(OT) HELP!! Can I "un-format" a Hard Drive???

[John Mankos]

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32, as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20 gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick" format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched? Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[John Mankos]

Oh, and the reason I couldn't just go back to the main drive....is I did a 'move' on the Data, and not a copy, so this data was no longer there.

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[Jay Bean]

I'm 90% certain that you're screwed. You typically cannot recover anything after diong a format. On the other hand, I don't really know what short cuts the quick option does, so there may still be a thread of hope. Maybe someone else knows more about it.

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[Jack O'Neill]

Don't do anything to the drive, go out and get norton system works software and boot from the CD. Another one to try would be partition magic 7. All the data is still there at this point.

Jack

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[BillCat]

This worked for me:
http://www.bitmart.net/r2kfull.htm

They have a demo you can download that will let you see if your files are still visible.

Bill

 

[John Mankos]

Thanks Bill, I'll check that one out as soon as I have the OS installed. Luckily I've got my laptop so I can research this a little bit whilst I get XP up and running on the Desktop.

This worked for me:
http://www.bitmart.net/r2kfull.htm

They have a demo you can download that will let you see if your
files are still visible.

Bill

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[Chad D]

Aloha
well ontrack is pretty good at recovering stuff

sometimes you can recover sometimes if you changed your file structure you can loose stuff ????
I emailed ya some info

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
Chad D (aka Honu)
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

 

[Ian S]

John

Even if the utilities mentioned in the responses above don't work, you are still not screwed. Even if the entire drive has been written to, data can be retrieved. People who want to completely erase data actually scrub it repreatedly. I guess you didn't do that!

There are companies that specialize in recovering disks in such situations, although it might be expensive...

Cheers

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
Ian S
http://www.rainpalm.com/Alegria01.htm

 

[Darius]

It is expensive. To start clean you could use your WinXP disk to boot your PC and format that drive.
Thanks Darius.

Even if the utilities mentioned in the responses above don't work,
you are still not screwed. Even if the entire drive has been
written to, data can be retrieved. People who want to completely
erase data actually scrub it repreatedly. I guess you didn't do
that!

There are companies that specialize in recovering disks in such
situations, although it might be expensive...

Cheers

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
Ian S
http://www.rainpalm.com/Alegria01.htm

 

[Topas]

Go to http://www.r-tt.com and download trial to test first - did help me once loosing pics from flash card - really a power tool

regards
Urs

 

[J A K]

JGM - you may be screwed - but don't panic yet.

A copy of the previous master boot record (MBR) is also stored on the hard drive (along with the current screwed up MBR).

To restore your old MBR, all you have to do is boot up with a system disk that has FDISK on it.

Then enter " FDISK MBR ". I hope the " " is in the right direction. This action will restore the previous version of the MBR (before the screw-up).

Good luck - I hope this helps you out.

Sincerely,

Joe Kurkjian

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[Phil navarro88221]

I have also used R-Studio and was able to recover all my lost files when a virus deleated 2 of my partitions. It was well worth the $$. Ontrack is less expensive, but recovered all files individually (a little more confusing) and not in folders, as R-Studio did. With folders you may not recognize a file, but you will remember folders and their contents.

Good luck

Go to http://www.r-tt.com and download trial to test first - did
help me once loosing pics from flash card - really a power tool

regards
Urs

 

[Andy Lees71500]

You can get your files back - I lost a partition 2 weeks ago with photos on it (which I had backed up to CD anyway) along with other files, this utility got EVERYTHING back:

EasyRecovery: http: http://www.ontrack.com

If you need any more info, please e-mail me,

all the best,

Andy Lees
Motion Blur Formula One Photography
http://www.andylees.com

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
Motion Blur Formula One Photography
http://www.andylees.com

 

[mccance]

Can't offer anything for the current issue (sorry), but here's a thought for future HDD activities.

I typically have at least 4 HDDs on my system. Anytime I want to format one, I physically disconnect the ones that I don't want to format, then start the machine with a boot disk with only the target HDD connected.

This is easy to do physically, just pull the IDE cables or power. Also, with just the one drive left active, it's also quite easy to verify that this is indeed the target drive for your format, OS install, or whatever.

Just a thought.

Rm

 

[John Mankos]

Thanks to everyone who responded...definitely a learning experience.

At first I tried Restorer 2000, but since the drive was a FAT32 drive, it wouldn't even try to read it, since it only works on NTFS drives.

Then I tried some freeware program, I can't remember the name of it. It seemed like it was working, but after two hours it was only 2% done scanning the drive...very slow.

I then cancelled out of that, and got a copy of Ontrack...and about an hour after installing it...I had everyting back...and then some. It even found data from an OLD partition I had deleted at least a year ago!

First thing I'm doing tomorrow is going out and getting some Gold CDR's...the good ones...and making the Photo archives I've been putting off....

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[Jay Bean]

I'm sitting here crunching my words. Glad you were able to recover them.

At first I tried Restorer 2000, but since the drive was a FAT32
drive, it wouldn't even try to read it, since it only works on NTFS
drives.

Then I tried some freeware program, I can't remember the name of
it. It seemed like it was working, but after two hours it was only
2% done scanning the drive...very slow.

I then cancelled out of that, and got a copy of Ontrack...and about
an hour after installing it...I had everyting back...and then some.
It even found data from an OLD partition I had deleted at least a
year ago!

First thing I'm doing tomorrow is going out and getting some Gold
CDR's...the good ones...and making the Photo archives I've been
putting off....

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[John Mankos]

Thanks

Tell you what...what I saw on that drive after I ran that program....Well, let's just say I'll never sell an old hard drive again! I can not believe some of the stuff this program found! I stil have to sort everything out...which will take a while...It recovers everything into it's own folders...it's a bit confusing as someone else mentioned.

At first I tried Restorer 2000, but since the drive was a FAT32
drive, it wouldn't even try to read it, since it only works on NTFS
drives.

Then I tried some freeware program, I can't remember the name of
it. It seemed like it was working, but after two hours it was only
2% done scanning the drive...very slow.

I then cancelled out of that, and got a copy of Ontrack...and about
an hour after installing it...I had everyting back...and then some.
It even found data from an OLD partition I had deleted at least a
year ago!

First thing I'm doing tomorrow is going out and getting some Gold
CDR's...the good ones...and making the Photo archives I've been
putting off....

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

 

[Chad D]

Aloha
funny to go get someone olds HD and see what they had
if ya sell or dump old puter stuff
there are progys out there to 0 out your hd and truly delete the data
a must do if ya get rid of stuff

Tell you what...what I saw on that drive after I ran that
program....Well, let's just say I'll never sell an old hard drive
again! I can not believe some of the stuff this program found! I
stil have to sort everything out...which will take a while...It
recovers everything into it's own folders...it's a bit confusing as
someone else mentioned.

At first I tried Restorer 2000, but since the drive was a FAT32
drive, it wouldn't even try to read it, since it only works on NTFS
drives.

Then I tried some freeware program, I can't remember the name of
it. It seemed like it was working, but after two hours it was only
2% done scanning the drive...very slow.

I then cancelled out of that, and got a copy of Ontrack...and about
an hour after installing it...I had everyting back...and then some.
It even found data from an OLD partition I had deleted at least a
year ago!

First thing I'm doing tomorrow is going out and getting some Gold
CDR's...the good ones...and making the Photo archives I've been
putting off....

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
Chad D (aka Honu)
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

 

[Jay Bean]

Fortunately for him he did a quick format and didn't do anything further with the drive. When I've sold drives in the past I do a full format (may take hours) and then install a fresh OS onto the disk just to be sure.

Tell you what...what I saw on that drive after I ran that
program....Well, let's just say I'll never sell an old hard drive
again! I can not believe some of the stuff this program found! I
stil have to sort everything out...which will take a while...It
recovers everything into it's own folders...it's a bit confusing as
someone else mentioned.

At first I tried Restorer 2000, but since the drive was a FAT32
drive, it wouldn't even try to read it, since it only works on NTFS
drives.

Then I tried some freeware program, I can't remember the name of
it. It seemed like it was working, but after two hours it was only
2% done scanning the drive...very slow.

I then cancelled out of that, and got a copy of Ontrack...and about
an hour after installing it...I had everyting back...and then some.
It even found data from an OLD partition I had deleted at least a
year ago!

First thing I'm doing tomorrow is going out and getting some Gold
CDR's...the good ones...and making the Photo archives I've been
putting off....

Oh boy did I just make a big goof....

I was upgrading my PC from Win2k to Win XP. Now, I had 2 hard
drives, 1 was the main drive, and a second I used for backup. The
main drive was NTFS for Win2k...the backup drive was still FAT32,
as I never converted it.

I tried to plan this accordingly...I wanted to make sure I got a
clean install, so I backed up everything to the second drive. I
wanted to re-format the main drive to be sure of this. So....since
I couldn't format the active drive from windows...I pulled out an
old Win98 boot disk I had and booted there, so I could format then
boot with the WinXP cd.

Here's where I goofed. I forgot to go to Fdisk, and delete the
NTFS partition, and re-create a DOS partition so I could do a full
format. So since Win98 didn't recognize the NTFS drive as a DOS
partition, the FAT32 drive I used for backup was automatically
recognized as the C: drive by the Win98 boot disk.

I did a format c: q ....and boom, as soon as it said verifying 20
gigs...I knew I screwed up, because my main drive is a 60 gb.

(I know this is probably a backwards way of doing it...but I wanted
to make sure I had a clean drive for an install....and I know the
q wouldn't totally clean the drive but the logic was that it would
force XP setup to do a full format)

Now, for any computer geniuses out there....is there any hope to
recover the data on this drive? I immediately removed the drive to
make sure nothing attempts to write to it. Doesn't a "quick"
format just re-write the FAT, and the data is actually untouched?
Is there any disk utilities I can use, or will I have to send it to
a professional? Or am I doomed to not recover this data? ( I had
probably a few thousand images on it, plus e-mail archives, tax
info backups from turbo tax, etc....yeah I know I should have had
them all on CD but I just didn't get around to it yet...now I wish
I would have found the patience to do this first!!!)

Thanks in advance for any advice

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
John
http://www.pbase.com/mankman
Canon EOS D30

--
Chad D (aka Honu)
http://www.panotools.com
http://www.happyfish.com

 

[Ranjan]

Thanks

Tell you what...what I saw on that drive after I ran that
program....Well, let's just say I'll never sell an old hard drive
again! I can not believe some of the stuff this program found! I
stil have to sort everything out...which will take a while...It
recovers everything into it's own folders...it's a bit confusing as
someone else mentioned.

This thread has been a learning experiance for others too.
--
Ranjan
Professional photographer.
http://www.geocities.com/ranjan2001