Recovering Files From old Hard drive 3

[SebAguilera]

Ok my situation is a bit complicated so please bare with me.

I have a drive (Let's call it drive "X") that had Win XP Pro SP2 but the install got corrupted and I tried the Repair feature using the Windows Install CD but that failed. My goal is to recover some photos and documents that are still on the drive. I have verified that the drive itsels is physicaly fine.

I have installed a fresh copy of Win Xp on another drive (Lets' call this one drive "Y") that I had access to. I then connected drive X as slave to my secondary IDE controller. under Windwos Disk Management I then intialized the drive as it shows in this pic:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/images/xp_manual2.gif

The drive still showed up as "unallocated" so I chose to create a new Partition like this:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/images/xp_partition1.gif

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/images/xp_partition2.gif

Except that I chose "Do not format this this partition"

Now when I go to My computer, the drive shows up but it says that it is not formatted.

Please tell me that I didn't lose all of my data........

Any ideas on how to recover my files??

Thanks Guys!

Seb

 

[jessicatechy]

you need to connect it to a machine that doesn't give a hoot about xp stuff.
is it formatted fat32 or ntfs?
you can boot up your machine with a win 98 boot disk, and browse the files on that hdd, and possibly copy them somewhere.

 

[wasisnt]

Im thinking if you created a new partition you may have lost your data.

Free Computer Help and Tips:

http://www.onlinecomputertips.com/

 

[Beowulf005]

If you have not formated the drive you can recover the data. I have lost three of my drive master boot records and this software was able to recover everything on the drive.

Ontrack

GL

When frustrated remember, in the computer world there is almost always a backdoor.

 

[linney]

Data recovery.
PC Inspector

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

http://www.restorer2000.com

http://www.runtime.org/hints.htm

Plenty of other recovery software listed here.

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Disk_Management/Error_Checking_and_Repair/

 

[SebAguilera]

Ok Guys. I revocered all my files. Here's what I did:

I used all of the apps recommended and the best one in my opinon was GetDataBack. Worked like a charm. First you need to scan the drive. My drive was 80GB and it took about 90 minutes to scan . You then get a folder list with all the files on the drive and they all retain their original filenames and folder structure which is excellent! You then have to recover or extract the files onto another drive which for 50 GB of info took about another hour. I did not lose a single file!!

Thanks dudes!

 

[BESchorp]

hey sebAguilera, i think i have had the exact same problem...
now i read through the different responses.. i downloaded that 'getdataback' like u did, but i still can't seem to find any files 'as they were' on my former HDD. I did execute the scan, ok the getdataback prog found a whole series of files, but nothing understandable (btw i'm quite a noob at all this), what i am looking for are music files (mp3), pics, documents, video's.. and all the other stuff that was in 'my documents' or on my former desktop... can u maybe let me know how u exactly used that getdataback program, i'm pretty stuck here mate.. any help is welcome, i've tried everything and nothing seems to work (((

thx for the time.. D. (belgium)

 

[gargoyle47]

To BESchorp

If you have a similar problem it best to start up your own post. This way things do not get misinterpreted as to who the advise is being given to.

This way when advise is given you will know that the advise is direct to you not someone else.

Never Say Never (Romeio Void)

Homebuilt MSI MD5000MD-5000 M-ATX, 2.4Gig, 393mb, WinXp Pro
Homebuilt Iwill KK266R-Plus, 768mb, WinXp Pro

 

[SebAguilera]

I ran GetbackData. Chose "I Don't know, use deault settings. Hit "Next". Chose my drive and hit "Next". A window will pop up with what looks like garbage. Leave it finish the whole way. ONce it finished I was presented with a list of all my recovered folders and filenames, I seleted whihc one I wnated and then saved them to another hard drive. That was it.

 

[linney]

gargoyle47,

Have you tried running ChkDsk on your drive? Right-click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking. Select both boxes.

It may also just be a permissions problem.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP (Q308421)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/21.asp

Is your former Desktop still in the land of the living, allowing you to put the hard drive back and try from there?