ohh... Crap.

[auntieofjed]

Pretty sure that only works if you have created a new partition table but not formatted, when you format NTFS drives they go a bit weird.

no you dont need another partition, thats only if you are going to install Ubuntu, i've done this with many other harddrives, and everytime my computer crashes and i need something. it works

 

[err_ok]

Pretty sure that only works if you have created a new partition table but not formatted, when you format NTFS drives they go a bit weird.

no you dont need another partition, thats only if you are going to install Ubuntu, i've done this with many other harddrives, and everytime my computer crashes and i need something. it works

Her computer hasn't crashed, her mum has formatted the hard disk....

 

[Boomn4x4]

The best I can offer is to ask the question, "Are you now going to listen to all the people that have told you that you should always backup all of your important information?"

Hard drives WILL fail.... sure you can blame your mom for this happening now, but if you weren't backing up, it was going to happen sooner or later anyway. If nothing else, you should probably be thanking your mom for teaching you this lesson. You only lost a few years worth of data...if it didn't happen now, and happend 5 years from now... you would have lost a lot more.

And BTW.... you can try some of those data recover programs.... which may work. But if the drive has been formatted and has been used for a few days, the odds of you getting the data back without spending a few hundred, possibly thousand dollars, are pretty slim.

 

[Boomn4x4]

Pretty sure that only works if you have created a new partition table but not formatted, when you format NTFS drives they go a bit weird.

no you dont need another partition, thats only if you are going to install Ubuntu, i've done this with many other harddrives, and everytime my computer crashes and i need something. it works

That won't work... the drive has be formatted, not crashed. The directory structure and partition tables are gone. There is no way to get back into the "drives" because the "drives" don't exist any more. The data is probably physically still there but there is no map to tell the operating system where to go to find it, be it Ubuntu or Windows.

To make a comparison, when your computer crashes, its like somebody went into the card catalog of the library and mixed up all the cards. It makes it very difficult to find the books, but the books are all still neatly organized on the shelf, you can still find them if you really try. When you format the hard drive, its like taking a wrecking ball to the entire library. Yes, the data is still there in the rubble, but unless you have a lot of time and a lot of money, you are SOL.

 

[PJL]

Man, stuff like this makes me happy I still shoot film.

 

[Boomn4x4]

Man, stuff like this makes me happy I still shoot film.

My mom used to say that until nephew knocked a full glass of orange juice over on the table she stored her photos in and it soaked a few decades of pictures.

 

[PJL]

Man, stuff like this makes me happy I still shoot film.

My mom used to say that until nephew knocked a full glass of orange juice over on the table she stored her photos in and it soaked a few decades of pictures.

Ouch.

And stop raining on my "justifying my Luddism" parade

 

[Polyphony]

This thread encourages me to update my external HD lol.

 

[Sonoma]

Try this.............
Recover files from formatted hard drive disk and partition. Format Recovery, Unformat software in Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/Windows 7 .
This will work assuming you have not done anything to the computer since the accident! Like trying to reinstall Windows.

The commands "delete", "format", "fdisk", and several others are old DOS commands. They have been around since the '80s.

"Delete" and "format" simply modify the FAT(file allocation table) on the hard drive, no data is lost.

DOS even has the commands "undelete" and "unformat", and has had for some time.
MS-DOS unformat command help

To save yourself the $70.00 for the above mentioned software, I would search for free unformat software.

Good luck
Gary

 

[Gaerek]

That won't work... the drive has be formatted, not crashed. The directory structure and partition tables are gone. There is no way to get back into the "drives" because the "drives" don't exist any more. The data is probably physically still there but there is no map to tell the operating system where to go to find it, be it Ubuntu or Windows.

To make a comparison, when your computer crashes, its like somebody went into the card catalog of the library and mixed up all the cards. It makes it very difficult to find the books, but the books are all still neatly organized on the shelf, you can still find them if you really try. When you format the hard drive, its like taking a wrecking ball to the entire library. Yes, the data is still there in the rubble, but unless you have a lot of time and a lot of money, you are SOL.

If it's a quick format, it only re-writes the directory structure and partition table. The drive itself isn't zeroed out. Most recovery software will scan the entire drive looking for anything that looks like data, then tries to recreate it. As long as you haven't been adding too much data to the drive, you should be able to recover at least some of the images. These programs do not need the "card catalog" to find and recover data. But don't delay, do as little with the computer as possible, and go find a program online. I've used Recuva with great success in the past.

Now, if your mom un-checked quick format, that zeroes the drive and removes all data. In that case, you'd be screwed.

 

[Stormchase]

Sucks to hear about your drive. Best of luck to ya! For sure get a external drive! Thats what i do and every now and then ill back it all up on a 4GB DVD.
I got a 1TB passport for like 119 doll\ars. its a must for me.

 

[MrBarney]

Oh dear God. Please be careful with free advice. I'm assuming we're talking about Microsoft Windows here?

1) STOP USING YOUR COMPUTER! SWITCH IT OFF NOW!!!!
- Your computer is writing to the disk nearly all the time. Each time it writes something it uses a part of the disk marked as free space. All of your data has been marked as free space, so the more you use it the less change of recovering ANYTHING.

2) DO NOT INSTALL ANY SOFTWARE!
- See Point 1). You do not want to be writing to this disk.

Now, being a little more helpful...

Don't bother with Ubuntu, or BartPE or Knoppix or any of that. It isn't going to help in this situation, as some people have said, your data is not going to be that easy to get back. You have formated the disk, then the system recovery tool is going to have written a whole bunch of new stuff over the top. Again, see point 1) for why this is bad. You have two... well, three options.

1) Take your computer to a data recover specialist and tell them what happened. Expect to pay $$$ for them to get back what they can. It's not likely to be everything.

2) Forget it and move on. Consider it a very painful lesson.

3) If you're comfortable with opening up your PC, or have a mate who knows a little something, then you need to do a few things:
a) Buy, beg, borrow a new HDD for your computer, and some data recovery software. The HDD needs to be the right type so if you can't work it out, get help.
b) Remove the original HDD from the computer and replace it with the new one.
c) Run the "System recovery" (or whatever it's called) that your Mom ran to get your computer working again.
d) Install the data recovery software, then shut down the PC.
e) Set up the original disk as a second drive. Be very sure about this or you'll be writing to the disk again. See point 1) !!
f) Your computer should still start up from the new disk, and then you can run the recovery software against the original disk, MAKING SURE TO SAVE ANY RECOVERED DATA TO THE NEW DISK, NOT THE ORIGINAL.

That will get you everything that is reasonably possible to recover. The only thing left is to thank the data Gods for being merciful and take the lesson to backup your data regularly.

Edit: How are you posting this without a computer?!

Edit 2: I thought of another option to buying a new HDD - if you have a friend with a similar computer who is willing to let you connect your HDD as a second drive, and has (or will let you install once purchased) data recovery software, and has enough free space for the data you will hopefully recover, then you could start at 3) point d).

 

[Flash Harry]

Man, stuff like this makes me happy I still shoot film.

My mom used to say that until nephew knocked a full glass of orange juice over on the table she stored her photos in and it soaked a few decades of pictures.

Photographers file and keep negatives, which can be washed again & again, the prints can also be washed, orange juice = no big deal, sulphuric acid = get another mom. H

 

[BroMiCs]

Backup, backup backup backup and then backup again!!!

I have all of my documents on a seperate hdd in my pc. I have windows installed on a physical disc of its own. (Not a partition on the same hdd) It doesen't even have to be a big one. 25 to 80 gigs will do. That way even if you pc had a melt down and they had to throw the hard drive in the garbage because not even god could get it to boot up, It wouldn't matter because all of your files are on a seperate disc.
If you right click on the "My Documents" folder and go to properties you can change the location of this Folder. It will ask you if you would like to copy all of the files over and you just click yes.. BAM all of your files are now seperate from the hdd with the operating system on it.

This will also allow you to format your system often to ensure that it is running at peak performace all of the time, without having to spend hours and hours backing everything up and then putting it back on the hdd.

secondly, I have an external drive that saves all of my files. Leave this off and only turn it on when doing a back up. Once a week is fine, but if you save anything important do it at the same time. Leaving it off will both extend its life and protect you if a crazy virus gets into your pc and corrupts all of your files. (this happend to me years ago. It turned all of my pix into text files)

lastly, get yet another portable hdd, one of the pocket ones would be good enough. you can pick up a 500 gig for less than 100 bux at costco. And put this one in a fire safe or some place out of your house. In the shed or at work or something just in case you house burns down...

Thats what I do.

 

[Francis E. Marchiona]

Im Furious. Totally ropable!
Mum managed to wipe the computer of ALL its memory - Like it was brand new again. (She put it through recovery mode)
I LOST EVERYTHING!!
All my photos ive ever taken are gone! Sure I have a few on my blog and on Facebook (But like thats any help with their crappy photo hosting...)

Is there ANY way of somehow getting these back? Has anyone had this happen before?

<-- Thats how happy I am right now.

Dude, that sucks. Here's what I'd suggest doing now though. Grab an external hard drive, password protect it's data access and store all your important stuff on there. They're surge protected and everything, the only way to kill what's on it is to enter your security information that you've setup around it or to light it on fire and throw it off the roof. They're not even linked to your computer's master reset switches, they pretty much only latch themselves onto your computer as a power source and as a way to take data from it for itself. You can get a 2TB one for a lousy 180 USD. Like this one, for example.

There's nothing wrong, nor is there any risk of using your computer as a way of storing your photos this way.