Cannot access D:\ after install WIN7 on C:\

[Arnoud]

I did a fresh install of windows 7 on C:\ with format with default file system, now I cannot acces D:\ partition anymore where my data resides. Any suggestions ?
thanks

 

[Ijack]

What partitions show in Disk Management (right click on "Computer" in start menu then select "Manage")?

If there are two, try assigning a drive letter to the one that doesn't have one. If there's just one then, I'm sorry, you've lost your data.

It may be too late to say this to you, but for the sake of others - always make sure you have an independent backup of data that is important to you. Mistakes happen and disks can fail.


Edit: There may be a very small (200-300Mb) partition at the start of the disk. Ignore this - it's part of the Windows7 install.

 

[Arnoud]

Thanks for trying to help, I see both:
C: filesystem=NTSFS, status=healthy and
D: filesystem=RAW, status=healthy

 

[Arnoud]

If a try to access in MY COMPUTER, i do see 'Local Disk (D)' but nothing else, i I double click I get "You need to formt the disk in drive D: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?" then press CANCEL, I get "D:\ is not accessable. The volume does not contain a recognized filesystem. Pls make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted"

MAybe get WIN7 on startup also load drivers for RAW filesystem? If so...how to do that ??

 

[Ijack]

I don't like to say this, but that is not good news. "filesystem=RAW" means that it is not formatted. How big is the disk, and how big are these partitions?

I'd have to say that it looks like you have lost your data, without using some advanced data recovery techniques. How important is the data? If the answer is "very" then I would recommend asking someone knowledgeable to have a look at your computer for you to see if there is any chance that the data can be recovered.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but trying to recover from such a situation can lead to more trouble unless you are fairly experienced with the tasks involved.

 

[Arnoud]

C: is 19 GB and D is 18 GB.
I am willing to take up the challenge, the most important is a schoolpiece of my son he has been working on for a long time

 

[Ijack]

If you want to have a go yourself, have a look at the tools here, in particular Partition Recovery may help you. These tools should give you a report of what, if anything, can be salvaged. Be very sure before you ask it to make any changes to the disk. It may be that the trial version will only report and that you have to buy a full version before it will actually recover data.

(These are just representative tools that I found from a quick Google of "recovering files from a formatted disk". There are others and someone may be able to give a recommendation of a good, free tool.)

Normally I would recommend taking an image of the disk onto another hard disk and working on that, but it sounds like this may not be an option in your case. The very best chance of recovering your data would be to take the disk to a data recovery specialist, but this tends to be rather expensive; you have to balance the worth of the data with the cost of recovery.

I wish you the very best of luck with this. It's a situation that most of us have been in at some time or other. Remember, in future keep separate backups of anything that is important to you.

 

[Arnoud]

yep, learning the hard way. Will try tools like that..have to go now, will probably be this evening (Netherlands) or tomorrow. I will post the results here or perhaps have an additional question. Thanks so far !!!

 

[Ijack]

Here's another tool that you might try. It doesn't look as comprehensive, but is cheaper (it says free for personal use) so may be worth trying first.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I did a fresh install of windows 7 on C:\ with format with default file system, now I cannot acces D:\ partition anymore where my data resides. Any suggestions ?
thanks

Wonder if Win7 is using some sort of Rescue Disk like approach. Saw this years back w/ a IBM system restore disk from a Stinkpad. During install of Win2k, it would put all it's install files on D then copy them to see, formatting D when it was done.

 

[Arnoud]

okay--update...I used POWER DATA RECOVERY vs 4.1.2 but no such luck, it did recognize some 'FAT' folders but onyl parts of it, no files recovered.

 

[Ijack]

I'm sorry to hear that. It's possible that a data recovery service could help but, as I said, they do tend to be rather expensive.

From years of PC support I realize how distressing it is when someone has lost an important file and you are unable to help, more so if you were is some way responsible for the loss. You have my sympathy.

 

[Arnoud]

Well, I'll try some other tools as well. I'll let you know.