Data/Partition Recovery Help Desperately Needed!

[sodaburst]

Hello,

I have gotten myself in a serious bind and could really use some help in terms of

-how I can tackle the following situation and
-the software required to do so.

In short, here's my situation.

My intention was to move my data files off my computer (and a jump drive) and store it all on to two external hd's so that I'd have more space on my slowing 2004 laptop and have my data saved and backed up.

My laptop's main hd had the operating system (Windows XP) and programs on a C Drive and data files on a partitioned D Drive.

I had hoped to clear files from the D drive, delete the partition and add the D drive space to the C Drive for system/program files.

I cut and pasted the data files (from both the D drive and a jump drive) to the new external hard drive. Then I deleted the partition on the D Drive.

My next steps would have been to duplicate my data files on a second external HD and then increase the space on the C Drive.

However, in all my brilliance, I knocked the external HD off my desk and essentially killed it - it revs up, but then makes a "shhhh click click" sound.

My hope is that I can somehow pull my "cut and pasted" files from the now unpartioned D Drive and my jump drive, but I don't want to take any chance of screwing up my only opportunity of getting my files back, if that's even possible.

Any suggestions on how to do this would be most appreciated.

I REALLY need these files back ASAP and paying $1000-$2000 to attempt to have them pulled off the now dead hd is out of the question.

Thank you in advance for any attempt to help me with this! I'm really trying not to completely freak out and greatly appreciate any constructive advice.

 

[unksol]

give easeus partition recovery a try. its free and I have had very good results with easeus products.

http://www.easeus.com/partition-recovery/

recuva may work for the jump drive. I am not clear if you reformatted the jump drive or just deleted the files...

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

 

[sodaburst]

I actually cut and pasted my files from both the jump drive and the D drive. Before I got your response, I tried "RecoverMyFiles" and had no luck recovering my word docs and other data. I'll try recova and see if that works.

I've read that R-Studio and Partition Magic might be helpful to both "undelete the d drive and recover my files.

Thoughts on these programs?

 

[unksol]

I'd try easeus partition recovery first since I know it. if you just deleted the partition you couldn't write to it since its unallocated so it should still be intact. Those other programs may work too though

 

[sodaburst]

ok, I'm on it. . ..

 

[sodaburst]

recovered the partition.

files couldn't be recovered by recuva or recover my files. i may have done myself in by cutting and pasting. any other options you can suggest?

 

[unksol]

Frankly speaking, partition recovery wasn't a smart move, you see, the lesser you do something with the disk, the more chances that some important file info remains un-overwritten.

Hello Frank, I see you have no knowledge of file recovery. or reading as he said he already recovered it. by definition if you recover the deleted partition you recover... Erm... the partition.... and the files on it.

You are partialy correct in that you don't want to mess with the drive doing unecessary things. but since the space was unallocated he couldn't do so anyway, and telling someone that recovering their data will make it UNrecoverable after they have already recovered it is.... well.... to be you. or Frank. Stupid.

Based on your level of knowledge and the poor product you recommended which is probably laden with spyware I understand you are probably a troll but if not please do not try and destroy users machines when you have no idea what you are talking about

 

[fzabkar]

IMHO, the best approach would have been not to write anything to the drive (as alt-rtt has explained). Instead, if all that had been done was to delete the D: partition, then Partition Find and Mount (freeware) should have been able to see the file system. PF&M does not write to the drive, but mounts the partition like a regular volume.

Another freeware alternative is TestDisk. TestDisk is able to reconstruct the entry in the partition table. If the boot sector for the D: drive had been wiped, then TestDisk should have been able to reconstruct it as well.

http://findandmount.com
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk