Fried OS, reinstalled XP, empty D:

[Guest]

Short Story: I fried my OS, had to re-install, finally did so (to E: drive),
but it says my D: is empty.

Longer Story:
•When the IT person started to install XP, there were three drives C: with
IBM software, D: with some files (less than the 20GB total it is partitioned
to have), and E: with the UNC image.
•The IT person reformatting over the UNC image and installed XP to the E:
oFirst he reformatted the drive as NTSF, and after taking about 24 hours,
XP started to install, but came up with a “Stop: C0000221 Unknown Hard Error
\systemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll†error. Tried the fix listed in the Microsoft
newsgroups but that didn’t take. Possible bad sector/HD?
oThen he reformatted again using a quick format and as FAT32. That did take
and XP installed.
•However, despite finding a *name*, *name*-2, and an admin user account in
Documents & Settings, I can’t find my old files. *name* being the user
accounts I set up before and again, now, trying to get into my old account.

Incidently, I took my laptop to Geek Squad before I re-installed XP, but
they couldn’t back it up (and didn't tell me why, btw).

Questions I need answering:
•Are my files still on the D:? Is there a way to check?
•Is it possible they be recovered?
•Could there be bad sectors on my HD (seeing as how the reformat took so
long)? Should I keep using the laptop or should I get a new computer? I have
a new Seagate 300GB external HD, would it be possible to run programs from it
as well as use it as a D: and backup to extend my laptop?

I have some back-ups , but with the trouble I've had with my CD-Rom drive,
back-ups don't always take, so I don't have everything.

 

[Rock]

Short Story: I fried my OS, had to re-install, finally did so (to E:
drive),
but it says my D: is empty.

Longer Story:
•When the IT person started to install XP, there were three drives C: with
IBM software, D: with some files (less than the 20GB total it is
partitioned
to have), and E: with the UNC image.
•The IT person reformatting over the UNC image and installed XP to the E:
oFirst he reformatted the drive as NTSF, and after taking about 24 hours,
XP started to install, but came up with a “Stop: C0000221 Unknown Hard
Error
\systemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll†error. Tried the fix listed in the
Microsoft
newsgroups but that didn’t take. Possible bad sector/HD?
oThen he reformatted again using a quick format and as FAT32. That did
take
and XP installed.
•However, despite finding a *name*, *name*-2, and an admin user account in
Documents & Settings, I can’t find my old files. *name* being the user
accounts I set up before and again, now, trying to get into my old
account.

Incidently, I took my laptop to Geek Squad before I re-installed XP, but
they couldn’t back it up (and didn't tell me why, btw).

Questions I need answering:
•Are my files still on the D:? Is there a way to check?
•Is it possible they be recovered?
•Could there be bad sectors on my HD (seeing as how the reformat took so
long)? Should I keep using the laptop or should I get a new computer? I
have
a new Seagate 300GB external HD, would it be possible to run programs from
it
as well as use it as a D: and backup to extend my laptop?

I have some back-ups , but with the trouble I've had with my CD-Rom drive,
back-ups don't always take, so I don't have everything.

It sounds like your "IT person" did something to the D: volume ( this is
just one hard drive partitioned into multiple volumes?). Installing XP on a
separate volume should not cause data on a different volume to be erased.
Note that installing XP and creating an account with the same name won't
allow you to use an account of that name from a previous install. Normally
though, if the data is still there, you can copy the user data after taking
ownership of it. Is the D: drive data missing or does it give you an access
denied message when you try to access the data? If it's access denied, then
take ownership of the files and folders. From Start | Help and Support
search on ownership for info on how to do this.

What do you see when looking at the drive in disk management? Does it show
data on the D drive?

There is data recovery software available.
http://www.ontrack.com/software/

There are also data recovery services which are quite expensive. Here are a
few.
www.ontrack.com
www.drivesavers.com
https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/

To check the health of the drive download a drive diagnostic utility from
the drive manufacturer's website. That will create a bootable floppy or CD.
Boot from that and run the diagnostics.

Using an external USB drive to run programs doesn't work well and it's just
masking the problem.

Lastly, a backup solution is not much good if the backups aren't reliable.
Maybe fix whatever CD problem you're having and make sure you always have a
full and complete backup. Making backups to an external USB drive is an
effective way. Using drive imaging software works well, such as Norton
Ghost, Acronis True Image or Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows.

If you don't feel comfortable troubleshooting the system take it to a
competent professional repair shop, not the Geek squad.

 

[Guest]

( this is just one hard drive partitioned into multiple volumes?).
Yes.

Is the D: drive data missing or does it give you an access
denied message when you try to access the data? If it's access denied, then
take ownership of the files and folders. From Start | Help and Support
search on ownership for info on how to do this.

No, I have access, there's just nothing there (besides the defaults that XP
has). Some of the files and folders are faded, but they aren't the old files.

What do you see when looking at the drive in disk management? Does it show
data on the D drive?

Nope, all 20 Gs are free. However, the C: with some IBM stuff (we think it's
the BIOS) is only a few MB and the E: with XP is only 14 Gs. So there are
about 5 Gs missing. Either they're bad sectors or somethings not being read.
My old D: was only about 2Gs.

There is data recovery software available.
http://www.ontrack.com/software/

There are also data recovery services which are quite expensive. Here are a
few.
www.ontrack.com
www.drivesavers.com
https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/

I'm going to a local data recovery service and see what they think. They
don't charge if there's nothing to find, so it can't hurt to ask. I'm afraid
I might screw up further with software.

Lastly, a backup solution is not much good if the backups aren't reliable.
Maybe fix whatever CD problem you're having and make sure you always have a
full and complete backup. Making backups to an external USB drive is an
effective way. Using drive imaging software works well, such as Norton
Ghost, Acronis True Image or Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows.

I bought myself a 300G Seagate external drive. The cows out of the barn, but
lessoned learned (it helps that I have a job now and can afford it).

If you don't feel comfortable troubleshooting the system take it to a
competent professional repair shop, not the Geek squad.

Yeah, plus, I asked them to back up my drive, not recover data.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Rock]

No, I have access, there's just nothing there (besides the defaults that
XP
has). Some of the files and folders are faded, but they aren't the old
files.



Nope, all 20 Gs are free. However, the C: with some IBM stuff (we think
it's
the BIOS) is only a few MB and the E: with XP is only 14 Gs. So there are
about 5 Gs missing. Either they're bad sectors or somethings not being
read.
My old D: was only about 2Gs.


I'm going to a local data recovery service and see what they think. They
don't charge if there's nothing to find, so it can't hurt to ask. I'm
afraid
I might screw up further with software.


I bought myself a 300G Seagate external drive. The cows out of the barn,
but
lessoned learned (it helps that I have a job now and can afford it).


Yeah, plus, I asked them to back up my drive, not recover data.

Thanks for the advice.

Ok Abby good luck.