Earlier today while installing XP on my 120 gig partition I got an error saying that the drive was damaged or corrupted and needed to reformat. Not really taking notice of the message I pressed okay then at that moment I realized that it was referring to my other 250 gig windows partition. Quickly I shut off my computer, but now in my new windows installation it says that my 250 gig drive is damaged and needs to be reformatted, however of course I do not want to lose the data on it.
I could care less for the programs, games, and school work that I've already turned in, what I'm seriously worried about are the 5000+ photos that I've taken since the end of last school year (I'm an avid photographer) so I would desperately like to somehow save the drive.
I removed the drive from my computer and inserted it into a LaCie external case, allowing me to access it via firewire/USB, if necessary, and just for protection.
Anyways, the point is, do any of you know of a preferably free disk recovery software that will allow me to recover my photographs and any other data possible? Because the format never finished, it barely even got started, and I'm fairly sure that the date is still on there, but just inaccessible for the time being.
Any ideas?
I'll love you all forever :D
Source Drive E:
Disk is unavailable.
:(
Clicky (
http://www.download.com/sort/3120-20_4-0-1-4.html?qt=hard+disk+recovery&ca=20)
They're sorted by number of downloads but I usually tend to go for ones that have a high user or CNET rating.
If those can't help you mate, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas...
I just installed VirtualLab and so far it seems to be working.. but it will take half an hour to complete. I'm going to go eat (I haven't had a bite to eat since this problem arose... 18 hours ago).
See the problem was all I could fine was data recovery, not hard drive recovery, and of course that's what I needed.
If this works Negative Sun, I'm going to love you forever.
UPDATE: So. The program is free, and it does recognize nearly all of the lost files I as looking for. Yay! The problem is, to actually recover the files and save them onto your computer it requires "Quota" which is free, but only in very VERY small amounts.... 1 MB per month. The "ultimate" edition that doesn't require Quota is $200, and 1 gig of quota is $100.
:(
But at least we know the files are still there, and are actually recoverable.
Well, at least you know that, maybe try another program and if all else fails...It's up to you to decide how much it's worth, it might be cheaper to get it done in a PC-clinic or something, just an idea...