recovering files from an accidentally "un-partitioned" hard drive

[xiankai]

my windows OS crashed, so i decided to format.

my usual mode of installation is to format the hard drive using a w98 floppy, then install w98 via a cd and finally upgrade to w2k.

thing is, i couldnt find make a w98 floppy, so i had to resort to the "virtual floppy" created by the w98 cd.

but it didnt have a format option, so i tried to improvise by deleting the partition on my HDD and creating a new one.

Bad Move. :eek:

switched to win98 setup via the cd, they asked me abt some options (cant exactly remember), but it sort of involved clearing the NTFS hard drives so w98 could be installed.

and i had no idea which HDD they reffered to (i have 3, one main, one backup and one for data)

turns out that they erased the NTFS on the data HDD, and that spells disaster for me ( a year of hard work down the drain)

furthermore, during scandisk, they enquired if they should fix some problems that cropped up during the scanning of the data HDD, but it was only later during another install (the first one was botched), did i discover that there's an option to skip the scanning if the HDD was NTFS formatted so as to avoid problems.

But now, i've already done it. ARGH :mad:

so basically, what im asking is whether i can restore the NTFS status back to the data HDD, or if there's a way to extract the data...

formatting it is a last option, since i'll lose all my data :(

thanks for any help, i'll need to move on soon, even if it means giving up hope

[nosefirst]

As I remember, for w98 fat32 is the file system of choice. It can't utilize NTFS. Also if you reformated you can't recover any data from that HD.

The data should be on your backup HD and possibly on your main also.

If you have the $ for 3 HD's you should have the $ for winxp.

[Mesaeus]

Nosefirst that isn't very helpful. First of all, you can still get data off that hard drive. Just use recovery software like this free one (http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm) to get the data back, it will even work for hard drives with mangled partition tables. Second, there's no reason for xiankai to upgrade to XP if 2000 is working good enough for him.

[nosefirst]

Well he wants to use NTFS right?

"...down-level systems cannot access local files stored on NTFS disks, but this restriction does not apply to network files. Curt Simmons"

Windows XP MVP page 527

and as far as I knew all data is lost on a reformated disk. So what do I know. Actually I was trying to be helpfull

[xiankai]

thanks for both of your replies, especially the PCInspector link; im scanning atm, thought im not very sure how to use it. :O

as far as it goes, the data was in a NTFS format, but somehow i deleted the NTFS partition table, so the computer reads the HDD as an "unformatted" drive.

[Mesaeus]

Nosefirst sorry if I came off a bit rude, but he did mention he was using windows 2000 for NTFS so he doesn't really need XP. Also, it may not be very much known but a hard drive with a mangled partition can be perfectly read by programs like PCInspector or GetDataBack. Those programs claim to be able to do this with formatted hard drives too but I haven't personally been able to check that.

xiankai : I haven't used PCinspector myself yet (I'm going to download it and try it myself) but if it's anything like GetDataBack, the program is now scanning the hard drive for every little bit of information to rebuilt a virtual hard drive. This virtual hard drive is based on guesses by the program about the partition table, and found FAT/MFT entries. It should then present you with the option to choose between a few "virtual" drives. Each of these drives present a way to look at the raw data on the hard drive. If it all seems garbage, take another one until you find one that gives you something which looks like your lost file structure (where you can find your missing folders and files). You can then copy found files to another hard drive.

[nosefirst]

No offense taken Masaeus, I'm probably a little green to be handing out advice anyway.

I've installed Ghost for handleing just such a problem should it arise.

[xiankai]

GetDataBack is totally awesome!!

it took just an hour to scan and find everything exactly; it even saves the result so u can pre-load it thus saving the hassle of having to scan everything again. now all i need to do is to borrow my brother's HDD to transfer the files to, so i can format mine and transfer back x)

on the other hand, PCInspector sucked, took over 12 hours to scan (ANALYSE, wasn't even recovering the data).

Thanks a billion for all of you guys' help again ^^

PS: i would get xp, but i dont have the cash so... :P

[Mesaeus]

Do notice that if you're using the demo version of GetdataBack, it won't actually copy any files; that function is in the paid for version. PCInspector may be a lot slower, but it will work for free. Oh and you probably already know, but make sure you don't write ANY data on the erased drive, any write will overwrite files you're trying to recover.