how do i get my data back?

[scottatwittenberg]

here's the story..

i got a 160 gig maxtor..
my comptuer only detected 130 gigs... i put a lot of stuff on the HD
then i got my new computer.. put hard drive in there..

the other 30 gigs were detected... i formated and installed XP on the other 30 gigs..

the drive shows up as "Disk 0, Dynamic, Unreadable" in comp mgmt...

i can convert the drive to a "basic disk" but that scares me...

i can only see 25 gigs in my computer

 

[Ice Czar]

History :
you hit the 137GB Barrier where you needed a 48bit LBA supported BIOS (or other workaround)
you upgraded that 130GBs of space to a Dynamic Disk at some point
you got a mobo that had 48bit LBA supported BIOS
the rest magically appeared
you installed to the remaining space (some of the slowest real estate on the HDD BTW)
and now you have a permission issue

Start > Run > (type) diskmgmnt.msc > RClick the Dynamic Volume > Import Foriegn Disk

then disable simple file sharing and take ownership of the files and folders

reverting the disk back to basic
would have deleted all the data
you have fine instincts

then personally Id back everything up

and start over
staying berry berry far away from dynamic disks

 

[scottatwittenberg]

i have no option to "import foriegn disk" i just have properites, change to simple disk, and help... i searched help for importing foriegn disks and got nothing..

what next??

 

[Ice Czar]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=236086

damn that advanced stuff, OK here is a link to Disk Probe and I'll try to walk you through it

but in truth
I think you need to shell out the $$$ for DiskPatch and have it fix the ID (and any other issues)
manually editing your partition table is pretty advanced even if its just flipping a partition ID
freeware assumes you know what the hell your doing, but the Instructions and GUI in diskpatch make a big difference in the comfort level

 

[scottatwittenberg]

ok.. i think i would like to try to diskprobe editing first... do i need to put it on a bootable disk? i don't have a fdd in my computer... but i can rig one up, or i can burn a cd.. if that doesn't work, then i will look into diskpatch...

it says that diskprobe requires r5.. what is r5??

also the problem probably was caused because the drive was formatted under win2000, but then i put xp on the other partition.. i don't know if that helps or not.

thanks

scott

 

[Ice Czar]

sorry wrong disk probe
http://www.tburke.net/info/suptools/topics/diskprobe.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/existing/dmdiag-o.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp3/supporttools.asp

 

[scottatwittenberg]

the links are tools for windows 2000.. i am using XP does it matter?

i ran dmdiag.exe..

does this tell you anything?

thanks

scott


ok... i also got diskprobe up and running... but it is just a bunch of zeros, which you probably already know.. so does that mean it can't read anyhting and i have to put it in?? sounds like it will be fun..

 

[Pagan Wizard]

I learned a very valueable lesson a long time ago, but mine was because of bearing failure to the HDD. Use 2 or more HDD's in your rig, use one for your OS, games, ISP, ect. and use the secondary HDD(s) as storage for anything important like MP3's, movies, pr0n, ect. I am currently using 4 HDD's totaling 445 GB's, might be overkill, but at least I know that if I ever lose my primary HDD or if WinXP should crash to holy hell (again ), I won't lose all the important stuff.

 

[Ice Czar]

On the Drives menu, click Physical Drive.

In the Open Physical Drive dialog box, double-click the disk that contains the MBR that starts your computer (typically PhysicalDrive0) from the Available Physical Drives list box

was as far as I got with it too, I was unable to open a Physcial Drive
and Im not sure why
Im not so confident as to give you command prompt instructions

so....

there are more editors than just diskprobe
sorry all this took so long, Im trying to get you an answer

 

[cwpc]

Go ahead and re-format the entire drive - DO NOT USE IT FOR ANYTHING YET - make it a slave.

Then download and run - getdataback for your format - Get data Back

This will allow you to recover the data off of the drive

Just to add to this - Getdataback will see all of the old partition tables, and give you a list of tables to choose from, and allow you to recover data - Even after a re-format.

I know - I have used it many times

 

[scottatwittenberg]

the next biggest drive i have is a 10 gig... i have probably 70 gigs on that thing... luckily i downloaded that drive maybe 2 months ago... and everything on it is all new since then.. i wouldn't be losing too much that i couldn't replace again...

but i would like to use this as an opportunity to actually learn how to fix it, if possible.. because there always will be something that is lost that you don't realize is gone until way later... if, i get it recovered, then i might buy another drive... whatever is cheap at the time.. and probably a 120 gig max so i don't run into the same problem again... then copy the stuff over to it..

 

[Ice Czar]

if your going to go ahead and try rescue operations instaed of repair
dont reformat all that does is wipe out the pointers to the data
and give the HDDs a chance to lockout sectors that might otherwise be recoverable

youd simply run the recovery ap , its a direct scan anyway, and doesnt need the reformat and will work better without it

Ive used File Scavenger, Restorer200, and trialed many others
FileScavenger is the best Ive seen (though I havent tried GetBack) at nearly 100%
and is $20 less,

but for $40 you could get Disk Patch and fix that partition ID
(and it specifically supports dynamic disks)
Ive been busy and havent made any progress with Disk Probe
still getting stuck at opening a Physical Disk

so in the freeware category Im still researching, if it was just a basic disk partition ID problem, that would be easier, but the dynamic disk LDM part is a little trickier, in the event that everything goes wrong, youll still be able to conduct a direct scan of the sectors for rescue

 

[adc1986]

Maybe worth a try, but i really don't know how to use it. You could maybe try using diskpart in the command prompt. It has a few features that might help activate the disk or fix it maybe. The command that most interested me to help you is the Online command that would make the disk become online for you. Ice czar, you might know if this will help right off hand since you know quite a bit more than me.

 

[scottatwittenberg]

i broke down and reformated yesterday... thanks for offering the help though... now i got 152 gigs of mostly empty space to fill....