Data Recovery / Disk Recovery

#$%^&* SG

Hi everyone,

Just a few days ago, I had a problem with my Windows which would not load at startup. After many futile troubleshooting effort, I decided to format it.

Unfortunately when I tried to format the C drive, the system tried to format my other Hard Disk. My computer has 2 hard disks, one is the primary disk containing the Windows OS, and the other is the secondary disk. I think part of the original problem was the cause of why the computer mistakenly tried to format the secondary disk, even though I pointed at C drive.

However, the progress bar stopped at 0% and there was an error message, so it was not really formatted.

After I realized what's going on, then later I pulled out the secondary disk from the motherboard and then let the system to format the correct disk this time.

Now I have a functioning Windows and I can go into Windows after the format and re-install.

But, I connect my secondary disk, and it is now not readable.

It shows in BIOS with correct size etc, but inside Windows Explorer, it says the disk is not formatted and asks whether I want to format it. There is no description like NTFS or FAT32 at all either.

I think I might have messed it up during the wrong format.

Do you guys know any good method to recover the disk and make it readable? Without destroying the data inside......

Or if you recommend any software, what software would be good for this..?

Many thanks in advance,

regards,
Jim

newmanmback SG

i will not claim myself a wise man and all the knowledge of computers i have are through trial and error...and the occasionally help from tech guys over at internet forums (includin sgforums of course hehe).

you made a big mistake before you decided to format. you should disconnect (at least the power supply cable) your "D" drive hdd prior to formatting your "C" drive hdd. after that you should be able to boot into your C and access your D.

however we would like to know more about your D. is it a ned unformatted hdd? or was it a back up drive for your datas?

please take note that unlike a firewire or USB external hdd which has been configured in a case at the factory to be readable by a computer system as a separate drive, when you try to achieve this concept with an internal connection vis SATA (or IDE) on the computer motherboard, you may have to do otherwise. and the whole concept is unlike RAID (which i wouldn't wanna discuss here and i assume that your 2 disks are not in RAID).

are your backup datas in your "D" hdd? other forumers may post alternate solutions but if i were you and land myself in this situation i will get a external hdd case mod, connect and try to interface with the computer via external USB. see if you can access the files (only) in such a set up.

if your "D" is a new hdd unit, the safer way is to disconnect your "C" hdd, format and install your OS again on your "D" hdd nevertheless before transfering datas and files you wanna backup from "C" to "D". dun worry once you format "D" you can also run it independantly and access your backup files and datas.

unless the disks are RAID (be it 0,1,0+1 etc), you should try to avoid initiating a format hard disk with 2 drives connected and powered on at the same time.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

One question, did you set the jumper settings correctly? Only one hard disk should have master jumper settings, the others have to use slave jumper settings.

By right, if you've set them correctly, Windows would automatically detect and format the correct disk and the right partition.

Explanation here

MosPosterior SG

Maybe you can format your C: in this way instead:
format /u c: /fs:ntfs

This is to perform a surface format and at the same time convert your harddrive to ntfs.

Other wise you could:
convert c: /fs:ntfs
format c:

newmanmback SG

jumpers again? ATA drives!? i hate IDE guess i may hav to put my feet in his shoes coz i am using SATA all along Evil or Very Mad

#$%^&* SG

Hi folks,

I managed to read the second disk already. No data is lost in the repair process.

I googled this excellent free program :

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

Then I used it, after carefully reading the explanation there.

Wa.., I was so tense using it, scared I would lose my valuable data. Actually I did it wrongly initially, then finally fixed it. I recommend that program for you guys just in case if there is a need in the future.

Many thanks for all your help and suggestion, I also learn alot new stuff from your advices.

Regards,
#$%^&*

newmanmback SG

so do you know what causes your problem in the first place? are your 2 disks SATA or ATA? any jumpers setting overlooked as suggested by one of the replies here?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Ya.... if never set correctly, it will be able to read, but can format wrongly...