HD gone forever??!!

[Spiritofliberty]

Hi everyone,

I would like to seek some help with my harddisk. My whole drive 320gb western digital somehow got its partition table corrupted. And then, as i tried to solve it it became worse and finally the whole partition was deleted. But i didn't format them. So i was wondering whether is it possible to get the data back? I tried using Hiren's Boot CD, but the EasyRecovery by ontrack only manage to recover a single partition(the OS) one while in fact I have two others which contains most of my importatnt files...


Can anyone recommend what should I do next? Btw, I will be getting another harddisk 320gb seagate, so perhaps I will install vista on it and try to retrieve the data using the software installed... But i am not sure what to do now... Should I just leave the drive as it is? What recovery software should i use? I have done some googling and found many softwares like Easeus Data Recovery, Active Partition Recovery, R-Studio etc... But i am really REALLY not sure which is the best cuz in their homepages the products looked like a miracle drug..God knows which is true. Thanks.. Sorry for being a bit long-winded.

Btw, if anyone experienced this before do u know how well can mp3, video and installers be recovered, they are my main concern right now. THANKS

[glc]

First off, Hiren's is a major act of piracy and we will NOT discuss its use here.

If Easy Recovery can't fix it, it's probably gone. About all you can do is start downloading legal DEMOS of other data recovery products and try them.

[Spiritofliberty]

Real sorry about that Won't mention it again. I x my heart

Anyway should i first format my files to some known format like ntfs or leave it just as it was, and try retrieve from the "unknown unallocated space". It sounds like my drive is brand new, when it is not. How about other softwares? If easyrecovery can't do it, can any others do better? http://data-recovery-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ Can this link be trusted...Thanks. I sure will download those demos but i really wish that i could try out the best first cuz i don't think it will be good to start out with loads of demos installed, and then having to uninstall it again, usually there is still remnants of those installations left in the registry etc..

[glc]

Honestly, Ontrack Easy Recovery is the best I've ever seen, that's our standard "go to" hard drive recovery software. It's also quite expensive, we charge $300 minimum when we use it. It has a lot of advanced options, they all have to be explored. I think your best chance with an alternate would be GetDataBack.

[Spiritofliberty]

I have used getdataback before but it is only used for FAT and NTFS right? Right now i have lost my partition table so its format is unknown? Must i format the drive?

Btw, my new drive is coming.. Getting a little excited..

[glc]

No, do not format the drive!

[Spiritofliberty]

Ok..I won't. Thanks glc.

I am just going to cross my fingers now...I think when i get my new drive I will install EasyRecovery and do a raw scan for files, hopefully getting most of my files back. But i really hate having to install all the many drivers and softwares again. Arrggghhh...

Nevertheless, I can seriously do with some advice how to really be assured my files are safe, and reformatting won't be a pain. Well, firstly someone told me getting Acronis True Image will be a good idea so I would like to look for some advice here too...

Lets just say i will have two drives, on 320 gb and the other 500gb, how should i preferably partition it? I am most probably going to be using two OS, Vista and Ubuntu (minor), and where should I put my disk image or backups, and also my documents. Cuz its confusing whether to put my files together with the os or in another drive..

Lastly, what does it mean if the 320gb drive has sth 16Mb and the 500gb drive has sth 32Mb. Certain drives are 8mb.

Thanks. Sorry for the many questions... I still have lots to learn seriously. Frankly this time round the problems are due to my own silly meddling... Sigh.

[glc]

The best and safest way to store backups is on an external drive.

I would use the 320 for your OS/OS'es and software, partitioned appropriately. I would use the 500 for your documents/music/videos/data.

I would buy an Apricorn housing and a 3rd drive for your external. It will come with an OEM version of Acronis True Image. For best speed, I'd connect it through eSATA.

A raw scan with Easy Recovery is your best shot for recovery.

[Spiritofliberty]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I don't really have that much money to spend after buying that 500gb, really. Just a student. But maybe in future. Thanks a lot. Btw does 16Mb of cache and 32Mb of cache makes any difference?

One more thing is that since I will be using the 320gb for the os does it mean that i first install vista on the good 500gb drive, recover files from the 320gb drive, copy to the 500gb drive, remove the 500gb drive, reformat the 320gb drive, reinstall vista on the 320gb drive, and then reformat the partition with vista on the 500gb drive...right? Well, the steps are making me see stars while typing haha.

[Spiritofliberty]

Oh btw, should i use the partition manager in vista or some other software? The last time i used the vista partition manager to format some unallocated space it turns it into dynamic disk or sth like that, god knows what that is... And then my partition table got weird, and things starts taking turns for the worse. Acronis disk director?

[glc]

I'm not qualified to give you advice when it comes to Vista. I don't use it, and have no plans to do so. I played with a Vista system for about a week and won't touch it again if I can help it.

[shadowpr]

I've used vista's disk manager to make aprtitions before. Had no problems with it.

[Spiritofliberty]

Guess making backups are the safest option after all. Thanks guys. If there is any updates i'll be posting here...btw i think that there is only a slight performance increase for a hard drive with a 16mb cache and one with a 32mb cache. That's what I googled anyway.