Hard Drive Data Recovery - any advice?

[Ian]

I am currently constructing an article about Hard Drive Data Recovery, and I am looking to see if anyone has any suggestions or tips that they have.

So far I have covered basic scandisk/fdisk/recovery console bits, but I am now moving into in-depth items. There are a couple of partition/file restoration applications I am going to cover, but beyond that I am low on ideas.

Any suggestions?

 

[ChristopherP]

Partition Magic 8.0 partioning

also isnt there a program supplied with western didgital (i think) hard drives that allows recovery?

 

[Ian]

Partition Magic would be worth mentioning I suppose, I use that quite a bit!

 

[Techy]

i wrote a massive reply out before but lost it, in short

i'd talk about

partition magic, drive image, ghost, definately erd commander and maybe mention for 98/ME scanreg/restore and possibly the repair feature on the xp cd.

there's so much you could talk about on this one ian because because your covering such a large area, you coud even go into recovering a system from a network image. (if you didn't have any beer money )

if you need any help with this one ian jus give me a shout.

James

 

[Techy]

just thinking as well going to be fdisking/formatting/reinstalling then creating a recovery image this weekend. got far too much crap on here!

J

 

[Ian]

Cheers James, will try to mention these bits too

 

[ChristopherP]

Hard Drive Data recovery in 3 steps:

1) Get a DVD Burner
2) Back up HDD in zipped up files onto DVD's Regulary
3) When the HDD kicks the bucket, get a new one and use DVD's

 

[Techy]

with the new dual layer writers (which are very resonably priced now) it would be simple enough to create a complete image of the hard disk over a few dvd's then just backup daily or weekly on to cd, (or do what i do and run a batch file to copy all important files to the server every 24hrs or so.) that way it saves you all the hassle of reinstalling windows and apps and drivers in the event of a HDD failure.

 

[ChristopherP]

intruiging...

server hey...

sounds like i need a one of them...

 

[muckshifter]

The premier backup solution

Drive Image® 7.0 Backup is a premier computer backup solution, protecting all your valuable data and providing peace of mind. Easily backup everything on your computer: priceless digital photos, important financial records, your operating system and all of your important programs and settings without ever leaving Windows®. Save valuable time by scheduling automatic backups. Quickly save your backups to virtually any writable CD or DVD drive and enjoy the flexibility of USB, FireWire® and Native Network support.
I was that impressed with it I bought a copy.

 

[Ian]

Sounds like a good idea Mucks, I may have to look into something like that if you really recommend it?

 

[muckshifter]

Hard Drive Data Recovery

... as the title denotes.

The reason I bought it is quite simple ... it works through Windows, I can back-up/restore files & folders or the whole drive (in nice sizable chunks) to almost any 'backup' device, whether it is internal or external, and, 'copy one drive to another' ... and not have to boot to DOS, although you still have that option "if all else fails".

 

[Ian]

How much would this cost to get, and is it quite a common piece of software? I'm tempted by this, as I might invest in a DVD burner, so I assume I can back up my entire drive on to a few of those?

 

[muckshifter]

£29.99

I had mine a little cheper as a promotion "upgrade" as I already own NAV, see it they are still doing it. Follow the Upgrade path ... Oh, and it was "download only" but I opted to keep the 'data on file' if ever I should need to DL again.

You can easily backup to CD/DVD.

 

[Ian]

Thanks!

 

[Techy]

just to back up what mucks is saying, i've heard of this software before, and have heard good things although never used it myself, used to be made by powerquest 'til symantec bought them out.

there's various options when it comes to imaging s/w, it's just a case of finding one that suits your needs.

 

[floppybootstomp]

The premier backup solution

Drive Image® 7.0 Backup is a premier computer backup solution, protecting all your valuable data and providing peace of mind. Easily backup everything on your computer: priceless digital photos, important financial records, your operating system and all of your important programs and settings without ever leaving Windows®. Save valuable time by scheduling automatic backups. Quickly save your backups to virtually any writable CD or DVD drive and enjoy the flexibility of USB, FireWire® and Native Network support.
I was that impressed with it I bought a copy.

Drive Image works well.

I'm still using the 2002 version, which isn't compatible with Win XP within the OS but I can boot from a floppy and use the 'DOS' version to backup.

Currently have a 16Gb backup for drive C (compressed) on an 80Gb 'storage' HDD which I partitioned with Partition Magic 8.

It's about time I increased the size of that partition and done another backup actually....

 

[Ian]

I've added the Basic Backup article up now, and I'll update it once I've had a chance to play with this new software you all have recommended