Partition recovery - HELP!

[Dirtie]

I was rearranging the partitions on my hard disk using the GParted boot CD. Then, while it was in the process of extending a particular partition (my main one, with everything I've accumulated over the years with lots of important documents, projects I've put lots of work into, etc.), some asshole accidentally turned the switch off at the wall.

Needless to say I'm extremely pissed and extremely worried. But I can't cry over spilt milk - I need to recover as many files as I can off this partition somehow. Except I have no idea where to begin (I certainly don't want to mess things up more than they already are). I have the Ultimate Boot CD v3.4, but I have no idea what app could help me, if any.

The partition in question was only being extended (to the "left" however) but data still had to be shifted. Last time I checked up on it, it had almost finished either shifting the data or reading the data - I can't remember which.
Cutting my losses is not an option, period. Please no comments about how I should have backed things up first, etc. - that's not helpful in any way.

When starting windows (why oh why couldn't it have been my system partition), it asks if I want to format it. GParted lists it as unformatted, and says something along the lines of the file system/partition table being damaged.

I'd like to think I've served the members of GBAtemp well, now's your chance to help me out.

 

[Azimuth]

grab knoppix or kanotix boot it up and hope for the best.
After that just mount each partition and copy the files over.

Edit: to repair the ntfs filesystem you can use the ntfsfix command
this should fix the problem with booting into windows

 

[Dirtie]

What specifically does knoppix have that might allow me to recover data? And how big is the distro?

I have Ubuntu sitting here, but if GParted can't read it, I doubt Ubuntu can.

Someone else recommended something along the lines of this: http://www.ptdd.com/ Anyone had any experience with said application, or anything similar?

 

[Westside]

There are some extreamly powerful file undeleters out there. If you partition just got shifted, then recovering is easy. However, you may have to recover files one by one depending on the software, plus you need another media to write the recovered files to.

 

[Azimuth]

i recommend knoppix because its a live cd and has excellent hardware detection and utils.
If you just want to copy files thats easy, pop in ubuntu(assuming its a live cd) then open a terminal as root and type: mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1

thats it then just copy paste the files.

If you want to repair the filesystem then run ntfsfix, otherwise chkdisk is the only option

 

[Westside]

I think if he messed up the partition, he is screwed. You can not recover file normally. You need a software. Slave the hard drive on another computer and then use a file undeleter (a good one at that).

 

[FAST6191]

First I would suggest using another machine until this is all said and done, if you have a caddy or USB reader for your drive then then it might also be a good idea to grab it.
Second this one of the few domains where commercial apps have a major edge over their freeware counterparts and not just in stuff like GUI design.

http://www.partition-recovery.com/ has saved my neck more times than I care to count although I am unsure how well it copes with linux partitions (I assume that is why you will fiddling with gparted).
I also hear good things from various friends who do this more than I about:
http://www.ptdd.com/download.htm

Both of those are payware though, most shareware versions of such apps tend to do little more than tease you. I really do not have enough experience with much else to feel comfortable suggesting anything else.

Edit: much too slow.

 

[Azimuth]

I think if he messed up the partition, he is screwed. You can not recover file normally. You need a software. Slave the hard drive on another computer and then use a file undeleter (a good one at that).

its at least worth a try, eliminate the small things before moving to the big problems

 

[lookout]

oop misunderstanding..

 

[Dirtie]

Well, that's at least once other person who's recommended Partition Table Doctor, so I'll give it a try first and see what happens.

 

[Strider]

As sad as it may be, I'd like to point out to half of the replies that simply booting another OS will NOT rescue your data, that would only work if the OS itself were broken, but not the partitioning.

 

[Dirtie]

Just a note to fast - no it wasn't a linux partition, but I was using GParted because I had to erase a linux partition to free up space.

 

[Dirtie]

YES!

Excuse my happiness (and my double-post), but it appears that it did the trick (Partition Table Doctor that is). First it told me to fix the boot sector for that partition, which I tried, and it failed. At that point I was thinking "uh-oh". However, I then told it to rebuild the partition table, which it did, and after a restart everything appears to be where it should be. A highly recommended application (you get what you pay for - or pirate - I guess. I might actually have to buy it now

)

Free grog for everyone!

*relief*

 

[FAST6191]

Good to know you got it working Dirtie, stuff like this is never fun.

If I felt like being a hypocrite I would do the whole "regular backups" dance but that would be contrary to the lead by example deal.

 

[Dirtie]

Certain things I backup every now and then to make more space, but when there's 140GB+ of stuff it gets a little difficult. One of these days I'm gonna get a second SATA drive (I have a spare PATA already, but this relatively new PC only has one PATA plug which my DVD drives are attached to), then put all my operating systems and programs on one, with the second drive having only a single partition for everything else - that way I should never have to repartition that drive, and the only way I'm likely to lose data is by hard drive failure

 

[lookout]

WELLDONE!

 

[TPi]

WELLDONE!

LOL

 

[tshu]

WELLDONE!


LOL

LMBO

 

[dafatkid27]

That's almost as great as... PEZ - Cherry-flavored PEZ. No question about it!