Welcome, Guest. Please Login 3dfx Archive
 
  HomeHelpSearchLogin  
 
Pages: 1 2 3 
Send Topic Print
Data recovery help needed (Read 520 times)
gdonovan
YaBB Administrator
*****
Offline


Infernal Collector

Posts: 2361
Data recovery help needed
23.08.08 at 13:40:40
 


A program crash last week in XP scrambled the registry making it necessary for me to pull one of the mirrored drives on my main computer.

I was able to reboot off a boot disk and repair the damage, but when I reinstalled the second drive (to rebuild the array) and rebooted the machine it wiped out the MBR of both drives.

Can anyone point out a good data recovery program? I tried R-Studio software using two different platforms but it just crashes after scanning about 20%

If I could rebuild the MBR, I'd be gold or a program that would scan and move the files. I have 10 years worth of files I'd like to get back.

No more mirrored crap for me, this is the second time this happend! Dual external is how I'm going next.

Been offline for more than a week due to this, hate using the laptop with the tiny keyboard if anyone was looking to contact me. I have an older box up and running now but really need to get the main PC back up. Lots going on here non-computer related! I'll post pictures when I get a few minutes of time.

Gary
Back to top
« Last Edit: 23.08.08 at 13:51:35 by gdonovan »  

Rampage is alive!
 
IP Logged
 
exxe
God Member
*****
Offline


^^

Posts: 1316
germany
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #1 - 23.08.08 at 14:35:39
 
use a 3th harddrive?

install wndows on it and copy all the data on it
Back to top
 

...
WWW 233274082  
IP Logged
 
gdonovan
YaBB Administrator
*****
Offline


Infernal Collector

Posts: 2361
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #2 - 23.08.08 at 15:13:57
 
exxe wrote on 23.08.08 at 14:35:39:
use a 3th harddrive?

install wndows on it and copy all the data on it



There is no Master Boot Record- As far as Windows is concened the drive is blank and unformatted.

Already tried popping it into another machine, with no MBR.. there is nothing for Windows to see.
Back to top
 

Rampage is alive!
 
IP Logged
 
exxe
God Member
*****
Offline


^^

Posts: 1316
germany
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #3 - 23.08.08 at 15:59:54
 
IDE or S-ATA drive?

you can try Knoppix linux and look it is see the drive
Back to top
 

...
WWW 233274082  
IP Logged
 
razrx
God Member
*****
Offline


3dfx Addict

Posts: 839
Great Lakes, Canada
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #4 - 23.08.08 at 16:13:11
 
I have a favourite Data Recovery program that hasn't failed me yet, it's called: Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro

I'm partial to Seagate and that's what Seagate recommends.  Wink
Back to top
 

...
442747549  
IP Logged
 
gdonovan
YaBB Administrator
*****
Offline


Infernal Collector

Posts: 2361
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #5 - 23.08.08 at 16:14:57
 
exxe wrote on 23.08.08 at 15:59:54:
IDE or S-ATA drive?

you can try Knoppix linux and look it is see the drive


Seagate S-ATA

I considered booting up a Linux box but will leave that as a last resort.
Back to top
 

Rampage is alive!
 
IP Logged
 
gdonovan
YaBB Administrator
*****
Offline


Infernal Collector

Posts: 2361
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #6 - 23.08.08 at 16:15:56
 
razrx wrote on 23.08.08 at 16:13:11:
I have a favourite Data Recovery program that hasn't failed me yet, it's called: Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro


I might give that a go later today, I just might have a copy that came with one of my drives.

I also have Spinrite 6.0 I'm going to try later today.
Back to top
 

Rampage is alive!
 
IP Logged
 
razrx
God Member
*****
Offline


3dfx Addict

Posts: 839
Great Lakes, Canada
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #7 - 23.08.08 at 16:19:48
 
Ohhh yeah!  I forgot about Spinrite!  I've seen Leo Laporte have the guy that wrote Spinrite on his TV show Call for Help and The Lab With Leo Laporte.

Good call.   Cool
Back to top
 

...
442747549  
IP Logged
 
exxe
God Member
*****
Offline


^^

Posts: 1316
germany
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #8 - 23.08.08 at 16:30:14
 
knoppix is a live dvd
boot without installation
Back to top
 

...
WWW 233274082  
IP Logged
 
gdonovan
YaBB Administrator
*****
Offline


Infernal Collector

Posts: 2361
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #9 - 23.08.08 at 18:28:42
 
No good on SpinRite.
Back to top
 

Rampage is alive!
 
IP Logged
 
paulpsomiadis
God Member
*****
Offline


-=3Dfx still rox!=-

Posts: 2011
Newcastle U.K.
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #10 - 24.08.08 at 04:27:14
 
I had a similar issue with my SATA raid AAAAAAGES ago... Roll Eyes

Now I swear by testdisk:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

FULLY rebuilds MBR. Cool

Best of all? Huh IT'S FREE! Cheesy

For those of you without a floppy drive, go get THIS Linux Live-CD. Wink

Parted Magic (includes testdisk for linux):

http://partedmagic.com/wiki/PartedMagic.php?n=PartedMagic.Downloads

Also the BEST tool for re-partitioning PERIOD! Cool

Allowed me to re-partition a completely fuxored WD SCSI HDD that I use in my old 486 machine (the partition was unreadable to practically everything - except this!) Cheesy
Back to top
« Last Edit: 24.08.08 at 04:36:48 by paulpsomiadis »  

-=To MOD or not to MOD, that is a DUMB question - just MOD it!=-&&&&+May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.+
themadhaxor  
IP Logged
 
IG88
Full Member
***
Offline



Posts: 209
Australia
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #11 - 24.08.08 at 14:00:09
 
can`t you just do a repair install of xp on one of the drives to repair the mbr
Back to top
 

Q9550 quad 4 gig ram Asus Pq5pro 2X Sapphire 4850
WWW  
IP Logged
 
paulpsomiadis
God Member
*****
Offline


-=3Dfx still rox!=-

Posts: 2011
Newcastle U.K.
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #12 - 24.08.08 at 15:31:24
 
An XP "repair install" doesn't work if the MBR is toast - testdisk does! Wink
Back to top
 

-=To MOD or not to MOD, that is a DUMB question - just MOD it!=-&&&&+May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.+
themadhaxor  
IP Logged
 
gtxe
Junior Member
**
Offline


v56k user

Posts: 54
germany
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #13 - 24.08.08 at 16:14:05
 
fdisk /mbr

perhaps this is what you are looking for  Huh

edit: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/69013/EN-US/
Back to top
« Last Edit: 24.08.08 at 16:16:43 by gtxe »  
 
IP Logged
 
FalconFly
YaBB Administrator
*****
Offline


3dfx Archivist

Posts: 2445
5335N 00745E
Gender: male
Re: Data recovery help needed
Reply #14 - 24.08.08 at 18:07:36
 
For cases like that I repeatedly had excellent results with "Stellar Phoenix" Data Recovery.

Only small caviat is, that you need to install it onto a working Windows machine and then attach the troubled Drives to it (works on USB Drives as well, however, so you don't have to attach the Drive to the Board's Controller if you got an external USB Case available)

Generally, I would avoid writing data to the troubled disks at all cost, it only makes things worse.
A missing MBR should not affect Partitions, it just prevents the Disk from being used as a Boot device. Therefor I think, the Partition table got scrambled (that's actually a frequent cause of data loss in the mass of defects, I recently fully revived such a Disk within Seconds using the above Recovery Tool)
Back to top
« Last Edit: 24.08.08 at 18:10:28 by FalconFly »  
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 3 
Send Topic Print