OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT

The Incredible... · Post by **The Incredible...** » August 11th, 2007, 18:33

ok so I formatted my C drive and, having slipstreamed XP SP2 and the VIA RAID drivers so i could install windows on my SATA HDD, i installed windows and have it all up and running

HOWEVER, it looks like it for some reason decided to format my external drive too!

this is complete fail as most of my movies and alll of my photos were on my otehr hard drive, which seems to be fine

BUT a fair few movies and ALL of my music was on the external disk

someone PLEASE tell me there is a way that i can get this data back

i was under the impression that deleting data didn't actually delete it, just told the computer that it was blank and allowed it to write over the top of the data that is there. is this right? am i able to get my music and movies back? i don't even remember what else was on there

if not will i be able to reclaim my music from my ipod?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 18:44

if you're fairly sure it's all gone (if the drive is visible and accessible, but you can't see anything on it)

DO NOT WRITE TO THE DRIVE. AT ALL.

Install getdataback on your windows HDD and recover data to your windows HDD.

It'll take a long time, but it saves it's progress every so often.

I'd suggest using the time it takes to do the recovery stuff to punch KV in the head.

eion · Post by **eion** » August 11th, 2007, 18:48

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:if you're fairly sure it's all gone (if the drive is visible and accessible, but you can't see anything on it)

DO NOT WRITE TO THE DRIVE. AT ALL.

Install getdataback on your windows HDD and recover data to your windows HDD.

It'll take a long time, but it saves it's progress every so often.

I'd suggest using the time it takes to do the recovery stuff to punch KV in the head.

This. All of this. Especially the last bit.

And next time, listen to our advice.

The Incredible... · Post by **The Incredible...** » August 11th, 2007, 18:53

never mind, I've found a program called recover my files.

i hope to GOD that it works, not that i believe in God, but you know

anyone used this program before?

is it good, is there anything better?

will it matter that it was originally FAT32 and it has been formatted to NTFS?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 18:56

Use get data back (floorware copy in my first post)

It's good, I've had very good results with it in the past.

I dunno if the format change will cause issues, my suggestion would be see if GDB can recover stuff as it is. If not, we can look at getting it to work.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 19:01

Is it bad form to laugh at other peoples misfortunes on this forum?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 19:02

cheeseandham wrote:Is it bad form to laugh at other peoples misfortunes on this forum?

Not at all.

It'd be handy if you have any knowledge to pass on here, but feel free to laugh like a bastard too

eion · Post by **eion** » August 11th, 2007, 19:07

cheeseandham wrote:Is it bad form to laugh at other people's misfortunes on this forum?

No. Schadenfreude is awesome.

The Incredible... · Post by **The Incredible...** » August 11th, 2007, 19:07

phew that seems to be working, it's finding files at any rate

the format seems to have sorted out the crashing too, for now any way

although i do now seem to have 2 floppy drives listed in my computer, although i only actualy physically have the one floppy drive

i owe someone a beer for this. or whatever your favourite tipple is

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » August 11th, 2007, 19:07

The Incredible... wrote: will it matter that it was originally FAT32 and it has been formatted to NTFS?

Shouldn't do.

They're just different ways of indexing the files physical locations.

When deleting normally, this is the only segment that gets changed*, bascially like say....taking the numbers off all the houses in the street, they're still there, but you don't know which is number 1 and which is number 42.

And NTFS is a superior file system, so I'd use that over FAT now you've got the choice.

*Unless you do something like run a full format (which actually changes all the sectors to 0 or 1 and overwrites everything. Or you can use a 3rd party file deleter which'll do the same job for individual files.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 19:17

Oh, and it's usually best to unplug all but the HDD you're installing windows on when you do an install, for the obvious reasons

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 19:19

Dr. kitteny berk wrote: Not at all.

It'd be handy if you have any knowledge to pass on here, but feel free to laugh like a bastard too

You've covered it all AFAIK.

I'll be looking at GetDataBack the next time the opportunity presents itself (hopefully never, I try to backup customers data 3 times in different locations - online, USB HDD and tape when they already have it.

)

When someone gets a hard drive into a messy state (mechanical failure to data loss through -ahem- bad decisions) and it's usually non-customers (last week Dell 'advised' a customers sister to reformat and reinstall Windows over their data) then we send it to a professional data recovery service.

It's simpler and easier for us with a 100% recovery rate so far. and £400 isn't much for businesses to pay for their data

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 19:46

Well, our work here is done

*resumes laughing at amusing misfortune*

The Incredible... · Post by **The Incredible...** » August 11th, 2007, 20:55

ok this

is the result of using gdb

this is not what i was expecting, when it was going through it was finding over 9000 files, has it done what i want it to?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 21:07

hmm, have a poke about, stuff might be hidden somehow (not used GDB in a long time)

It might be that it can't find anything due to the format change.

try this It's a newer version of GDB that will install both fat and ntfs versions, you might have more luck with the fat version.

Post by **HereComesPete** » August 11th, 2007, 21:22

I can punch KV in the head for you! Each person who wants me to do so send me 1 shiny penny.

*to cover bandages for my hand after I've finished what I have no doubt will be a very poplar thing

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 21:24

HereComesPete wrote:I can punch KV in the head for you! Each person who wants me to do so send me 1 shiny penny.

*to cover bandages for my hand after I've finished what I have no doubt will be a very poplar thing

*sends pete £15 for a start*

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 21:33

BTW, I do feel the pain. So here's my recent story for the entertainment of the masses.

My wife borrowed my 60Gb 2.5" USB drive 2 weeks ago to move a bunch of pictures (wifi network was too slow for the amount of data she wanted to move)... Then the next day just picked up and dragged her laptop towards her with it still attached.

Smack, one dead HDD that makes cute little buzzing noises. 60Gb of films, other data and TrueImages gone...
Nothing that can't be re-made/swept, but still...

Post by **HereComesPete** » August 11th, 2007, 21:41

I hope you hit her, gently and lovingly given she's the wife, but a black eye is a gentle reminder she done wrong.

Alternatively, chow down on food that makes your jizz fearful smelly, then make her swallow down with a smile.

Or she could buy you a new one and pay for someone else to recover it, with her personal money.

I like the last option least.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 21:51

HereComesPete wrote: I hope you hit her, gently and lovingly given she's the wife, but a black eye is a gentle reminder she done wrong.

lol, no, better I simply do the hurt look that women are so fond of and remind her of her dumb mistake at every opportune moment. Usually when she's about to chastise me for doing something silly. Kind of like "inverse brownie points"

HereComesPete wrote:Alternatively, chow down on food that makes your jizz fearful smelly, then make her swallow down with a smile.

Never thought of that. Any suggestions as to the food?

HereComesPete wrote:Or she could buy you a new one and pay for someone else to recover it, with her personal money.

Her personal money? You're not married are you?