Recovering lost or damaged partition

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Guest

Hi,

I experienced a crash due to Norton GoBack. It corrupted the MBR of my two
HDs. To solve the problem I reformatted my “C†drive and reinstalled XP.
However, I can’t access my “D†drive. When I use Control Panel |
Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Disk Management, I can view the
state of “Disk 0†as: Drive C, and its NTFS partition indicates Healthy.
However, “Disk 1†as no letter assigned to it, but its NTFS partition also
shows Healthy. If I Right-click on “Disk 1â€, the only option I have is
“Delete partition.†I don’t want to do this to recover my drive because it
contains all my data.

Can anyone indicate me if and how I can recover that important data? Note
that I use my “D†drive exclusively to store data.

Thanks,
 
I have a related problem which the partition commander info doesn't
address and I have been unable to find info on elsewhere.

I have a 100gb WD Cavier drive that was running on a win98se box using
WD's partitioning schema to break it into two drives to meet win98's
drive size limits which worked for years until the motherboard failed.

Long story short, win98se on another box tried to "fix" the WD partition
and failed. The drive now shows "raw" when I look at it with a ide->usb
connection.

I'm pretty sure the data is intact, but looking for someone who knows
more about this senario before I go in and screw things up even more.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
YBeaupre said:
I experienced a crash due to Norton GoBack. It corrupted the MBR of my two
HDs. To solve the problem I reformatted my "C" drive and reinstalled XP.
However, I can't access my "D" drive. When I use Control Panel |
Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Disk Management, I can view the
state of "Disk 0" as: Drive C, and its NTFS partition indicates Healthy.
However, "Disk 1" as no letter assigned to it, but its NTFS partition also
shows Healthy. If I Right-click on "Disk 1", the only option I have is
"Delete partition." I don't want to do this to recover my drive because it
contains all my data.

Can anyone indicate me if and how I can recover that important data? Note
that I use my "D" drive exclusively to store data.
Click to expand...

While it's not hard to imagine that GoBack trashed your volumes, there is also
a good possibility that your second drive is still intact, but still configured as
a "Goback type". It's not uncommon that when an OS is reinstalled on the
primary drive, and GoBack had been installed, that all the partitions on a
second drive disappear. I assume you didn't uninstall GB beforehand.

If you have the means, clone the drive to another and then either;

Install Goback to your new install, so that it can interpret the second drive.
Copy your data off. Uninstall GB.

Run symantec's GB utilitiy to "unhook" GB.
You can find the download and instructions here-
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/goback.nsf/docid/2005111514174058?OpenDocument&src=hot&seg=hho

Personally I would choose the unhook method.
It's a fairly safe operation, but.......
 
YBeaupre said:
I will search for a good and reliable product.

Thanks,
Click to expand...


yBeaupre:
I really don't think your search for "a good and reliable product" will bear
fruit in terms of resolving your problem. You do not need "commercial
software" in order to find a solution to your problem. And too many of those
third-party programs exacerbate the problem, not correct it.

We're assuming the HDDs involved are PATA, and not SATA drives, right?

1. We'll assume that you've properly installed the XP OS and your boot drive
functions without any problems - leaving aside the non-recognition of your
secondary HDD.

2. We'll further assume your "Drive D", your secondary HDD, is
non-defective. In cases like this it's always a good idea to check out the
disk for any defects with the diagnostic utility that's generally available
from the web site of the disk's manufacturer. And check your motherboard's
BIOS to determine if there's any misconfigured setting affecting your HDDs
that might impact on your non-recognition problem.

So do this...
A. Shut down the machine, disconnect that secondary HDD, and boot with only
your boot drive connected. Again, we'll assume the system boots without
incident and functions without any problems.

B. Shut down the machine and reconnect that secondary HDD. Ensure that it's
correctly connected/jumpered. *Carefully* re:check your connections & jumper
settings.

C. Power on and see if the problem is corrected. If drive is not listed in
My Computer/Windows Explorer, access Disk Management and see if you can now
make a drive letter assignment.

D. If still no go, try connecting the secondary HDD to another IDE channel
and see if that works.
Anna
 
many thanks... have been to the wd site, but will go back to your link
and investigate the other resources tomorrow...

thanks again,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
YBeaupre said:
Can anyone indicate me if and how I can recover that important data? Note
that I use my “D†drive exclusively to store data.
Click to expand...

There's an excellent utility called DFSee that will probably do what
you want. It's an excellent product with excellent support. Go to
www.dfsee.com.

Frank Kirk
 
Hi Brian,

I have looked at a few of your solutions.

The one that promised most result was from "cgsecurity". Not however that
the utility TESTDISK wasn't very user friendly.

At last I opted for a commercial solution from Nucleus Technologies: Nucleus
Kernel for NTFS. This application detected all my data and permitted my to
save it to another location. Once this was done, I repartionned and
reformated my HD, copied back my data to my I drive. I cost $50 but saved a
lot of time.

Thanks for your help.

Brian A. said:
Beverly Howard said:
I have a related problem which the partition commander info doesn't
address and I have been unable to find info on elsewhere.

I have a 100gb WD Cavier drive that was running on a win98se box using
WD's partitioning schema to break it into two drives to meet win98's
drive size limits which worked for years until the motherboard failed.

Long story short, win98se on another box tried to "fix" the WD partition
and failed. The drive now shows "raw" when I look at it with a ide->usb
connection.

I'm pretty sure the data is intact, but looking for someone who knows
more about this senario before I go in and screw things up even more.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
Click to expand...

Hi Beverly,

Have you tried running WD's Diagnostics on the drive? From the looks of it the drives partition table is damaged/corrupt.
Why is my drive shown with a Raw format in Disk Management under Windows 2000, XP, or 2003?
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...T0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9cmF3&p_li=&p_topview=1

or if the link wraps/breaks: http://tinyurl.com/3dxve5

You can also get WD's tools/utilities from:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

or if the link wraps/breaks: http://tinyurl.com/2mum6g

Another open source utility that may help recover:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Here's some data recovery examples from the same:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Recovery_Examples


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Click to expand...
 
Sometimes it costs if one wants to recover data, you paid a minimal price compared
to what could have been.

Glad to hear your back in business and thanks for the feedback.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375



YBeaupre said:
Hi Brian,

I have looked at a few of your solutions.

The one that promised most result was from "cgsecurity". Not however that
the utility TESTDISK wasn't very user friendly.

At last I opted for a commercial solution from Nucleus Technologies: Nucleus
Kernel for NTFS. This application detected all my data and permitted my to
save it to another location. Once this was done, I repartionned and
reformated my HD, copied back my data to my I drive. I cost $50 but saved a
lot of time.

Thanks for your help.

Brian A. said:
Beverly Howard said:
I have a related problem which the partition commander info doesn't
address and I have been unable to find info on elsewhere.

I have a 100gb WD Cavier drive that was running on a win98se box using
WD's partitioning schema to break it into two drives to meet win98's
drive size limits which worked for years until the motherboard failed.

Long story short, win98se on another box tried to "fix" the WD partition
and failed. The drive now shows "raw" when I look at it with a ide->usb
connection.

I'm pretty sure the data is intact, but looking for someone who knows
more about this senario before I go in and screw things up even more.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
Click to expand...

Hi Beverly,

Have you tried running WD's Diagnostics on the drive? From the looks of it the
drives partition table is damaged/corrupt.
Why is my drive shown with a Raw format in Disk Management under Windows 2000, XP,
or 2003?
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...T0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9cmF3&p_li=&p_topview=1

or if the link wraps/breaks: http://tinyurl.com/3dxve5

You can also get WD's tools/utilities from:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

or if the link wraps/breaks: http://tinyurl.com/2mum6g

Another open source utility that may help recover:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Here's some data recovery examples from the same:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Recovery_Examples


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi,

I experienced a crash due to Norton GoBack. It corrupted the MBR of my two
HDs. To solve the problem I reformatted my "C" drive and reinstalled XP.
However, I can't access my "D" drive. When I use Control Panel |
Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Disk Management, I can view the
state of "Disk 0" as: Drive C, and its NTFS partition indicates Healthy.
However, "Disk 1" as no letter assigned to it, but its NTFS partition also
shows Healthy. If I Right-click on "Disk 1", the only option I have is
"Delete partition." I don't want to do this to recover my drive because it
contains all my data.

Can anyone indicate me if and how I can recover that important data? Note
that I use my "D" drive exclusively to store data.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

ARAX Disk Doctor might be useful for you now. It has the ability to
recover lost partitions
http://www.disk-doctor.com/
 
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