I had two local disks ( c main disk and D back up ) but D is gone!

[Guest]

I am not sure what happend but for some reason my computer had an
incompatable issue with some thing and crashed big time. I lost every thing.
This was one week after upgrading to Vista.
So I called Dell and some one from "over there" "helped me".
He told walked me through telling me that I needed to go (some where ) in my
computer threw the safe mode and he deleted one of my partitions. So then we
reinstalled vista.
But then when I went to look in "Computer" from the start panel there is ow
only one "Locak disk" and no back up disk. Of cousre I called Dell again and
they seem to think (after asking some one else because he really doesn't
know) that I need to do a PC RESTORE. This I am not sure can be done becasue
Norton Ghost is no longer found on my comp.

Any way , is there some way I can recover my "back up disk D?" My CDisk has
145GB of space of which 111 is free.
Thanks for you help and knowledge!

 

[Richard in AZ]

I am not sure what happend but for some reason my computer had an
incompatable issue with some thing and crashed big time. I lost every thing.
This was one week after upgrading to Vista.
So I called Dell and some one from "over there" "helped me".
He told walked me through telling me that I needed to go (some where ) in my
computer threw the safe mode and he deleted one of my partitions. So then we
reinstalled vista.
But then when I went to look in "Computer" from the start panel there is ow
only one "Locak disk" and no back up disk. Of cousre I called Dell again and
they seem to think (after asking some one else because he really doesn't
know) that I need to do a PC RESTORE. This I am not sure can be done becasue
Norton Ghost is no longer found on my comp.

Any way , is there some way I can recover my "back up disk D?" My CDisk has
145GB of space of which 111 is free.
Thanks for you help and knowledge!

Actually there are tools that will recover files from a reformatted drive, but after you deleted
your partitions (effectively deleted all the drives) there is very little chance you will recover
any files from the D partition. Was the 2nd Dell tech telling you to use the "Dell Restore Disk"
you got with the PC?

You can buy software (Norton Partition Manager is one) that will again split your drive into
partitions and make a D drive on the second partition. But you would be safer and save money by
buying and installing a 2nd physical drive for the D drive. This way you wont loose data on it if
the master drive goes south again.

 

[Richard Urban]

When something like this happens the very first rule is: Stop using the
computer. Turn it off - NOW. The quicker the better. Every second you use
the computer you are likely over writing areas where your missing files are
stored. Then they will be gone for good.

There are programs and companies that specialize in data recovery. One good
company is Drive Savers at www.drivesaver.com . Another one is Ontrack Data
Recovery at www.ontrack.com.

I have used Ontrack's EasyRecovery Professional to recover files from a
computer that had a partition deleted. The computer was turned off
immediately. I was able to recover 100% of the missing files. The program
has specific modules to use, depending on how the data was lost. This
program is expensive. Depending upon the data you have lost (last photos of
Uncle Joe etc.) it may seem very "inexpensive" to YOU. It is your
determination.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

Good advice. However, if I read the OP correctly, her backup partition was
deleted (but not the primary where Vista was reinstalled). If so, the backup
data may be relatively "safe" in the now unallocated space provided nobody
helps her create a new partition. I'm wondering if her "backup disk D:" was
actually a recovery partition? I haven't seen a new Dell in two years, but
the configuration is not something I expect Dell to ship.

There are freeware programs available to recover deleted partitions, but
they typically are not "one button" solutions.

On a side note, I checked and Symantec did release Ghost 12 that is Vista
compatible. Too bad I got tired of waiting and went with Acronis True Image
that everyone touts in this group!

 

[Richard Urban]

Right. If a new partition has not been created in the unallocated space the
data is 100% safe. In that case I would use the RAW module from EasyRecovery
Professional. It is intended for just that scenario.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

I have, at this point, yet to see a Dell computer ship with two working
partitions. It is likely something that the owner did himself.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[choronik]

it would have been better if you had actually given a rough figure as to the
cost of such software instead of just saying that they are not cheap.

Is the Mercedes Maybach cheap of expensive? That certainly depends. At $50K
it would be ridiculously cheap while at $500K it would be expensive. Just
give us facts, man, facts **** it!

 

[Guest]

Hello and yes the partition that seems to be missing was the D back up one
from dell that is where the Norton Ghost stored it's back up photo and info.
It was were I should have been able to retore my computer from in such a case
but it wouldn't work.

 

[Guest]

Teri:

Here's a product I used once to recover a partition on a buddy's PC:
http://www.partition-recovery.com/

From what you describe, I imagine if you pushed hard enough you might be
able to escalate with Dell and have them assist/resolve the issue.

A word of warning: I don't know what is on the deleted partition so I can't
gauge how "valuable" it is to you. If you don't need to recover anything and
just want the partition back and empty, that is easy and you can do it with a
few clicks of the mouse. However, if you lost your only copy of digital
photos, etc. and NEED to have that stuff back then you should consider what
your computer expertise is and if you are not comfortable, seek professional
assistance. At this time it sounds like there is a good chance of recovering
the data, but if you or anyone else overwrites the data then recovery is not
an easy/cheap option.

 

[n.jonshon]

To recover your lost partition and data employ Stellar Phoenix Windows
Data Recovery Software. It is a file and partition recovery utility
which recover the data even from formatted hard drive or data lost
occur due to file system corruption, software malfunction, viruses or
even sabotage. It even provides partition recovery from FAT 16, FAT
32, NTFS & NTFS5 file system.
Download the demo from: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
Scan your hard drive, and you will be able to see your lost partition
and data. If you do then to save it get the full version.