External Hard Drive Blunder...HELP

samsx

I have just finished cursing after this enormous f##k up. I had my external 1.2TB Hard Drive plugged into my laptop today as i was transferring all required files from this laptop to the hard drive.
My plan was to wipe the Laptop (as it was running very badly for weeks) and re-install XP again. Most probably know where this is going.....
Once the transfer was complete I loaded the XP disk, booted from CD, and XP install began.
The screen came up with the options for partitions etc. I noticed 2 (forgetting that the hard drive was still plugged in) I selected the hard drive and honestly can't remember much after this as at this point i realised my f##k up. I then unplugged the hard drive.
I then continued installing XP on the laptop's hard drive.
On plugging in the hard drive the PC it didn't recognise it or bring it up as normal on screen. The safely remove icon appears in the bottom tray alright but that's it.
On entering the device manager properties the partition is MBR (master boot record).
I think I may be in trouble but some person may have some help for me. I had all pictures/music/films/tv series/files for my WIFE'S business on it. I fear to ask but is it all gone (can't remember if I formatted it completely or not)?? and if it is how do i get the computer to recognise it again so i can start afresh (literally and probably as a divorced man!!)

Apologies for the long rant but any help would be greatly appreciated.

aperture_nuig

Maybe someone with a better knowledge of how MBR works can help, but unfortunately I think you're in trouble If the hard drive isn't in a format windows can understand (i.e. FAT or NTFS) then it won't recognise it.

yoyo

You simply deleted the External HDs partition, try TestDisk which should be able to rebuild it for you (whatever you do don't write any more data to it!). You may need to use PhotoREC to manually recover all files to the internal drive after this.
Edit: Just to point out, make sure you do not under any circumstances write any more data to the external hd.

Nick

Supermensch

You might try this programme, it's worked pretty well for me. There is some limitation on the trial version, I think, but you'll be able to see if it works.

http://www.diskinternals.com/partition-recovery/

Sup08

Installing XP formats the disc when selected and when you unplugged you made corrupt the MBR, had you left it install recovery would have been easier.
If windows recognises the Drive and you want to recover all files, then I would recommend this

http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/

Most of the freeware items will only recover photos and the trial versions will not let you recover most of the files, either a limited amount or none.
Personally, I've never used PhotoRec but YoYo offers sound advice, do not write anymore data to the HDD.

samsx

To all a very sincere thank you, recovering lost files as we speak thank god....ye have saved my marriage..:) One more question, after recovering all files how do i format drive back to FAT32, if its not possible i'm not too worried as long as the files are recovered.... thanks again to all sooo much:D:D:D:D

Sup08

make sure you recover the files to a disk larger than the one you are recovering from and not to the same drive.
You can right click on the drive in my computer and select format then select NTFS the dialog box window or download a tool to format it to fat32 if you want.

samsx

this hard drive not showing in My Computer, is there some other way to reformat it

vibe666

yoyo wrote: »

You simply deleted the External HDs partition, try TestDisk which should be able to rebuild it for you (whatever you do don't write any more data to it!). You may need to use PhotoREC to manually recover all files to the internal drive after this.
Edit: Just to point out, make sure you do not under any circumstances write any more data to the external hd.

Nick

+1 to this. testdisk is all you need to fix the drive without reformatting it (i've fixed a drive that had the exact same thing done to it this way when every other tool failed). it should be able to rebuild the deleted MBR without messing with what's already on the disk.

Supermensch

samsx wrote: »

this hard drive not showing in My Computer, is there some other way to reformat it

Will it show up in Diskpart?

Open up command prompt.
Type in 'diskpart'
Confirm any permissions (like if an administration dialogue pops up)
When you get the prompt 'DISKPART>', type in 'list disk'

See if your drive is found.
Apparently this doesn't work for all usb drives, though I've yet to come across one that hasn't worked for me.

If it is found, you can read-format it in Diskpart.
Type in 'select disk x', where x is the number of your corrupted drive from the list made by 'list disk'.

MAKE SURE you don't accidentally select your computer's C drive, or any other drive you don't want formated.

Type in 'clean'
When that's done type in 'create partition primary'
When it's done partitioning the drive type in 'format fs=ntfs quick'
When that's done type in 'assign letter=E'

Let us know how you get on.

riclad

Buy another 2 drives ,back up all the business files onto it,A Business
should have at 3 different backups of all files, in at least 2 places.
Bring one drive home ,or to some other place .Having just 1 drive with all your data on it is risky ,ridiculous and drives are very cheap, business gets tax credits for all pcs,hardware purchased for use in the company.
see http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Fat32Formatter.shtml
I dont know if this will format a 1tb drive,
ntfs is much more effecient re using space than fat32,
only reason to use fat32 is for compatibility for older devices,or operating systems.

samsx

To all a huge thank you, used TestDisk to recover files and used DiskPart to clear hard drive etc, have all files and Hard Drive. I can't say thank you enough. Thanks again all and long live BOARDS....

enniscorthy

samsx wrote: »

To all a huge thank you, used TestDisk to recover files and used DiskPart to clear hard drive etc, have all files and Hard Drive. I can't say thank you enough. Thanks again all and long live BOARDS....

phew close one mate hehe

Sup08

Be more careful when doing a re-install agian..glad you got it all back.

riclad

if files are important they should be stored on 3 different devices.Theres also
online storage like dropbox.
Even a new drive can stop working after a year, or the mechanical
parts wear out,
just having 1 backup drive is just asking for trouble if theres business info,
Customer, tax,financial sales data.Like most things ,drives are designed to
wear out.
AT some point the drive you have now will stop working,
although its great you got all the data back.