Accidently started system recovery andthen closed it

[apshu_sarthak]

@keatah

u totally understood the problem i am having.

the system is not booting now...its asking for complete system recovery

presntly i am using Ubuntu Live usb to boot but it is again not showing my C drive..my D drive is shown but it had no data...the data it had are still there

[Guest Keatah]

Well, then, before going further we'll need to figure out why the drive is not being detected by Ubuntu. How is the "suspect" disk connected to the machine? Sata? USB?

 

Does Ubuntu have the necessary drivers?

Do any of the utilities on Hiren's Boot CD detect the disk?

 

I suspect the disk is functional because it can "get" far enough into the start-up process to know there's a problem. Small chance that would be from the BIOS. So I'm sticking with the idea that this still going to be a logical partition rebuild & recovery. THEN once that happens we can use Recuva (or similar tools) to clean up the rest.

[apshu_sarthak]

Its a sata drive...internal hard drive...and i guess the the drivers of ubuntu are ok coz it detects the other drive that is d drive.

[Alan_B]

@keatah

u totally understood the problem i am having.

the system is not booting now...its asking for complete system recovery

presntly i am using Ubuntu Live usb to boot but it is again not showing my C drive..my D drive is shown but it had no data...the data it had are still there

The information is spread over far too many posts.

Please advise :-

What was the size of C:\ ?

What was the size of D:\ ?

Were C:\ and D:\ separate physical HDD or SSD, or partitions on the same device ?

Is recovery of C:\ your sole concern ?

[Guest Keatah]

@alan_b

A perfect question. Something I did not ask in the forum, but would have automatically noted or taken for granted if it was being worked on hands-on.

 

TRIVIA: There are systems out there that have 7 "hidden" partitions sometimes. And these would be low cost consumer laptops.

[apshu_sarthak]

C drive was approx 450 gb and D drive was approx 5 gb...they were partitions of the same HDD...and yes recovery of C drive is my sole concern

[Guest Keatah]

Whew.. 31 messages to get that info! Bottom line is it appears the system restore program, whatever it does, for however long you let it run, did one of several things.

 

1- erased part of the partition table, or left it incomplete.

2- erased some or all of the $metafiles on drive "C". Akin to ripping out the indexes and table of contents from a book.

 

My recommendation right now is to examine the partition table and insure it is complete, and that the appropriate entries are set correctly. This is not difficult. And there are programs that will present it all in a nice easy understandable format that novices can work with.

 

Once we know the disk knows where all its 'parts' are we can begin scanning the space between the MBR(track 0) and the beginning of the undamaged D partition. That's the 450GB "C" partition. A big chunk of space. That's where all your stuff is! You need a utility that can recognize file types and boundaries and locations. Recuva, as we already know, won't do this. It was not designed to do this. You need something else.

 

There are many freeware and payware utility kits and tools that will do exactly and precisely what you need to send you on your way. I'm sure a moderator will come along and present you with specific names.

 

I believe you can get a 95% - 99% recovery, since you say you didn't let the restore program run for more than a few seconds. The only stuff you won't get back will be what was directly overwritten.

[DennisD]

Keetah, are you talking about a straightforward "Scan for lost Partition" with something like "MiniTools Partition Wizard", or are you talking about something else?

 

In this instance, where Recuva is of no use, feel free to describe at least the free software you have in mind.

 

At this stage of this topic, with you and others having put in so much effort, it would be silly and remiss of me to jump in and start suggesting software without knowing what you had in mind exactly.

 

I'm sure the other mods will have no objection to the forum rule being bent in an effort to help apshu_sarthak get his data back.

 

If I can add any contribution as this develops, I will of course.

 

Just one observation if I can.

 

The 5gb partition is obviously a "Recovery Partition", but I'm not aware as to whether this Win7 variety will have any similarity to my XP Recovery Partition.

 

If it has, there will be two options of "System Recovery".

 

One option will be a "Destructive Recovery", which will wipe the C: Partition completely, destroying everything and placing the drive back to "Factory Condition" with all personal data and post install software gone.

 

The other option will be a "Non Destructive Recovery", which will place the C: System Partition back to factory condition, but will retain all "User Data", in other words everything within the "My Documents" system folders ...

 

http://oem.windowsre...mpaq_XPfull.htm

 

If the Win7 Recovery Partition has the same options, then after first cloning the C: partition for security as you suggested earlier, a "Non Destructive Recovery" may be a possible road to go down providing apshu_sarthak can boot to the recovery options screen.

 

Apart from that contribution, over to you guys. You're doing a sterling job.

[apshu_sarthak]

Yes that 5 Gb partition is recovery partition..infact it is 15 Gb

OK let me tell u what i have done till now

Using a Ubuntu Live USB to work on it. Used Gparted to determine the partitions it had and it shows that formatted partition as some unkown partition. Shows that its file systems are missing. I used terminal cmd to view the file list and it shows me the formatted partition.

Then i used Testdisk to determine any damaged partitions but to my bad it doesnt shows the defected one there even after doing deeper search.

i was thinking to format that partition to ntfs (Gparted shows that option). Now tell if i again format that damaged disk i guess memory sectors wont be overwritten and i can still recover my data ?

and i didnt let the recovery run more than 5 seconds i guess. But as while trying to backup thru system recovery it shows me no user data i guess the question of non destructive recovery is on of use now.

[Alan_B]

If you do format then what Cluster Size will you choose, and can you ensure that the new partition boundaries are exactly correct ?

 

You made a mistake when you started Recovery.

You made a mistake when you said a 15 GB partition was 5 GB

I doubt the wisdom of expecting to use powerful tools with no risk to any of your data.

 

I could be wrong, but I would not rush ahead with an action that I could later regret.

[Alan_B]

Windows stupidly called my GPT style HDD an MBR style and could no longer see any partitions,

and this was impossible for Recuva to access until I formatted - which would probably have damaged files beyond professional repair.

 

I fear that you are in danger of doing further damage to what could be otherwise restored,

and Windows will willingly perform any destruction that you permit

 

This forum is intended by Piriform to assist people with the use of Recuva,

and it is not appropriate to have another 30+ posts discussing how to use rival products,

so I will simply state that I found Lazersoft had a freeware version that solved my problem and may solve your problem, and this link :-

tells you more about that product;

and may give advice on how to use it;

and is part of a large forum which can advise on many other possible solutions which avoid the risk of further destruction.

http://www.wildersse...650#post2265650

[Guest Keatah]

Agreed on Alan_B's comment, and this -- Windows just wants to be happy on its own, monitoring you, and making sure all it's internal requirements are satisfied. If it sees a disk with an out-of-order problem in the file system, ohh well, it asks you to format the disk. With utter and reckless abandon for your data security. Users do that, they mistakenly and unknowingly trash any hopes at all for a recovery. They think the error messages are god! They are not!

 

Now,

Lazesoft's Recovery Suite has a disk image tool in it. And so does GetDataBack from Runtime.org. OnTrack makes their own tools too. Starus. Adroit PhotoRecovery. RecoverMyFiles. These are all payware, but you can try-before-you-buy. These are what I tend to call semi-professional tools, in that they do more than than freeware and that they work on "uncommon" parts of the system. Or, rather, work on parts of the system that normally don't need attention till something blows up. And they go through a little extra effort to present it all in a nice user interface. And one may succeed where another one does not - simply because they take different approaches to the problem.

 

Tools like this have imaging capability. This image tool allows you to copy a complete disk drive, sector-by-sector. This means all the defects and "messed-up stuff" are also copied. Damaged file systems, partly erased files. This imaging grabs it all. This is very important for a novice new to data recovery operations. This is invaluable for logical recoveries like this.

 

This imaging capability allows one to work from a copy, and if mistakes are made it's no big deal. You can go make a new image and restart your process without further killing the patient. It also allows you to perform risky operations and test new theories and techniques. If it explodes in your face, no big deal. I prefer to think of it as the backup you should have made last month.

 

Then you get into tools like Insight from Atola, or DeepSpar imager, and others. These are expensive hardware devices that work even with physically damaged disks that have hardware issues. These are in forensics and crime labs.

 

So when I say I recommend pro-level services. I say it because there are many clues in the first few postings that tell me the Original Poster will not be able to do the the job on their own, for many reasons. Lack of experience and knowledge, lack of interest, not technically inclined, time, others..

 

It is situations like this that the Customer ends up trying experiments and invariably does something to make the recovery job impossible.

 

Where does Recuva fit into this and is it useful in this situation?

Recuva is an undelete utility. Like a Recycle Bin add-on. It allows you to go one step further in bringing back your files than the Recycle Bin does. That's it!

 

Recuva (as it now stands in this present day version) requires that the storage sub-system be fully functional. This means the disk drive hardware must be working correctly. And it means the file system must be error free and intact. A healthy partition that is online and recognizable as a drive letter.

 

Within its realm of assigned duties and limitations and intended usage, Recuva does exactly what it is designed to do!

 

And in data recovery selecting the right tool is half the battle. For example I wouldn't need to connect the drive to a terminal in this case, nor would I need to be selectively deselecting heads. I wouldn't even think of replacing any parts on the drive. And

 

See, once the symptoms are described it comes down to getting the right tools. In this case we are working with rebuilding the partition and scanning for "lost" files. This is not a function Recuva was engineered for.

 

To the moderators:

People automatically pick Recuva not knowing all the complexities of data recovery, and it is complex because of all the things that can go wrong. Then they get disappointed when they discover it can't do Jacque Schmitt because it is not the right tool for the task at hand. And as time goes on, what with all the file abstraction taking place in Phablet os'es, it will only get worse.

 

I don't know what data the OP has lost or how valuable it is or what. But data recovery professionals give their best attention whether it be corporate R&D documents or Farmville and Battlefield hi-scores. It's all the same.

[hazelnut]

Keatah this is the bottom line ......most people cannot afford pro data recovery. So repeatedly posting this as a solution in a thread is totally pointless and I am telling you for the last time to stop mentioning it in most posts that you make. You could, if circumstances warranted it, make it a one line suggestion once in a thread but you go on and on and on about it.

 

If people had the money they wouldn't be posting here.

[Guest Keatah]

Post removed by moderator.

 

see your pm's

[Alan_B]

If people had the money they wouldn't be posting here.

I Disagree.

Many of those of us that are retired could spend our children's inheritance or sell equity in our homes,

but would rather spend our spare time trying out free do-it-yourself solutions.

 

Some freeware data recovery proactively protects its users by absolutely prevent restoration to the partition that has lost the file.

Recuva documentation merely warns against this if you read the manual first - hands up those who read first

 

I think it would be appropriate to warn in the documentation and with a sticky in the forum, and maybe when Recuva is launched,

that any writing or quick formatting to the partition with a lost file,

will possibly enable do-it-yourself rescue with either Recuva or some other freeware,

BUT could make it far more difficult and more expensive for a true professional to achieve a good result.

 

That recovery professionals "need to be selectively deselecting heads" is a detail I was not aware of.

We do not need to understand all the clever things that experts are able to do

We just need to know that the experts may have to jump through more hoops and charge us more if we do the "wrong" things in our failed attempts

 

Regards

Alan

[login123]

Hi, apshu.

Before anything else, let me suggest again that you do not use that hard drive. Not even to boot it with Ubuntu.

[login123]

Hi, apshu.

There are a lot of words in this thread. Most of them useless to me and probably you.

 

Here is an experience I had. It might be something for you to investigate.

I just had a laptop HDD replaced by small a local shop.

It had failed completely. Just worn out, I think. It had been giving warnings for months and finally just wouldn't do anything.

I had them do it because I didn't want to take chances with the fairly new laptop.

I knew these guys, they are pretty good, and I had the data backed up anyway.

 

They put the OS back (win7), and installed a selection of free software that brought the laptop back to normal operation. Cost was $200.00 US.

They also recovered the data files. Cost was an additional $40.00 US.

So look and ask around. In my experience, the big name places are more expensive and not any better.

 

If you do this, tell them NOT TO BOOT the computer. Just replace the drive. Insist on this.

Also insist on getting back the original drive.

If you can see the HDD by removing some of the cover plates on the bottom, you can mark it so you know it is yours.

(OK, OK, I'm not a very trusting soul ).

 

After all this, your original HDD will be preserved, files probably still intact, and the next step will be to recover them.

 

The other option is to ask the shop to recover the files.

As has been pointed out in this topic, that isn't straightforward.

But if you find the right shop, it can be considerably cheaper than the fees charged by the big name places

[Alan_B]

First demand to see the highest level technical person for explaining your requirement.

 

I know someone who went to a local shop with a non-working computer and comprehensively explained that he wanted the old HDD to be removed for his personal attempts at data recovery,

and a new HDD installed with a fresh installation of Windows.

 

Unfortunately he was speaking to the man at the counter whilst the owner was out elsewhere,

and the man at the counter did not understand / obey the instructions he received and instead just formatted and installed Windows.

When the owner returned he did his best to remedy the situation, but it was too late.

[login123]

@ Alan_B: Fwiw, I just ran the latest Recuva, and it DID warn me not to recover files to the same location.

 

@ apshu: If you decide to give it a go yourself, there are some free softwares that offer to recover files or even hard drives.

Here are some links, you can read about them, unfortunately I can not tell you much about them.

Some members here have used TestDisk and PhotoRec, mentioned in that last link.

I would try first a linux live DC/DVD that runs in RAM without accessing the HDD.

 

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-linux-rescue-tools-for-recovering-linux-windows-or-mac-machines/

http://www.linuxtoday.com/it_management/2010022800535OSSWRL

[login123]

...When the owner returned he did his best to remedy the situation, but it was too late.

 

Yep. What I would do is remove the HDD myself, if it isn't in there they can't mess it up.

But apshu doesn't seem to want to, and if he did, more hardware would be required to access the original drive.

[Alan_B]

Recuva version 1.48 was released yesterday.

Oh dear - moderators sleeping at their posts perhaps ?

 

@ Apshu

It probably works in situations where 1.47 failed.

It may be worth trying for yourself - otherwise I think my alternative recommendation may be as easy for you to use as Recuva.

 

Alan out.