External HDD "RAW" file system !!!HELP!!!!

[Guest]

Well i caused this problem and cant figure out how to save all of my data and restore the file system back to NTFS.
This is how it happened. I was trying to install Win7 to my WD Elements 1TB external. I was using the windows fast installer toget it to work because the normal install wont support USB or IEEE1394 connections. I resized the partition (about 700gb of "stuff") and created a second partition about 30gb in size. The fast installer wasn't doing what it was supposed to do and some files were becoming corrupted. I decided it was a waste of time and put the partitions back to how it was before i started this. Now my HDD is showing RAW as the file system. I tried a few different apps to get it back but nothing was working. boot sector is fine but there is an error with the back up boot sector. Some of those apps were saying that i could fix the MBR because of the partitions overlapping. I really want to save whats on there. I do not have the space anywhere else to recovery the files to. I do not want to format the drive. Any suggestions that dont involve destroying the data would be fantastic. TIA -Capn

 

[sminlal]

You could try pulling the data off using a Ubuntu LiveCD. Download, burn to CD, boot from CD, access drive.

 

[Guest]

That is definitely an option. I dont have enough space anywhere else to save the recovered files to. I'm trying to fix the file structure /boot sector/ MBR so i can save everything. almost 75% of the 1TB HDD is used. took me since last november to get it this far. dont want to lose all that time.

 

[sminlal]

The risk is that if you mess around with the disk trying to "fix" the problem you run the risk of making it worse. What's the data worth to you? If you buy another drive then you'll have something to use for backups (which would have solved this problem for you) and you'll hopefully be able to make a copy of the data without having to muck around with the drive.

Aside from the cost of your time it's free to download and try Ubuntu, so you might want to try that first just to see if you can access the data. If so, then you can decide what your next step is.

 

[Guest]

that time from november til now was dl the data. not trying to fix the issue. i only spent about a week trying to fix it so far. is there a way to Fix the partition overlap so i can rebuild the MBR and get the backup Boot Sector fixed. I will not spend money to fix the issue. I'll lose all that data before i spend money. It's about the experience of correcting the issue. if anyone has a software in mind that can fix a partition overlap, please let me know.