you will have to physically switch the drives so that the 200gb drive is C: and then reinstall windows on C:.
I've never tried a 'Repair' install after a drive switch like that. I guess you could try it, but I think I would recommend a new/clean install.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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Thank you. I actually did the install (and currently have) the 200 GB drive as Disk 0 (Primary IDE Master) and the 60 GB as Secondary Master. Since it was a non-destructive install, though, I'll try a destructive one (after backing up this time). Hopefully that will arrange the drive letters properly.
Thanks again.
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Just for your info IE7, I've had the XP install program put windows on the wrong drive also. It installed on my F: drive instead of C: a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea why, but I've seen where it has happened to other people also.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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