[jdimitri]

I have vista64 installed and i was trying to resize my partitions

I installed my old copy of partition magic 8, and it turns out that it's incompatible with vista

I then tried to uninstall it, BSOD comes on and my D: partition is gone

This is where all my music, videos, workfiles are all located

I downloaded active partition recovery and it shows that my D: partition along all its files, but it's marked as 1: and i can't recover it. Also I'm fairly certain that my C: drive has also reduced in size by around 100gb

Now i'm stuck with most of my files gone, along with Partition magic 8 that can't be uninstalled

Can someone please help me recover it? I'll be forever thankful

 

[EnOYiN]

TestDisk - CGSecurity

There is a utility that can help you recover it. If you need help using it don't hesitate to ask.

Edit: On second thought. I don't know if this will run on a Vista machine.

EditII: Okies. It will run on Vista. No worries

EditIII: You will need some kind of storage device (the same capacity or more than your D partition) to store everything you recover on.

 

[nor_spoon]

You could always hook up the disk to another computer if possible and get to the files from there.

Or buy another harddrive, install Vista on the new one, and hook up the drive afterwards and get the files. One HD for Windows and one for files is always a good idea, also a third for backup of the second...

Ubuntu Live cd is also an option to get the files, but you'll need another HD to copy the files to.

Maybe there is something wrong with the MBR (Master Boot Record)?

Try Recovery Mode on the Vista CD if such thing?

Anyways, the data is most probably still in there, so in one way or the other, you should be able to get them out again...

 

[chesebert]

one of many reasons I stay away from Vista (I have experience similar situation, although not as bad as yours..but endless BSOD nevertheless).

Good luck, there are always data recovery folks if you need them.

 

[nor_spoon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif one of many reasons I stay away from Vista (I have experience similar situation, although not as bad as yours..but endless BSOD nevertheless). Good luck, there are always data recovery folks if you need them.

I was against Vista when it first came, because the lack of driver support, but I am currently running Vista 64 Ultimate, and haven't experienced any problems with it. But you need hardware with good specs.

Anyways, not much of an upgrade from XP. Only reason for me is the DirectX10 support, and that I got tired of the XP looks after running it for several years. (But big thanks to Flyakite OSX!)

 

[NiceCans]

Yes it is after the fact, and not meant as a 'told ya so', but as a reminder to others . . . . .

Never, I repeat NEVER make any major OS or hardware changes without first making a backup of your files. Especially something that messes with your partitions!!!

Never the less, frequent backups are a good iddea regardless. You never know when a drive will fail.

 

[jdimitri]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EnOYiN /img/forum/go_quote.gif TestDisk - CGSecurity There is a utility that can help you recover it. If you need help using it don't hesitate to ask. Edit: On second thought. I don't know if this will run on a Vista machine. EditII: Okies. It will run on Vista. No worries EditIII: You will need some kind of storage device (the same capacity or more than your D partition) to store everything you recover on.

It worked! You're a lifesaver..

And yes.. i think it's about time i start backing up (the computer was 2 weeks old

)

Btw, anyone know how to uninstall a program that refuses to be uninstalled?

 

[nor_spoon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdimitri /img/forum/go_quote.gif Btw, anyone know how to uninstall a program that refuses to be uninstalled?

You could always delete the program and folders in program files, and then run a registry cleaning program (A feature in CCleaner, which I haven't had any problems with, but there is always a risk when doing manual work with the registry)

You also might have to modify the msconfig -> startup so the program doesnt start at bootup.

Might be better ways to do this though...

 

[EnOYiN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nor_spoon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ubuntu Live cd is also an option to get the files, but you'll need another HD to copy the files to.

Ubuntu (and some other Linux distros) use testdisk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdimitri /img/forum/go_quote.gif It worked! You're a lifesaver.. And yes.. i think it's about time i start backing up (the computer was 2 weeks old ) Btw, anyone know how to uninstall a program that refuses to be uninstalled?

A backup utility I like a lot is Syncback. There is a freeware edition of this program as well.


To uninstall a program you could simply delete the folder and clean the registry afterwards. This isn't the ideal way to do so though.

Edit: Well, what nor_spoon posted pretty much. That has always worked for me as well.

 

[Baines93]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdimitri /img/forum/go_quote.gif Btw, anyone know how to uninstall a program that refuses to be uninstalled?

How does it fail? If it is a file that cannot be accessed by the uninstaller, afterwards was not deleted, and wont delete, "File Unlocker" is a great application, and it is there when thing fail to rename/delete etc, and will remove it for you by unlocking the path using it.

Sometimes you have to move or rename it first with unlocker then delete with unlocker, and if that doesnt work, it will do it on the next reboot.

May not work on vista though, i use it on my xp gaming rig, but havnt used it on the new vista lappy yet

 

[Wodgy]

Does Vista still have the locked files problem? i.e. If a file is open in Acrobat for example, can you rename it or move it to another location, or do you still get a message that the file is locked?

Just FYI, generally when you have a really serious disk problem like this, the best first step is to do a raw block-by-block copy of the disk onto another disk, so that if one recovery method fails you can play around with others. Any LiveCD will be able to do this with the 'dd' command, or you can use 'diskutil' on Macs, or a variety of other tools. I'm always hesitant to try recovery directly on the affected drive because of the chance of causing more damage.

 

[dbfreak]

Vista suffers from driver problems. That's why I'm stick'n to XP for a year. I learned the hard way when XP came out and had problem after problem.

 

[NiceCans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbfreak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Vista suffers from driver problems. That's why I'm stick'n to XP for a year. I learned the hard way when XP came out and had problem after problem.

(I think you meant "when Vista came out")

After reading this article A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection I think I will try to avoid Vista for as long as possible.

 

[Superpredator]

Have you tried resizing / recovering partitions in Disk Management? It might not be able to solve your problem; managing disks from the Vista installation CD could.

TweakVista.com - Resize Partitions with Vista Disk Management

 

[Bizzel]

To remove 'stuck' programs, use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utilty. Bear in mind that it only works on MSI-based installers and it should be a last resort.

Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility