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Question

Retrieving all the information on a deleted hard drive

by Oct 22, 2012 11:58AM PDT

I recently did a complete re-install of Windows 7. I thought I'd disconnected all hard drives but my system drive, but overlooked the fact that I'd left a PATA drive connected - all the others are SATA. When I rebooted to prepare for installation I accidentally deleted the PATA drive which I used for storage.

I know I can recover just about all these files with recovery software, but I believe it will just place file-types in certain directories, ie. pictures in one directory, music in another, etc. What I would like to know is whether it's possible to retrieve everything intact as it was before, with all the files being in in the correct folders. Is this related to the file allocation table (FAT)?

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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Answer
Given the depth of the damage.
by Former Forum moderator Oct 22, 2012 1:29PM PDT

I have the owner unplug the drive and send it to drivesavers.com

Only those new to data recovery will think that software can save them now.
Bob

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File recovery
by spartain Oct 23, 2012 7:46AM PDT

I don't think sending it off it a viable economic option, which is why I asked about software. There is software that will rescue deleted files, but I want the hard drive restored back to it's original pre-deletion state, folder structure and all.

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What you want is what ...
by Edward ODaniel Oct 23, 2012 9:51AM PDT

you pay the money for.

If the data is not valuable enough to pay Drive Savers then you can still try software such as easeus:
http://www.easeus.com/landing/partition-recovery.htm?gclid=CKSN2vOomLMCFYVFMgoduQ0A8w

I am ASSUMING that what you meant when you said you deleted the drive isw that you actually either re-partitined or re-formatted the drive. Key here is to NOT try to recover on the drive but on another storage media if using other recovery softwares and it is ALWAYS best to work with an IMAGE of the damaged drive rather than with the actual drive as you can make more images should you mess up but any alterations to the already damaged drive or file structure complicate matters.

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Thanks
by spartain Oct 23, 2012 12:57PM PDT

So it is possible to rescue the folder structure too.

It's about 420gb of data, and I do have a new 2TB WD Caviar Green Drive to copy it too.

Yes, I did do a quick reformat on the drive with the tool provided in the Windows 7 installation process. As soon as I realised my error I disconnected it and put it to one side, without having done any further saving to it. It had also created the 100mb partition on the drive for hidden system files to be installed, so I guess I'll have to remove that first by expanding the large partition and hope minimal damage has been done there.

Easus claims to be able to retrieve the folder structure, and from the lead that software gave me I've been able to discover alternatives too, some that do restore file structure and others that don't, so I'll be investigating the pros and cons of various software that does.

Thanks for your help, Edward.

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