Deleted Partition on Accident, Can I Get My Files?

[Monty]

Ok I rushed into this and was not thinking straight. I was
reformatting my computer and reinstalling the OS. When the listed
partitions were listed I deleted all of them thinking I was going to
repartition it. Well I accidentally deleted the partition for my
external hard drive which I did not mean to. I didn't format the drive
yet but of course I plugged my external hard drive into another
computer and it is recognized but of course the volume is not listed.

How do I get to the files that were on the external hard drive? I'm
really stressed out here. Trying to install Windows XP Pro and the
external hard drive is NTFS.

Please help I was not sure where to post this but saw somewhat similar
posts here so I thought I would try.

- Monty

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Ok I rushed into this and was not thinking straight. I was
reformatting my computer and reinstalling the OS. When the listed
partitions were listed I deleted all of them thinking I was going to
repartition it. Well I accidentally deleted the partition for my
external hard drive which I did not mean to. I didn't format the drive
yet but of course I plugged my external hard drive into another
computer and it is recognized but of course the volume is not listed.

How do I get to the files that were on the external hard drive? I'm
really stressed out here. Trying to install Windows XP Pro and the
external hard drive is NTFS.

Please help I was not sure where to post this but saw somewhat similar
posts here so I thought I would try.

- Monty

You need to use data recovery software, and run the drive as little as
possible till you are ready to proceed. You need to be patient and take
care, so set that drive aside for the moment while you figure out what
utility might work best with your situation.

You may need to get help from a recovery service, but if you just deleted
the partition and didn't format it, decent chances exist that you can
recover the partition with software that you can get and use at a reasonable
price.

HTH
-pk

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Mind if I amend that? Don't use that partition AT ALL. (I also recommend
R-Studio for data recovery.)

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Ok I rushed into this and was not thinking straight. I was
reformatting my computer and reinstalling the OS. When the listed
partitions were listed I deleted all of them thinking I was going to
repartition it. Well I accidentally deleted the partition for my
external hard drive which I did not mean to. I didn't format the drive
yet but of course I plugged my external hard drive into another
computer and it is recognized but of course the volume is not listed.

How do I get to the files that were on the external hard drive? I'm
really stressed out here. Trying to install Windows XP Pro and the
external hard drive is NTFS.

Please help I was not sure where to post this but saw somewhat similar
posts here so I thought I would try.

- Monty

I have had excellent success with Acronis Recovery Expert. Since
you have not done anything to this disk, your chances of a full
recovery are excellent.

How about reviewing your backup policy after resolving this
problem? As we all know, important files must be stored on
at least two independent media. Accidents do happen . . .

 

[Monty]

I have had excellent success with Acronis Recovery Expert. Since
you have not done anything to this disk, your chances of a full
recovery are excellent.

How about reviewing your backup policy after resolving this
problem? As we all know, important files must be stored on
at least two independent media. Accidents do happen . . .- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for all the replies. I definately know for next time that I
should have backed it up in two places. I guess that is a lesson I
have to pay for. I've been looking at various softwares but have had
no personal experience ever using them. The two I have been looking
at are Migo Software Recover Lost Data and Runtime Software
GetDataBack.

Normally when recover data does it place things back into the file
structure or is it just a long list? For example I backed up my My
Documents folder, so will it list the folder and its contents or will
it just give me one long list of all the files?

- Monty

 

[Shane]

MOnty,
For what it's worth, I'm VERY happy with M-Soft's SyncToy (Made by the
people who brought you Tweak-UI and XP-Power Toys... MICROSOFT!)

I'm able to select which drives, folders, and files I want to back-up, and
where to back them up. It retains my directory structure, lets me back-up in
either direction (Primary to Backup drive, or Backup to Primary drive).

The last thing I do before lunch and leaving is to hit Synctoy.. after the
first time I backed-up (Which backs up ALL the files you wanted), it only
takes a few minutes IF that long!

Here's a link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/synctoy.mspx

Shane

 

[RA]

Thank you for all the replies. I definately know for next time that I
should have backed it up in two places. I guess that is a lesson I
have to pay for. I've been looking at various softwares but have had
no personal experience ever using them. The two I have been looking
at are Migo Software Recover Lost Data and Runtime Software
GetDataBack.

Normally when recover data does it place things back into the file
structure or is it just a long list? For example I backed up my My
Documents folder, so will it list the folder and its contents or will
it just give me one long list of all the files?

- Monty

One other thing to remember when you install an OS is to unplug peripherals
before you start.

 

[Monty]

MOnty,
For what it's worth, I'm VERY happy with M-Soft's SyncToy (Made by the
people who brought you Tweak-UI and XP-Power Toys... MICROSOFT!)

I'm able to select which drives, folders, and files I want to back-up, and
where to back them up. It retains my directory structure, lets me back-upin
either direction (Primary to Backup drive, or Backup to Primary drive).

The last thing I do before lunch and leaving is to hit Synctoy.. after the
first time I backed-up (Which backs up ALL the files you wanted), it only
takes a few minutes IF that long!

Here's a link:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/...

Shane









- Show quoted text -

Too bad my external hard drive was my backup. I used SyncToy as well
and I love it.

 

[Andy]

You should start with
<http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk>
TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily
designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks
bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software,
certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting
your Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is
really easy.

 

[Monty]

You should start with
<http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk>
TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily
designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks
bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software,
certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting
your Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is
really easy.








- Show quoted text -

Damn I wish I would have read this sooner. I ended up purchasing
GetDataBack and was able to get all my data back. Thank you for
everyones help.

 

[dobey]

Damn I wish I would have read this sooner. I ended up purchasing
GetDataBack and was able to get all my data back. Thank you for
everyones help.

Geez how terrible you got back your data after your own stupidity and
actually had to fork out a few dollars.

Send the GetDataBack people a flame for having ripped you off plus ask for a
payout for stress caused.

 

[Monty]

Geez how terrible you got back your data after your own stupidity and
actually had to fork out a few dollars.

Send the GetDataBack people a flame for having ripped you off plus ask for a
payout for stress caused.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Geez how helpful your idiotic comment was. Thank you for your
insightfulness. This post was initially intended to see if I had done
anything that was reversable. After everyone explained what I had
done I immediately seeked alternate solutions. I found one and I paid
and I already thankfully replied to GetDataBack on how much they saved
my ass. But geez if it wasn't for your comment I would have not
realized that. Thank you for making this forum helpful to all.

 

[cornedbeef007-groups]

Geez how terrible you got back your data after your own stupidity and
actually had to fork out a few dollars.

Send the GetDataBack people a flame for having ripped you off plus ask for a
payout for stress caused.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Go and play in the traffic Dobey.

 

[whiteurls]

Wow great you should enjoy that you got back your data. To recover my
partition I used Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software a file
and partition recovery utility which recovers lost, deleted and
formatted data from viruses, software malfunction and sabotage.
Stellar Phoenix is powered by Raw File Recovery' feature that
recognizes & recovers more than 300 file types including documents,
spreadsheets, web content & images.
For more information visit: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm