So I goofed up on reformatting my comp

Chen

You've probably heard this a thousand times before.

Long story short: A bunch of registery files went corrupt leaving me unable to boot Windows XP. Since my C:/ drive doesn't contain important files and the performance isn't what it used to be, I decided to do a quick reformat, reinstall XP and the necessary drivers to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Only I forgot that my second drive / was partitioned with the boot drive C:/, so now it's inaccessible because it can't be recognized. It just shows up empty without any amount of available space. When I click on it it says: The disk isn't formatted, would you like to format it now? Both disks are NTFS by the way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please don't say I fucked up.

Fandyien

I think you might be boned, man. In my experience, you should always get rid of partitions and/or unplug other disks physically plugged into your computer before a reformat.

If you are screwed, however, and you want a less painful way to holistically reformat, this method worked incredibly well for me when I was reformatting angrily for the second time in a month.

http://www.informationweek.com/1094/langa.htm

Chen

You're telling me that it isn't possible for me, or people who actually know what they're doing, to recover the data?

What the fuck, Windows?

Chubbly

I'm not quite sure if I understand the problem, but have you tried a recovery disc:

http://www.sysresccd.org/Download

This contains a whole bunch of useful programs. You want to use TestDisk to get your partition back.

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

I hope this helps.

Dance Commander

Did you just reformat your C: partition or actually delete it? If it's the latter, then that might be the cause of your problems, since that partition was likely the primary one. That should be a fixable problem in principle, but I don't know how. That testdisk thing from above might work.

bowen

Yeah you're most likely boned. If fand's link doesn't work give www.getdata.com a try and use the recover my files software. Grab the trail and see if it works, you may have to spend some money though.

Chen

Well, I reformatted C: and left alone, which probably screwed up the partition table. Tried Testdisk but I can't see any lost or damaged partitions. Just a boot, primary (C:) and a logical (D:). The files in are intact and accessible at least, so this may be salvagable after all. I don't see why not.

The question is should I attempt to recover the data myself or would it be wiser to let a professional do the job?

Infidel

Assumption: You used the D key to delete the partition during the Windows Setup stage? Then went ohcrap and bailed, and have done nothing more at all?

If so, you should be able to use a partition undelete tool of some sort still.

For future reference, you don't need to delete the partition in order to clean install, just select the old C drive and at the next step you'll have the option to Format the drive NTFS (quick) and won't muck with your other partitions in this manner.

I wouldn't try recreating any partitions or recovery will be much messier. If you undelete the partition, you should retain the full file structure and won't be missing anything pretty much. If you rewrite the partition table then you'll have to use a general file recovery tool which can miss data and often mucks up your folder structure and other pains in the ass.

edit: here is an example program, I have used the full version before but looks like the demo may handle the situation you're in.

Chen

No, I don't think I deleted anything. I didn't press d, that's for sure. Just formatted the C drive NTFS the old-fashioned way (not quick).

Infidel

Where did you do the format? Just in Windows Setup blue screen area, showed the two partitions and you picked C, format NTFS?

Because then your D drive should be perfectly fine and I'm not sure what happened if that's the case.

Chen

What I did when XP couldn't be booted:
- Insert XP disc;
- Pressed any key to start the disc;
- Chose to set up XP;
- Chose the C partition;
- Formatted the partition as NTSF;
- Waited until the format was complete.

What I imagine it did was it overwrote the partition, since the new partition I wanted to create already exists if corrupted.

DrFrylock

It doesn't make sense that reformatting the C: partition screwed up the partition. The partition table is not stored "on" the C: drive, so it's not like reformatting it should have screwed things up. The only way two partitions can really be bound to each other is if they're logical partitions inside a big primary (extended) partition, but I'm pretty sure that C: has to be a primary partition and so it can't be in an extended partition with .

Did you have any drive-encrypting software installed by chance? Something like TrueCrypt or GuardianEdge or something like that?

Chen

DrFrylock wrote: »

It doesn't make sense that reformatting the C: partition screwed up the partition. The partition table is not stored "on" the C: drive, so it's not like reformatting it should have screwed things up. The only way two partitions can really be bound to each other is if they're logical partitions inside a big primary (extended) partition, but I'm pretty sure that C: has to be a primary partition and so it can't be in an extended partition with .

Did you have any drive-encrypting software installed by chance? Something like TrueCrypt or GuardianEdge or something like that?

Nope. This is getting a bit beyond my comprehension, but yes, C: is the primary partition and, with the help of the tool Infidel gave me, is apparently an extended partition which looks fine to me.

I think I'll go to a repair shop and ask what they can do with it, because these recovery software look like they can potentially make matters worse.

Infidel

If you have access to another computer you could try hooking up the drive and copying your important data over, if you have enough space on the other system. Could save you a few bucks.

I'm typing this from my shop right now, and if you brought your system in to me I'm sure I could get your data all in one piece, so you might just want to do that for the piece of mind if you know a shop you can trust.

Dance Commander

Go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management and click on the Disk Management option, and describe to us what you see.

Chen

Dance Commander wrote: »

Go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management and click on the Disk Management option, and describe to us what you see.

I can see 3 partitions:
- CLARITY (FAT) which I think is my system partition.
- C: (NTFS) which is my primary and boot partition.
- (no listed format) which is a logical drive and an extended partition. Capacity is 100% free which is false.

I don't know why has no format since I didn't do anything to it. All 3 partitions are healthy.

eternalbl

If your partition is larger than 137GB you'll need sp1 or 2 installed to support it.

Uncle Long

Just for giggles, try throwing a Ubuntu live disc in there and boot. Sometimes a linux distro can help you retrieve data. Though it will be read-only in linux you may be able to at least back up your important data in case worse comes to worst and you decide to reformat the remaining partition.

Joe Chemo

I second the ubuntu live disk. Sometimes linux can do weird hardrive spelunking that other programs can't.

Soggychicken

eternalbl wrote: »

If your partition is larger than 137GB you'll need sp1 or 2 installed to support it.

This.

The whole point of having separate partitions is that you can format one and leave the other alone. You seem to have done all the right steps with how you reinstalled windows, so try to update to SP3 and see if that fixes it.

bsjezz

Uncle Long wrote: »

Just for giggles, try throwing a Ubuntu live disc in there and boot. Sometimes a linux distro can help you retrieve data. Though it will be read-only in linux you may be able to at least back up your important data in case worse comes to worst and you decide to reformat the remaining partition.

yeah, my instant thought would be to run a gparted disc / usb boot

gparted is a fantastic application that everyone should have handy

edit: though i guess if there's data you need to actually recover it might be a bit limited

Chen

A little progress report:

I went to a shop and got told that I should do a complete diagnosis on the whole goddamn pc before touching the drive. I thought it was bullshit, but they won't touch it unless they know exactly what's wrong with it. Worst case scenario would be a defect disk. Let's hope it isn't.

Regardless, thanks for the help, guys.

bowen

Buh, sounds like bad sectors on the disk.

Find a new repair shop.

MagicPrime

Sometimes in the world of PCs you just have to toss up your hands, say fuck it, and start from scratch.

It's happened to me a time or two and I'm sure it will happen again some day. You have to compare how much those files on your computer are worth to you in time/money. And for next time you might want to invest in some kind of external storage drive.

bowen

Yeah I don't think the files are necessarily worth it at this point.

Let this show you kids, always make a backup.

Topweasel

Chen wrote: »

You've probably heard this a thousand times before.

Long story short: A bunch of registery files went corrupt leaving me unable to boot Windows XP. Since my C:/ drive doesn't contain important files and the performance isn't what it used to be, I decided to do a quick reformat, reinstall XP and the necessary drivers to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Only I forgot that my second drive / was partitioned with the boot drive C:/, so now it's inaccessible because it can't be recognized. It just shows up empty without any amount of available space. When I click on it it says: The disk isn't formatted, would you like to format it now? Both disks are NTFS by the way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please don't say I fucked up.

I am with everyone else here. What is the Storage size of (>137GB?) and what version of windows are you loading? If you are using an original Windows XP install then you might just need to install SP2 or SP3. Don't take it to what ever version of the Nerd Herd you have near you, they are 3 times more likely to make a bigger mess then you unless you get a really good guy behind the counter. Then again no promise that he is the one that is going to do the work.

This might get annoying and take awhile but because data is at risk unless you take it to a data retrieval expert, collect the information we ask for and don't do anything before posting the exact steps your going to take and give us time to answer.

Chen

bowen wrote: »

Yeah I don't think the files are necessarily worth it at this point.

Let this show you kids, always make a backup.

I did backup data, just not all of it, mostly some documents I've been working on lately and my music collection which must be reaching 30 Gb by now. I have most of the MP3s on my iPod, but I don't think it's possible to retrieve them that way. It'd be nice to be able to recover it, since I've spend a bit of effort over what must be close to a decade to accumulate it.

Come to think of it, is it possible to copy small files with Testdisk or some other free software to my C partition? Or do I need to use an external storage device? That would take care of the documents at least.

PS. The disk size is 122 GB and I've installed SP3 so I don't think that's the problem.

eternalbl

I've never used testdisk, but on their site it says it can be used to recover a partition. If that's the case, whats stopping you from doing that?

However, reading about what the program would do to recover your partition, I'm fairly certain windows recovery console's fixmbr would take care of the same thing.

Just boot up your windows cd, hit r at the first screen for recovery console, put in your admin password (just hit enter if there isn't one), and at the C: prompt type "Fixmbr" and hit enter.

Uncle Long

Chen wrote: »

bowen wrote: »

Yeah I don't think the files are necessarily worth it at this point.

Let this show you kids, always make a backup.

I did backup data, just not all of it, mostly some documents I've been working on lately and my music collection which must be reaching 30 Gb by now. I have most of the MP3s on my iPod, but I don't think it's possible to retrieve them that way. It'd be nice to be able to recover it, since I've spend a bit of effort over what must be close to a decade to accumulate it.

Come to think of it, is it possible to copy small files with Testdisk or some other free software to my C partition? Or do I need to use an external storage device? That would take care of the documents at least.

PS. The disk size is 122 GB and I've installed SP3 so I don't think that's the problem.

You should be able to retrieve your music files with the iPod. There are a few programs out there like Yamipod (sp?) that will transfer that data back to a computer.