Recovering accidently lost data

[DanWoodbury]

i had 1 160GB IDE drive in my PC and decided to purchase a backup HD so i got a 320GB SATA drive and stored all my important data on it so that if i had to wipe my windows drive for some reason then i would have my important data backed up.

This happened sooner than i was hoping and i needed to wipe my IDE drive, i unplugged the SATA to ensure i didnt accidently wipe it and then formatted and re-installed windows on my IDE drive. all worked fine until i plugged my SATA drive back in

i got windows to recognise the drive was there etc, until i tried to browse the drive to get my important data, the drive had a windows installation on it but i had never ever installed windows on that drive so i do not know where my data is. the drive usage shows that the data is there but it is not accessible. all i can think is that it has somehow done a quick format and somehow copied a windows installation onto it, although the installation is not complete as if i try to boot off the drive it comes up with a login screen then logs off and restarts straight away.

has anybody got any suggestions on how i can over come this? i have tried using the software 'Recover my files' but it tends to bring up nothing but corrupt files and nothing that was originally on the drive

thanks alot

 

[wahnula]

Try a live Linux CD like Puppy or Knoppix, see if you can see the drive. Windows writes data to any drive connected to it but should be able to read previously-readable files. It sounds like you did everything right, did you need to install the SATA divers at F6 for the new install? What's the mainboard and SATA controller?

As an experiment, I would buy a cheap USB-to-SATA drive case like this:

http://www.directron.com/bjk35usbs.html

and see if the drive works. This can be the new home of the backup drive.

Don't worry, there are software utilities that can get your files back, like GetDataBack from runtime.org among others.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[wolluf]

Is this the full story - you didn't start with both drives in the machine and realise your error part way through windows install?

Not that it matters now - you probably need a data recovery app, eg getdataback to run against your drive to see what it can find (I mention getdataback as have had good results & so have others here - but there are many, and getdataback isn't free, though none of the free ones I've tried have been as good).

 

[DanWoodbury]

it is the full story, i made no errors and that is exactly what happened, if i had made errors i would say so else i wouldnt get a response that would help me, its a mystery to me and everyone who has looked at it to what has happened, just very very random

 

[wolluf]

As I said, you will need a good data recovery app.

As to how it happened - how did you have the drives partitioned prior to the wipe and reinstall? Did each just have a single partition? A windows installation doesn't just 'ghost' itself onto a drive, so something has been done to the drive to get it there. If it is just on top of your data, then a good data recovery app should have no problem recovering most of your data - and perhaps all.

 

[DanWoodbury]

they were just single partitions, as i said i have no idea at all how the windows install got there, might have been something i did but as i dont know i have no idea.

i tried getdataback but all i got was the data that i can access anyway? and not the stuff that i lost

 

[wolluf]

I'm suspecting that the data was actually on the other drive (160GB). You'd have to have overwritten the whole drive with binary zeroes for getdataback to come up with nothing. So if the data was on a drive and you've definitely not written binary zeroes to either drive, as Holmes would say, eliminate the impossible and you're left with....

If you have access to another machine, I'd try mounting the 160 as slave and running getdataback against it, just to see what it finds (nothing to lose). If nothing, then something/someone has messed with your data, and its gone.

btw - backups are best if they can be removed from machine - eg, an external drive rather than another internal.

 

[DanWoodbury]

no, the data was definately on the SATA drive. i know what im talking about and am not some stupid amateur, i know enought but i do not know how this happened as as ive never had to do file recovery before i needed to ask. i built the computer myself and know what is what and where everything is.

 

[wolluf]

Then I'm as confused as you, as it appears your data has disappeared literally into thin air. Can only suggest trying any other data recovery apps that allow you to run them at least in 'see what I can find' mode first to check out that SATA drive again.

btw - I'm not intending to be disparaging about your abilities - just trying to come up with ideas that might help - and I know I have made lots of mistakes (including completely wiping my main partition, when I confused it with the one I was intending to wipe - last backup several months old - I lost a lot of valuable data I couldn't easily replace).

 

[jurgen36]

Well I suggest that you use get data back on your original drive, never mind that you installed a new version of windows on it. You probably will be able to get most if not all of your data back. Its worth a try.
Regards

Jurgen

 

[wahnula]

BTW GetDataBack trial version is not as thorough as the paid version, I read an article where the author could not see anything with the trial version, but the paid version recovered everything. I have zero experience with this app (knock on formica) and only know what I have read about it. It is a good app from what I have read, as is Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery:

http://www.stellarinfo.com/file-recovery-software.htm

Good luck.

Tony

"...an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" - M.L. King

 

[kiddpete]

When you reinstalled Windows, did you reinstall all of the MOBO drivers as well?