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View Full Version : Extremly IMPT. Hdd recovery!

bencho
10-26-2008, 03:51 PM
Hey,

So right now im having a panic attack. I just formatted the wrong hdd in my case. I don't know how i screwed this up but I did. I used XP and went My Computer -> Manage -> Disc Management -> Format. I selected NTFS and default. I DID NOT check quick format or enable file compression. Is there anyway to recover the data on it?? I'm not knowledgeable on the topic but Right now im freaking out because there is no backup of this drive... it is one of my backup drives. Is there any chance of recovery? $$$ for software is not a problem, well it is, but for this particular drive, IF there is a RELIABLE way that will ensure data recovery I will go with it.

Thank you..
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 04:09 PM
I've thankfully never had to deal with this, but if it's something that vastly important you need to take it to the Pros.

And the #1 thing to do with something like this is STOP USING THE HARD DRIVE! Every second you try to do something with it, you increase chances of something getting overwritten. Unplug it from the computer all together if you've got to.

Perhaps someone here has software that can rebuild it- I'll be keeping an eye on this thread myself!
SJConsultant
10-26-2008, 04:13 PM
GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/)
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 04:15 PM
GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/)

Does this work well? Shoot, $80 isn't bad at all.
dbwillis
10-26-2008, 04:21 PM
GDB does work well...but I have to ask, if this was the backup drive, where are the original files?
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 04:22 PM
GDB does work well...but I have to ask, if this was the backup drive, where are the original files?

Was wondering the same thing myself, but figured I'd let it slide ;)
But now that you've asked I am also curious.
bencho
10-26-2008, 04:23 PM
Yea I pulled the power on the drive immediately.

However, furious googling has led me to scan it for lost files with http://www.recovermyfiles.com/data-recovery-software-purchase.php

I'm in the process of scanning 78million files atm.


SJConsultant - do you have any personal experience with getdataback? THere seem to be plenty of recover software out there but which one produces the best results?

Thanks
bencho
10-26-2008, 04:26 PM
It was my a backup drive for music, movies, hw files and some sentimental data. The music and movies are not my top priority... it'll just take time for me to burn a ton of my cd's and dvd's back on [the original files]. However, it was also a temporary drive for data before I move it into my permanent backup system. This drive was meant to sit and just hold data in my main machine. I cant believe that i actually went and formatted it by accident :'(
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 04:27 PM
Doesn't sound like a backup drive to me then.
SJConsultant
10-26-2008, 04:45 PM
SJConsultant - do you have any personal experience with getdataback? THere seem to be plenty of recover software out there but which one produces the best results?

We use it extensively for doing recovery of deleted, formatted, corrupted, etc. media.

Calling something the "best" is relative unless you specify criteria by which you want to compare. ;)

We use GDB because it works and it is cost effective.:D
bencho
10-26-2008, 04:51 PM
TechieSoonier-- Yea.... its actually more of an intermediary between 'backed up' and 'not backed up' now that i look at it.

SJConsultant-- I see, Thank you for your help and reply. And yes, "best" is in the eye of the beholder and I didn't even stop to consider any criteria of success for the recovery.

..I made a stupid mistake and proceeded to let it waterfall into oblivion... may this never happen to me again. Need to keep a clearer head. I'll update again when I've finished scanning and see what I can recover. Thanks so far to everyone
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 05:57 PM
You need an exact line of backup as well.
Original document, and backed up document. No variances of this "temporary" holding bin stuff.
Joe Average
10-26-2008, 06:31 PM
TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) is free, works very well, and has proven itself to be very useful in my entirely-too-damned large tech toolkit.

Oh, and it's free.
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 07:40 PM
TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) is free, works very well, and has proven itself to be very useful in my entirely-too-damned large tech toolkit.

Oh, and it's free.

How do you manage that? Carry a bunch of disks around with you?
Joe Average
10-26-2008, 07:47 PM
It's called a 16GB USB stick, nearly full... can boot up multiple OSes, hundreds of tools all available with the boot menus and layout I've created. ;)

Damned things are amazing, they truly are. But I do have 3 CDs with similar content - just not as much stuff, more like the most valuable and useful tools, and 2 DVDs. Even have an old 8GB iPod mini that I can use for troubleshooting Macs. ProToGo ftw!!!
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 09:07 PM
It's called a 16GB USB stick, nearly full... can boot up multiple OSes, hundreds of tools all available with the boot menus and layout I've created. ;)

Damned things are amazing, they truly are. But I do have 3 CDs with similar content - just not as much stuff, more like the most valuable and useful tools, and 2 DVDs. Even have an old 8GB iPod mini that I can use for troubleshooting Macs. ProToGo ftw!!!

What kind of boot menus do you have? How'd you create it?

My only reluctance to flash drives is some BIOS does not support booting from it.
Joe Average
10-26-2008, 10:17 PM
Yah, some older hardware (actually most of it, anything older than 2 years is iffy) simply can't/won't boot from USB sticks or drives. I was tempted to get TechTool Pro on a Firewire bootable stick - yes, they do make Firewire sticks similar to USB sticks but they're hella expensive - but, as I just said, it's ridiculously expensive.

In terms of making boot menus, there's no one way to do it. I've been working on this thing for 2 years, adding new tools that come along, removing old ones, etc. The basic principle is creating a UBCD4Win (www.ubcd4win.com) then customizing the hell out of it. Once it's created, I can transfer those contents to a USB stick and make it bootable with a tool called PE2USB which moves any BartPE-based CD/DVD content onto a USB stick. Damned cool stuff...

So it's a work-in-progress as any tech's toolkit should be. ;)
TechieSooner
10-26-2008, 11:30 PM
Gotcha...
Second problem is many computers can't read DVD's either...

Might have to burn me 2-3 CDs (depending what all stuff I put on them) and try the UBCD thing. I usually just have individual disks for each app I need, if I could make a boot menu that let's me choose that'd be better yet.
bencho
10-27-2008, 04:52 PM
Hey,

So I finally got my desktop running again. As for GetDataBack, I got 80% of my stuff back so far. Of which I have most of my important files. There were plenty of folders with mixed stuff in them with unreadable names. Are those the ones with lost MFT values?

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the recovery. I've learned quite a bit in the process as well. Thanks again!