can my computer be fixed??

[64osby]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

Smoke, Very sorry to hear about your troubles. I have had a local shop rescue data off a couple of my computers. Cost about $45.00.
Pretty cheap when I look at all the time I have spent messing around trying to recover data.

I want to thank you for posting because it reminded me to back up mine. I pulled out my backup drive and backup'ed up my laptop last night after reading this. I haven't done it for over a year, took about 3 hours.

Thanks and I hope your able to rescue more.

 

[dolluper]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

This is what your dealing with.....Recuva is good software....I would suggest you try the portable one and put it on a thumb drive
You might want to read all the sections about this product
http://www.piriform.com/docs/recuva/technical-information/how-recuva-works
Thumb drive ins
http://www.piriform.com/docs/recuva/advanced-usage/running-recuva-from-a-usb-drive

 

[bruceb58]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

My computer gets backed up every night to two drives automatically.

Offsite backup is even better. Just have to leave the laptop on to do it.

Just bought a new desktop and its going to have a RAID setup.

 

[coreybv]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

Well if it can be believed easeus found 100 partitions... the first one says something like 90,000 files and 1.5 tb of data (on a 60 gb drive?)

None of the files seem to have names and When I try to preview anything I have 3 options, text which is always blank, hex which is a pace of zeros, and image which always pops up with " warning not support for image view"
soooooo I'm a bit lost here.

I've seen that before. It's sort of odd, but when that happens I just try another utility and most times get better results.

Try the "Recuva" program I recommended earlier. In recent times it seems to be giving better results than the others most times, and is, IMHO, one of the simplest for a non-pro to use.

 

[Rulost]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

Along with Recuva that has been mentioned, I use Testdisk quite often. It comes with "Photorec" and works in a DOS window. Between those two programs you should be able to recover most of you photos as well as alot of others from temp internet files.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

Have to ad my vote for Recuva. It was able to retrieve files intact from an "unreadable" hard drive and from a "corrupted" memory card from my camera. Saved my bacon twice now.

 

[Outsider]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

I have had a local shop rescue data off a couple of my computers. Cost about $45.00

A reformatted drive doesn't act or respond like a normal drive. You need to take it to someone who actually does data recovery on a frequent basis ...

 

[tpenfield]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

Kevin:

You had mentioned that you were working with the 'free' version(s) of the recovery software(s). You may have to get the paid versions or Google a bit more. As I said, it is not going to be pretty, but at this point patience is your only hope.

I'll check with the staff at work as they are more in the trenches than I, and may have some other suggestions in addition to what has been offered so far.

Well the folks at work did not have much to add to what has already been said here . . . in the corporate world we don't travel down the dropped partition path... hardly ever.

You could still try various recovery products, and focus on the ones that have partition recovery features, as some do not. The problem will be that these things will cost $$$ and it is still going to be hit-or-miss.

I'm thinking that the "take it to a professional data recovery shop" advice that has been given in the last few postings is your best bet at this point. I'm not sure you will get your data back for $45 or something like that, but it is probably your best hope.

I would avoid "GeekSquad" type of outfits as this is way (way) over their heads. I have sent several disk drives out to "the pro's" over the years with mechanical type of disk failures, and had about a 50% success rate . . . the cost was $500 and up. If you can find someone local that has the tools and expertise, then that may be more cost effective.

 

[dolluper]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

I'am going to explain why I suggested Knoppix LIVE CD...the LIVE CD runs an operating system off the cd only Windows WILL NOT be running so your files are not overwritten,no registry enterys added....with the instructions you can mount the windows hard drive WITHOUT windows running and copy all your files with your choice of media......copy your files then shut down the Knoppix Live Cd and take it out of your cd drive......if that doesn't get what you want ...then use a PORTABLE file recovery tool {usb thumbdrive} like Recuva.so nothing is written to the registry....I have done this with many computers that were so called finished...As far as I'm concerned everyone should have a LIVE CD of their choice of OP system

 

[bruceb58]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

He is mounting his drive as a USB remote drive on another computer. At least that is what I understand he is doing. No registries involved here.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

that is correct... set up as usb external on a different comp now....

Still working on it.... thanx guys

 

[dolluper]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

The mounting with the Live Cd is a term....you are actually exploring computers hard drive ....With the Live Cd you do it all on the same computer no cables or removal of the hard drive.....and with a thumb drive or other to store your findings thats about it.....Live cd is free {very portable just change bois to run cd first eeasy} Google Live Cd all the pros use them

 

[coreybv]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

that is correct... set up as usb external on a different comp now....

Still working on it.... thanx guys

Glad to hear you haven't given up.

There are a bunch of nice, well meaning folks here suggesting solutions that won't work in your circumstance. Post here before trying any new approaches. Data recovery is a one-shot thing. It only takes one wrong move to wipe out your chance at recovering your files.

I'll try to keep on eye on this thread. This is one of those situations where it pays to go slow and think every step through before taking action.

 

[coreybv]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

The mounting with the Live Cd is a term....you are actually exploring computers hard drive ....With the Live Cd you do it all on the same computer no cables or removal of the hard drive.....and with a thumb drive or other to store your findings thats about it.....Live cd is free {very portable just change bois to run cd first eeasy} Google Live Cd all the pros use them

That's all true, but attaching the drive to another computer accomplishes the same goal. Plus the Linux file recovery tools are not as easy to use for someone who is not already familiar with Linux. I always try to have Windows users do things with Windows tools when walking them through something remotely.

 

[dolluper]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

The problem is most people that ask for help don't have the ability to remove hard drives,or have usb hard drive adapters....even to have another computer....its tough to know how to help but we all do our best here thats why its such a great place to learn also

 

[NYBo]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

If you hadn't defragmented the drive before the oops moment, you have a very good chance of recovering much of your data. The new OS installation likely went right to the same areas where it was originally, and your data were written later to other areas of the drive. If they weren't overwritten, they have a high chance of recovery.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

If you hadn't defragmented the drive before the oops moment, you have a very good chance of recovering much of your data. The new OS installation likely went right to the same areas where it was originally, and your data were written later to other areas of the drive. If they weren't overwritten, they have a high chance of recovery.

Shouldn't matter. In fact, if the drive had been defragged before the oops moment all the files will be countiguous and make file recovery easier since one file won't be scattered all over the place.

 

[NYBo]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

Shouldn't matter. In fact, if the drive had been defragged before the oops moment all the files will be countiguous and make file recovery easier since one file won't be scattered all over the place.

Actually, it would matter. The defragging process would have likely placed all or parts of some of the data files in the "front" of the disk that has now been overwritten by the re-installation of the operating system, making them irretrievable by the consumer programs listed in this thread.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

If the file table got corrupted, you want all files to be as contiguous as possible. Yes it may be possible some got overwritten by the new file system but you would have that problem no matter what. In fact you could have the scenario where more file segments got overwritten if they were scattered around.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: can my computer be fixed??

this drive has not been defragged in over a year .... could have would have might have............. didn't