horrifying computer accident tragic
Apr 16, 2005 at 2:34 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 15
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terrymx

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i was formatting and installing windows for a new mobo. and during the process i did it so quick that i format my harddrive with ALL of my back up files. i did it so quick so i didnt notice, and the back up harddrive was tegh slave, which is ridiculous, i didnt even press the down arrow in the selection menu. everything is in it, 20gb of music, most are downloads, but aer rare artists thats hard to track down. my school works, essays. games, game saves. softwares. photos. most importantly, my entire life's artwork, poerty.

here's were you come in:
i only quick format it, not full format. so most of the files are still physically there, it just cant be accessible through windows. i know it is possible, perhap hacking. i have read about this before. is there any possible way to retreive them. these are so important to me, i'm going to kill myself if i cant have them back.

HELP!
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 2:43 AM Post #3 of 15
First, disconnect that hard drive and don't touch it until you do a couple of things beforehand. Use another hard drive and go to http://www.grc.com and get Spinrite 6.0. It will recover your hard drive data regardless of the file system or operating system. Then, hook up that hard drive that you formatted and use spinrite 6.0 on it. It should work if you follow these fast and loose directions.

There may be open source and freeware hard drive utilities to help you out, but I'm SOL when it comes to recommendations. Good luck!
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 4:45 AM Post #6 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman
If you didn't do a low-level format, you should be able to recover them.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...d,23067,00.asp


As I've said before, you do NOT nor can you low level format a modern IDE hard drive.
rolleyes.gif
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 4:59 AM Post #7 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL
As I've said before, you do NOT nor can you low level format a modern IDE hard drive.
rolleyes.gif



With a program called Eraser,that fits in a floopy disk, you can FOREVER send to heaven all your data.
Just takes a while to do
biggrin.gif
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 5:20 AM Post #9 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL
As I've said before, you do NOT nor can you low level format a modern IDE hard drive.
rolleyes.gif



What are you talking about?
Of course you can!

Low-level formats can be done to any modern IDE drive, so long as the manufacturer software is used, and not a 3rd party. Low-level formatting can be achieved on any drive using the COMPANY's boot-up software given to you in the packaging, and this is given to you for a good reason, too. Ever done IT work where this is necessary?

People have low-level formatted before because often times Windows formatting tools SUCK (often times? what am I kidding, they always do) and they can cause errors in the drive that can in fact be FIXED with low-level formatting - it brings the drive back to its most absolute original stage, as if you had just pulled it out of the box.

Please don't roll your eyes at me - especially when you're wrong.
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 5:38 AM Post #10 of 15
thanks guy. i'm trying my best to get these files out, so far only raw files is the most sucessgful but it cant do that since all files are named numerically. so they knida lost their identity. some files has been overwritten by the installation but most should be there. i hope i can savage atleat half of the stuff.

i am going to order some dvd roms and back up stuff. i jsut actaully bought my first dvd burner ever.

i have this prog called killdisk, its supopsed to physically erase all the data from the harddrive. i had to use it one when the partitions got all corrupt and windows partitioning system couldnt fix it. it did took a very long time, like 10x the normal formatting time.
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 6:01 AM Post #11 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL
As I've said before, you do NOT nor can you low level format a modern IDE hard drive.
rolleyes.gif



Dunno about you, but I have with my new SATA Samsung after switching mobos. Took FOREVER!!!
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 7:55 PM Post #12 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx
i am going to order some dvd roms and back up stuff. i jsut actaully bought my first dvd burner ever.


I will usually date my folders and backup to CDRWs on a weekly basis until a whole 670 MBs is used, then I will copy to a CDR. Monthlies go to DVDRW until a full 4.4GB is reached, then a DVDR is burnt. I will then put all the data into an "Oldxxxx" folder and start all over.

The one problem with CDRs and DVDRs is that after a year you'll end up with about 100 backup CDs hanging around. Maybe one of these days I'll start catalogueing what files are on the CD or DVD. Just imagine all the video drivers you've accumulated over the years. Creative SB audio drivers are a mess - sometimes I'm tempted to just buy another sound card so I won't be bothered.

So I'll usually have a directory called "Current" with all my lastest updates, upgrades, latest versions, game mods, game patches, music, pictures, documents, email, bookmarks, etc. Bookmarks I definitely backup before updating FF.

While you're at it get a couple of 256MB mem sticks. <wink> They are indispensible in storing your latest and greatest.
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 10:24 PM Post #13 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman
What are you talking about?
Of course you can!

Low-level formats can be done to any modern IDE drive, so long as the manufacturer software is used, and not a 3rd party. Low-level formatting can be achieved on any drive using the COMPANY's boot-up software given to you in the packaging, and this is given to you for a good reason, too. Ever done IT work where this is necessary?

People have low-level formatted before because often times Windows formatting tools SUCK (often times? what am I kidding, they always do) and they can cause errors in the drive that can in fact be FIXED with low-level formatting - it brings the drive back to its most absolute original stage, as if you had just pulled it out of the box.



Quote:

Originally Posted by roadtonowhere08
Dunno about you, but I have with my new SATA Samsung after switching mobos. Took FOREVER!!!



At last - Vindication
wink.gif
- The reply...
 
Apr 16, 2005 at 11:37 PM Post #14 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL
As I've said before, you do NOT nor can you low level format a modern IDE hard drive.
rolleyes.gif



This is true. See this article for an explaination of why JeffL is right. Everyone else in this thread has been using the technical term "low-level format" incorrectly (you're talking about drive reinitialization).
 
Apr 17, 2005 at 2:42 AM Post #15 of 15
...Most of you are confusing low level format with high level format. Do not do this.

Second, since MFM and RLL drives were phased out, the method with which data is stored on the drives has changed. A low level format rewrites the descriptors on the disk which tells the controller where the tracks on the disk were. Over time, through age and platter expansion, these descriptors would need to be rewritten, as the alignment of the drive would become out of calibration.

Quote:

Please don't roll your eyes at me - especially when you're wrong.


Please don't tell me what to do, or assume I'm wrong.
rolleyes.gif


Anyway...
smily_headphones1.gif
 
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