Re: RECOVERY

On 9/01/2008, Syfo-Dyas posted this:
On Mon, 1 Sep 2008 04:52:44 -0700, "Richard Crowley"
<rcrowley@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Syfo-Dyas" wrote ...
Sorry about the subject I am in distress.. This is what happened ....
First this is an external usb hard drive. This drive had many pictures
and videos almost 120 GB worth of files. Do I want them yes badly real
badly. Now all I can say is this... I really dont know what
happened.... As I said this is an external usb drive. I was
reinstalling XP on my pc from scratch and I of course did not mind
formatting the C drive as that was my intention anyway but NOT the
data external drive.

It was a fundamental mistake to have ANY exernal data drives
connected when doing something as destructive and uncontrollable
as installing the OS from scratch. Perhaps not much comfort to you,
but a cautionary warning to anyone else reading this.

So I tried to install windows and it looked like
things were going ok but I must have made a mistake or something
because during the install I got a blue screen and had to start over
well anyway after getting it working and installed I noticed that my
external data drive (I have 2 of them) was almost completely empty.
The other external drive had disapeared from the system. So one was
missing and the other one well was basically empty and what it did
have on it was just a windows directory.
So this is where I am now. I
was able to turn the other external drive off and on and then
everything is OK with that one. I can see all my files perfectly.

Good.

However the drive that I am really looking for simply has a windows
directory in it and approx 114 GB of free space on it. I am terrified.
I think I lost all that precious data.

Exactly what does "a windows directory" mean? Do you mean
litterally a directory named "Windows"? If the drive appears to
be empty and has THE windows operating system directory,
then I share your fear that you have overwritten your files and
they are lost.

A windows directory. \Windows with some files in it not the full
windows directory as I beleive the install was stopped. So like the
drive has 114GB of space and because of the windows directory there is
113GB of free space.

I dont know exactly how it happened

It happened because you left the drive connected while installing
the operating system. What happens when Windows instals is not
very predictable nor controlable. I NEVER have anything more than
just the C: drive connected when installing Windows. Now you see
why.

but is ther anything that can resolve this dilemma? As far as
the fast format or slow one well when installing windows I always use
the quick format.

But you weren't controlling it. The Windows installer was controlling
it, and from my previous experience installing Windows on hudnreds
of computers, I don't have a very good feeling that you can recover
your files.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

"sandy58" seems to think this is easy, so perhaps (s)he can help you.
My perception is that you have destructively overwritten all your
files on that drive and that only forensic (read: expensive) disc
recovery MIGHT be able to recover something. I wouldn't bet a
nickel on the chances of success.

We both recommended using an un-format utility. Have you tried that?


Well thanks to both of you I am in the process of trying that now. I
will also try the programs sandy58 has recommended. I will post what
has happened.I am now trying something called "partition recovery"
Previously I tried "pareto Logic data recovery" What they tend to do
is let you examine your drive to see if you can restore anything and
if you can you can then purchase the product. Strange though with this
product I saw many files but none of the ones I am looking for.
Actually they were files that were like from 3 years ago. So none of
the files that I had on this drive for about a year but instead files
from like 3 or 4 years ago. Strange. So I am trying something else
now.

In addition to sandy58's suggestions - I have used GetDataBack from http://www.runtime.org/ with fair luck recovering a friend's laptop drive after formatting.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Gino) letters617blochg3251
(replace the numbers by "at" and "dotcom")


.

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