URGENT: Help me please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by AaLF, Jan 6, 2008.

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  1. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    I have a a major catastrophy on my hands.

    Have a 500gB HDD partitioned 3 ways, and was creating a secure zone partition from one existing partition and bang/crash.

    On re-boot all I have is the partition of 150gB that I was carving up. The rest of the drive has lost its partitions with everything vauable & dear now designated "unallocated space".

    What am I to do. Or more to the point ,'what advice are u guys going to give me to recover this stuff'. I don't want to jump in and try & fix this without your comments first because what's lost is toooooooooooooo important to even think of losing it.

    I understand about recovering regular, deleted files but this unallocated space situation has pannicked me.

    What's the best way to approach this & what is the best software to track down to 'save the day' ?
     
  2. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Once doing a restore i accidently deleted the volume of the wrong drive. Acronis Disk Director 10 which I run from Bartpe found the deleted partition and restored it. BootitNG also would do the same thing.

    Hopefully the partition table isn't corrupted.

    Pete
     
  3. wilbertnl

    wilbertnl Registered Member

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    Try to stay calm, your data is not lost yet.
    You need to restore the original partition table by using partition editing software.
    Here is a page with free applications to serve that purpose:
    http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/partitioneditors.shtml

    I do have excellent experience with Partition Table Doctor, but that is not free. It usually detects the problem right away and offers to fix in in one step. Boots from floppy or CD.

    Active@ Partition Recovery for DOS seems cheaper, I don't have experience with that solution.

    This one is free: PC Inspector.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2008
  4. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

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    you can use testdisk on the parted magic distro to restore lost partitions. i've used testdisk in the past and it's really good, it was dos based though when i last used it. i really like parted magic too, it's only 30MB and has lots of great programs. here's a thread, there's System Rescue CD as well, it's GUI isn't as nice as parted magic, but it has really useful programs.
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=186131
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

    i found this howto for Testdisk, it's the linux version like the one on parted magic.
    http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p21.html

    there's ultimatebootcd too, it has some useful stuff as well as testdisk, zorro zorrito mentioned it in a thread i was talking about testdisk. there's UBCD4WIN, that's good too.
    http://www.ubcd4win.com/
    http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=96021
    you should get one of those livecds so you don't have to download one when you really need them. maybe data you really need will be over-written while you are using your computer with the lost partitions! so be careful!!!

    i found these links too -
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=370121
    http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=61&front_id=12
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2008
  5. ThunderZ

    ThunderZ Registered Member

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    May want to have a look at this thread.
     
  6. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    This is the quickest way to resurface your lost partitions. I just went thru the exact same near disaster and PartedMagic CD with TESTDISK was able to identify and then "write to disk" those lost partitions.

    I have emergency CD's that cost a lot and even turned to Hiren's and other boot CD's with no luck at all.

    If you want to save yourself time AND recover those missing partitions, my recommendation is use PARTED MAGIC live CD.
    In my opinion if it can't ressurrect them, nothing can.
     
  7. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    I used Partition Table doctor to try and recover but no go. It says there are 3 bad sectors (or something like that). So now we have one partition visible and the rest is unallocated space 70%.

    I have Spinrite 6 but it along with others say unallocated space is a no go zone.

    So what if I create a new partition of that big black hole called unallocated space? Do you think the old lost data will then be available in the new partition for recovery?
     
  8. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

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    if you make a new partition you'll lose all the data, it won't come back. use testdisk with the howto i gave.

    download testdisk and run it from your good partition.
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
    http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p21.html

    EDIT: there are howtos on the site -
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Data_Recovery_Examples
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Intel_Partition_Table

    or try doing a search for 'testdisk howto' i'm using linux so i get a lot of linux howtos and not windows ones.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2008
  9. BlueZannetti

    BlueZannetti Registered Member

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    Well, I guess the first question before doing anything else - if the stuff really is that important - are you working from the compromised disk or a clone of that physical device?

    Blue
     
  10. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    TestDisk. Nice product. :thumb:

    But for this job...

    Looks bad. Says it can see a partition but the one i want is 'damaged' - can't open filesystem - Can't recover.



    Yiii. I think it goes back to Partition doctor who said 'I can fix this', then came out of the operating theatre with glum news earlier this morning.
     
  11. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

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    well maybe it is damaged, i mentioned it in my first post and BlueZannetti is probably talking about the same thing?? - if you are still using the computer that has lost the partitions it will see the lost data as free space it can use in normal use. that's why you should really use a livecd, that way no data can be written over your lost data.

    you can still probably save most of the data though with PhotoRec. i don't know any other data recovery software.
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

    if you have a livecd, or another computer, you should use that instead of your computer with the lost data until it's recovered. if you don't have a livecd you can get one in the last 'Linux Format' magazine, it has ubuntu in it. put the cd/dvd in your dvd player and reboot and when it says 'Boot from cd:' press enter. select the first ubuntu option and you'll get in to the livecd. don't worry about it installing to the HDD, it should go straight to the desktop. if it boots normally in to windows you'll have to go in to the BIOS and tell the computer to boot from the dvd player before the HDD. you can get in to the BIOS by pressing the DEL or F12 or F10 button at boot.

    if you have a hardware firewall/router, linux should be able to use the internet, with other modems it might not, they are designed to work with windows.
     
  12. wilbertnl

    wilbertnl Registered Member

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    It sounds like one of the partitions has a corrupt file system?
    If that is one of the problems, then it would still be possible to recover the partition itself together with the other lost partitions.

    But maybe the partition table itself is laid on bad sectors, that is not really clear yet.
    It would help if you are able to get as much information and error messages available about the status of your drive.
    I'm not sure which of the suggested software would be best for that.
     
  13. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    WilbertNL. Please name me any example of the software your referring to and I'll get right on to it.




    This one I'm saving 'til morning to try. Maybe my last hope.



    I like your confidence, "you can still probably save most of the data..." This is good.



    I have disconnected the drive with data drama as a precaution. I have more drives and 2 pcs. I didn't quite understand what you were talking about here..."LiveCD"? Is there a recovery solution there? Net access etc is still no problem as the drive wasn't the prime one.
     
  14. wilbertnl

    wilbertnl Registered Member

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    Well, Partition Table Doctor doesn't seem to offer you a solution.

    Testdisk didn't help you either.

    I downloaded the trial of the Bootable Floppy Disk Creator for Active@ Partition Recovery. It's small and fast. It scans unallocated space, which could take a long time.

    Your problem must be more complex than just a deleted partition, it seems that small (and maybe essential) parts of the harddisk are unrecoverable. I would not give up yet, though.

    Wish you success!
     
  15. iceni60

    iceni60 ( ^o^)

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    i was thinking your lost partitions were unused space of the partition you're using and not unallocated space of the HDD, that's right isn't it? so forget about the livecd bit, i was thinking the computer could over-write your lost data, whereas a livecd doesn't write to the HDD and uses the computer's memory and the dvd instead.

    the only other thing i can think of are the forensic distros, they might have something you can use, like FIRE (i've never used) etc
    http://fire.dmzs.com/
    http://www.darknet.org.uk/2006/03/10-best-security-live-cd-distros-pen-test-forensics-recovery/
    http://penguinsleuth.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=39
    http://www.e-fense.com/helix/
     
  16. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Hello,
    I third and fourth TestDisk - used it myself to fix a messed partition table.
    A superb product by all means.
    Mrk
     
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