Files I recovered are unusable

Computer Help and Discussions Hardware
1

Hello,Please help !!!

I have windows XP,but I wanted to upgrade/transit to Windows 7 using my WD external drive like bootable disk instead of bootable DVD disk,so here it is what kind of stupidness I have done:

1.Download Windows 7 iso file,which I put it in isoBuster and extracted.

2.Because I have listen it is better to make clean installation,I bought new WD external HDD- Passport Studio 500Gb and put it(cut-paste,not copy-paste) all information from my PC to HDD (around 100Gb very important data + windows 7 of course).

I didn`t format my External Western Digital disk and I didn`t make partitions,which means there is only one whole partition!I didn`t convert from FAT to NTFS or things like that,just I have done this:

3.I run "cmd" and get in DOS

I wrote "diskpart"

I wrote "list disk? (Because there were nothing,not disk 1,2,3-i just select disk 1-don`t ask me why,because I don`t know for myself,because i am stupid!!!)

I wrote "select disk 1"

I wrote "clean"...but I change my mind,after 3-4 seconds,because I afraid for my data on the WD,does CLEAN was with meaning to erase all data on my WD,I still don`t know!

After i wrote "clean",I disconnect usb cable directly from my WD,because I afraid-what does "clean" means!!?? For god sake-i have all informations from last 6 years on my external hard disk and just there and nowhere else - not on my internal HDD,cd,dvd,blu-ray disks... all my data on WD external disk. Now,my WD doesn`t work!

When I checked Device Manager it shows that the device is installed and working properly but it will not show in "my computer" and I can't access it. before the problem,my HDD appeared as drive H:

In Device Manager say:"This device(WD PP III Studio II USB) is working properly"

disk: disk 1

type:unknown

location: 0

capacity: 476938

unallocated space: 0 Mb

When i connect usb cable(no matter short one or longer one or fire wire cable) there is the external usb hard drive showed up on the Safely Remove Hardware list right down,but I can not enter into the disk-inside and I am so afraid and desperate and don`t know what to do...

My PC has partition C: D: E: and for my DVD player and burner F: and G: Before the problem- my WD had letter H: and now there is no any letter for external WD :(

Please tell me what is the best solution for me to do now and to don`t lose my data on WD (if i already didn`t lost :(

I DON`T CARE ABOUT PC-IT IS EMPTY NOW,AND I DON`T CARE ABOUT XP,OR WINDOWS 7,JUST WD IS IMPORTANT NOW AND HOW TO OPEN DATA AND IS DATA THERE ON IT?!

What I have tried: connecting my WD with 3 deferent cables - usb and firewire in deferent ports.

installing drivers from wd site

I wouldn't be half as frustrated if it hadn't been working properly before this.Plus-ALL data is on my HDD,and I don`t even know if it is still there.

Also i was in DISK MANAGEMENT,but except formating disk,I don`t see solution :( And formating will erase all data on the disk,isn`t it?! (if i have it,of course). again nothing.

In DISK MANAGEMENT:

Disk 1-unknown 465,76Gb not initialized

There is black bar and unallocated 465,76Gb

Disk 0 basic C: primary partition and healty

D: and E: partitions also healty and they are with blue bar(not extended,but logical drive)

Also,I used Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics,but the software didn`t report any errors for the drive!

Everything is fine with USB ports, fire wire port,also with cables-long one,short one?

Led indicators are on-they lights and the sound is normal.

Drivers are fine too,Device Manager say-no conflict,everything is good...

But the HUGE problem is still present :( :( :( and my 3 main questions are:

1.Why I can not open my WD?

2.Is there my data on it?

3.If there is not my data,what is the % to recover/return back all informations?

I used Easyrecovery Pro for recovering data(I used advanced recovery and also RAW recovery-but both recover my data and I copy all 100 Gb back to my PC.

The main problem is that really there is 100Gb space "full" with data-but I can not open mp3 songs,documents,pictures are white and all they weight.

format recovery and deleted recovery are not active,I mean-they didn`t recognized my external drive therefor i can not use them!

What should I do?

Do I have problem with MBR ?

Should I format my WD ?

Common,I am sure that there must be way to solve the problem with my external disk to open my data somehow!

Thanks in advance !!!!!!

2

Have a read here

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/fin...-on-windows-xp/

3

"clean" destroys the partition table unfortunately this process is irreversible with any diskpart command I know of.

I made the same mistake once with a VM image but couldn't find a single tool (even Hirens tools) to restore the deleted partition.

Luckily I had a backup copy so I had only lost a few installed programs I was testing at the time.

As far as can tell "clean" only overwrites the first few sectors so theoretically you should be able to recover most of your files using recovery software.

Have you tried Recuva "Deep Scan" by any chance??

Richard S.

4
Hello,Please help !!!

I have windows XP,but I wanted to upgrade/transit to Windows 7 using my WD external drive like bootable disk instead of bootable DVD disk,so here it is what kind of stupidness I have done:

1.Download Windows 7 iso file,which I put it in isoBuster and extracted.

2.Because I have listen it is better to make clean installation,I bought new WD external HDD- Passport Studio 500Gb and put it(cut-paste,not copy-paste) all information from my PC to HDD (around 100Gb very important data + windows 7 of course).

I didn`t format my External Western Digital disk and I didn`t make partitions,which means there is only one whole partition!I didn`t convert from FAT to NTFS or things like that,just I have done this:

3.I run "cmd" and get in DOS

I wrote "diskpart"

I wrote "list disk” (Because there were nothing,not disk 1,2,3-i just select disk 1-don`t ask me why,because I don`t know for myself,because i am stupid!!!)

I wrote "select disk 1"

I wrote "clean"...but I change my mind,after 3-4 seconds,because I afraid for my data on the WD,does CLEAN was with meaning to erase all data on my WD,I still don`t know!

After i wrote "clean",I disconnect usb cable directly from my WD,because I afraid-what does "clean" means!!?? For god sake-i have all informations from last 6 years on my external hard disk and just there and nowhere else - not on my internal HDD,cd,dvd,blu-ray disks... all my data on WD external disk. Now,my WD doesn`t work!

When I checked Device Manager it shows that the device is installed and working properly but it will not show in "my computer" and I can't access it. before the problem,my HDD appeared as drive H:

In Device Manager say:"This device(WD PP III Studio II USB) is working properly"

disk: disk 1

type:unknown

location: 0

capacity: 476938

unallocated space: 0 Mb

When i connect usb cable(no matter short one or longer one or fire wire cable) there is the external usb hard drive showed up on the Safely Remove Hardware list right down,but I can not enter into the disk-inside and I am so afraid and desperate and don`t know what to do...

My PC has partition C: D: E: and for my DVD player and burner F: and G: Before the problem- my WD had letter H: and now there is no any letter for external WD :(

Please tell me what is the best solution for me to do now and to don`t lose my data on WD (if i already didn`t lost :(

I DON`T CARE ABOUT PC-IT IS EMPTY NOW,AND I DON`T CARE ABOUT XP,OR WINDOWS 7,JUST WD IS IMPORTANT NOW AND HOW TO OPEN DATA AND IS DATA THERE ON IT?!

What I have tried: connecting my WD with 3 deferent cables - usb and firewire in deferent ports.

installing drivers from wd site

I wouldn't be half as frustrated if it hadn't been working properly before this.Plus-ALL data is on my HDD,and I don`t even know if it is still there.

Also i was in DISK MANAGEMENT,but except formating disk,I don`t see solution :( And formating will erase all data on the disk,isn`t it?! (if i have it,of course). again nothing.

In DISK MANAGEMENT:

Disk 1-unknown 465,76Gb not initialized

There is black bar and unallocated 465,76Gb

Disk 0 basic C: primary partition and healty

D: and E: partitions also healty and they are with blue bar(not extended,but logical drive)

Also,I used Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics,but the software didn`t report any errors for the drive!

Everything is fine with USB ports, fire wire port,also with cables-long one,short one…

Led indicators are on-they lights and the sound is normal.

Drivers are fine too,Device Manager say-no conflict,everything is good...

But the HUGE problem is still present :( :( :( and my 3 main questions are:

1.Why I can not open my WD?

2.Is there my data on it?

3.If there is not my data,what is the % to recover/return back all informations?

I used Easyrecovery Pro for recovering data(I used advanced recovery and also RAW recovery-but both recover my data and I copy all 100 Gb back to my PC.

The main problem is that really there is 100Gb space "full" with data-but I can not open mp3 songs,documents,pictures are white and all they weight.

format recovery and deleted recovery are not active,I mean-they didn`t recognized my external drive therefor i can not use them!

What should I do?

Do I have problem with MBR ?

Should I format my WD ?

Common,I am sure that there must be way to solve the problem with my external disk to open my data somehow!

Thanks in advance !!!!!!

Here is how to fix your problem.

Before I tell you how to fix it, I will tell you the things that went wrong. You mentioned that you had 100 GB data on the drive. You also mentioned removing the USB cord without first running the disconnect util. Do not worry, all your data is still there, & it can easily be recovered back.

What went wrong is either that your drive entered a RAW format mode, & will show as a "blank" drive. Formatting in windows or cleaning/partitioning does NOT erase this data, not even long format. Quick format is recoverable, full format is recoverable, because quick format just rewrites the beginning sectors of the drive to make the drive appear blank to windows. It is impossible to destroy hundreds of gigs of data in a few seconds, when it takes 1/2 hour to several hours copying data to the drive depending on machine specs. All that is different in long format & short, is long checks for bad sectors to mark them bad, but it still leaves the data intact. To totally destroy the data, you would have to run an eraser program that literally overwrites each block on the drive.

Now, here is how you can get your data back. You must firstly know that Windows XP does have a 138 GB harddisk limitation. It will recognize drives larger, but if you actually have data, when your drive approaches the 138 GB data mark, it WILL at some point, become corrupted unless you have these 2 items on your drive. At least SP1, OR SP2, OR SP3 in addition to the 48 bit reg patch to enable it to see larger drives up to 2 TB. I recommend SP2, as SP1 is outdated, SP3 has bugs that interfere with certain software running, & SP2 seems to be the most commonly used/stable at the moment.

It may be possible that if you were running XP with no Service Pack, that once you install the Service Pack & the 48 bit logical block addressing registry patch, that your data will show up on the external drive after you reboot once you have installed that on your PC. If it still does not show up, the following is 100% guaranteed to fix your problem.

Here is what you will need to do to get your data back:

* Get a harddisk that is larger than the drive you have your data on & install XP + SP2 + 48 bit reg patch. Ask me for my email if you still need help with this...

* Connect your drive containing your data to USB 2 slot on your PC using an external harddisk enclosure box.

* Use Handy Recovery to recover your data. Recuva WILL NOT show your data on a RAW drive, not even version 1.34. Handy Recovery WILL. Handy recovery does support scanning for lost partitions, which is what your drive will have. You will show a lost partition is an NTFS or FAT 32 partition, depending on which one you had windows/your programs installed to that Handy Recovery will find & allow you to recover it in full to your drive. After you recover it, a quick format to the drive you just recovered the data from will restore the NTFS partition back. Recuva will not work, because it does not scan for lost partitions & therefore is unable to recover because it doesn't see the lost partition.

You can never recover what you don't see, & Recuva just doesn't see a RAW partition!

Handy Recovery supports NTFS/Fat 32/Fat 16/Fat 12/Linux parts etc.

Handy Recovery will recover from formatted drives, repartitioned drives, deleted files, "blank" or RAW mode drives.

Handy Recovery will recover files locked in password protected user accounts on XP (recover at a low level below the OS password protection).

Handy Recovery will NOT recover from drives that have been secure wiped with utilities such as Heidi Eraser. This does not mean government agencies cannot use utilities to read to the left, right, or underside of a track for "ghost" images, nor does it mean they cannot use electron scanning microscopes or other util/methods to recover data.

It DOES mean that unless you overwrote all the data on your drive, it IS still there & it IS recoverable.

I have done it when it happened to mine, & I know for a fact that what I said up here is all 100% true. If you need help, I will help you direct on yahoo to recover 100% of your lost data, if you need it.

Thanks!

mr_rogers_2007 on yahoo if you need help!

5
"clean" destroys the partition table unfortunately this process is irreversible with any diskpart command I know of.

I made the same mistake once with a VM image but couldn't find a single tool (even Hirens tools) to restore the deleted partition.

Luckily I had a backup copy so I had only lost a few installed programs I was testing at the time.

As far as can tell "clean" only overwrites the first few sectors so theoretically you should be able to recover most of your files using recovery software.

Have you tried Recuva "Deep Scan" by any chance??

Richard S.

This is totally untrue. Handy Recovery can scan for lost partitions & recover your blank "RAW" partition. All your files are still there. Recuva does not work, because it can't see a partition or drive, & you can't recover what you don't see! Recuva just doesn't scan for RAW or lost partitions. Handy Recovery does.

Handy Recovery will recover from a formatted drive, long formatted drive, partitioned drive, repartitioned drive, deleted files, & also password protected user accounts.

Recuva only recovers what it can see, which only works when it can see a drive letter. In addition, it fails to work on password protected user accounts!

6

This freeware application may help if you have access to a working PC with a CD burning ROM:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/

Rescue Your Data

In case of a system malfunction, caused either by a virus attack or file corruption, you can retrieve valuable information from your disks and copy it to another local drive, partition or save the data to CD/DVD. The File Transfer Wizard helps you to export data as easy and convenient as possible.

Undelete Partition

When simply deleting a partition (without additional wiping) disk management software only removes the references to it in the Partition Table, thus leaving the possibility to recover it later. The Undelete Partitions Wizard enables you to find and recover these partitions. A restored partition will be fully functional, as long as other partitions were not created, moved or exceeded the disk space.

The "Undelete Partition" feature may be of some use here. Although, as I've no personal experience of your problem, this is just another possible option to consider.