Recovering deleted partition...??

[]-[otRod]

Got a drive from a Compaq machine that apparently has been fdisk'd in some way or another. Running Fdisk /Status shows there are no partitions defined for the drive and 100% free space... Of course the customer has "important data" that they dont want to have overwritten by just running the Compaq restore CD, so I ran Lost & Found to see if the contents of the drive are still there and they are. Im wondering if anyone knows of a way to just recover the partition table and FAT to get the drive back up again instead of having to set up an empty drive as a slave to do a full drive recovery using Lost & Found, then Ghosting the data back onto the original drive (takes a long time). Thanks!

[AlienDyne]

Unfortunately, I don't know if there is such program. I use OnTrack Easy Recovery Pro, but it's a similar program to Lost And Found and works under Windows enviroment.

[Mayet]

data recovery is one of the most time consuming picky jobs I get in...
I too have used easy recovery pro with good success.....

Damn I really hate those recovery CD's that format everything......

[cookin chef]

Here's a link to one place.

<a href="http://www.runtime.org/" target="_blank">http://www.runtime.org/</a>

They have GetBackData for NTFS and GetBackData for FAT.
They have a shareware version available to show people what it could potentially retreive back, but you need to purchase the software to get full functionality.

Helped me to retreive my files from a lost partition.
You need to copy the contents to another available partition or separate hd.

[]-[otRod]

Thanks for the suggestions and links... I found several different utilities that help recover the entiar drive as well, but I wound up going with the original plan of recovering the data with Lost and Found, then ghosting it back onto the original drive. It allowed us to get the files the customer needed off the drive before we ran the Compaq Restore CD.
Heres a couple of resources I found that might help others in the same mess...
<a href="http://www.fdisk.com" target="_blank">Fdisk.com</a>
And of course one of the essential PC repair bibles...
<a href="http://www.sybex.com/SybexBooks.nsf/booklist/2990" target="_blank">Upgrading and Repairing PCs</a>
Looked like it could be done using DEBUG to rebuild the partition table... but would probably taken longer.
Thanks again all!

[firemonkey]

[quote]Originally posted by bohr:
<strong>Here's a link to one place.

<a href="http://www.runtime.org/" target="_blank">http://www.runtime.org/</a>

They have GetBackData for NTFS and GetBackData for FAT.
They have a shareware version available to show people what it could potentially retreive back, but you need to purchase the software to get full functionality.

Helped me to retreive my files from a lost partition.
You need to copy the contents to another available partition or separate hd.</strong><hr></blockquote>

If that really works I will really owe you.. I acidently f-disked a ntfs drive with some very important files (I was attempting to run ghost and back up the drive..oops)

[cookin chef]

[quote]Originally posted by firemonkey:
<strong>

If that really works I will really owe you.. I acidently f-disked a ntfs drive with some very important files (I was attempting to run ghost and back up the drive..oops)</strong><hr></blockquote>

I had transferred my 30 gig hd Ibm hd to another system (the hd was divided into 2-15 gig NTFS partitions, the 2nd partition being used for backups)I ended up having to reformat the 1st partition and reload win2kpro due to a different computer bios not seeing the partions exactly on the old system, I thought my 2nd partition would still be intact, but I was wrong. It said it was there after the reload, but it couldn't read it.
So I went searching the net for a partition recovery program and came across the GETBACKDATA for NTFS. edited by Sowuloit fully found the existing files within that partition. I hooked up another 20 gig hd and copied all my backup files from the defunct partition onto that hd. All files were 100% intact.
I'm glad I found it.

I'm now getting the store I work for to purchase that program so we can use it for the odd servace.
hope it works for you!!

[confus-ed]

[quote]Originally posted by bohr:
<strong>
...They have a shareware version available to show people what it could potentially retreive back, but you need to purchase the software to get full functionality.....</strong><hr></blockquote>

Anyone know of a shareware that does write?

Many may not do this often enough to warrant the cost...

[Sowulo]

[quote]Originally posted by confus-ed:
<strong>

Anyone know of a shareware that does write?

Many may not do this often enough to warrant the cost...</strong><hr></blockquote>

I think the FAT/FAT32 version of GetDataBack only cost me $69 if I remember correctly....And I've used it 5 times to recover client data in the last couple of months....well worth the money.

[firemonkey]

[quote]Originally posted by confus-ed:
<strong>

Anyone know of a shareware that does write?

Many may not do this often enough to warrant the cost...</strong><hr></blockquote>

I downloaded both versions, I have onl really tried the NTFS on a drive that had been F-disked and formated, I could see the file I needed, but when I opened it, it was unreadable... Is there anything else I could do??? It is very cool though if I can get that file back I most deffintly will get it...

[confus-ed]

[quote]Originally posted by bohr:
<strong>...I thought my 2nd partition would still be intact, but I was wrong.... I went searching the net for a partition recovery program and came across the GETBACKDATA for NTFS. edited by SowuloI was desperate at the time.) and it fully found the existing files within that partition. I hooked up another 20 gig hd and copied all my backup files from the defunct partition onto that hd. All files were 100% intact.
I'm glad I found it.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

edited by Sowulo$69 is a lot for something you might use once or that might not work at all (God doesn't need money now does he?). I suspect that the "unreadable" data will be fine once you can imagine it correctly.....

[terrytree]

Greetings,
You can try data recovery software: Partition Table Doctor or EASEUS DataRecoveryWizard.
These tools helped me, so give it a try. Really awesome soft!

http://www.ptdd.com
http://www.easeus.com

[mercyreaper]

Here is one I found to be very useful:

Recovery

It does have a free demo, only a few options are not available such as MBR and so forth, price is only 29.99 for a single license. Hope this helps.

[geeksRus]

here is one that will recover partitions from an fdisk or format. i've used it and it works great...and its free.
Testdisk