Recover Files after deleting partition with folder structure?

thesebastian · 16 Jul 2011

Hi, i deleted my partitions by mistake. Drive originally had 2 partitions, 100MB (Windows 7 setup partitiion) and 930GB (Data storage partition).

In summary:

1) I deleted the 100MB partition (because disk is(was) now storage disk) and 930gb partition were deleted too.
2) I started following a guide from microsoft and re-create the 2 partitions as RAW (without format) (i ruined everything on this..).
3) I deleted the 2 raw partition and created a full space partition to the disk QUICK FORMATTING NTFS.
4) Started to try "Recuva" but most of the files recovered (1,000,000 files) are broken, i tried the option to recover FOLDER STRUCTURE but fails.

Is there any way to recover the files and FOLDER STRUCTURE properly? Except of the partitions deletions/creations i didn't write anything inside the disk.

Thanks and regards,
Sebastián.

Lomai · 16 Jul 2011

Hi

Welcome to Seven Forums :)
First course of action would be to use the affected hard drive as little as possible.
I'm not exactly clear as to what you did in steps one to three above. Can you confirm the following:

The disk in question is not your system drive?
The 100MB Windows 7 partition was on that drive?

I think it's fair to say that you may not be able to recover the folder structure, a dedicated data-recovery shop may be able to help out with that but primarily with file recovery.

Will await your response and regards

pbcopter · 16 Jul 2011

Try this.

Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer? - Tech Support Forum

TCG · 16 Jul 2011

I've always had excellent luck with Runtime's Get Data Back. It's not free but it's well worth the $ imo if it means getting your data retrieved. I've had it recover full file and folder structure after a re-install of windows on the same drive several times. You may have success with this as it sounds like you haven't actually written to the drive yet.

Good luck!

~ tcg

Britton30 · 16 Jul 2011

You may try Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to boot computer directly to manage partition. to attempt partition recovery.

thesebastian · 16 Jul 2011

First of all, thanks all for your answers.

Actually i was using that 1TB HDD as my main "Storage" disk. (I had a windows installation on that disk before, that's WHY i had a 100MB windows 7 partition and a WINDOWS folder (this windows folder is a big problem for recovery), etc).

When i was today deleting the 100mb volume (because i didn't need anymore to boot that Windows installation) the "Computer Management --> Disk Management" deleted also the 930GB Partition.

After that, i created 2 RAW partition again (100mb and 930gb aprox) following a "Microsoft" old guide, doing this i think i destroyed my "previous partition data".

So, recovering a partition (i think) is not a solution ( i tried "MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition" and only found lot of 3,01MB partitions...).

----

After that i started using "Recuva"...im recovering my data right now, (i'm already resigned with the idea of recover my Folders Structure)...

The current problem i have with Recuva, is that almost 80% of the files i'm recovering are corrupted (but i never wrote the disk after this problem).
Most of the files with "random name" are correctly working (except of the name...) But most of the files with the "real, previous/old, name" are not working. (The SIZE and FILE TYPE is recovered with no problems..)

The disk was "almost full....800gb/1TB" but i don't care about recovering games folders, movies, MP3.
I mostly wan't to recover all my ".txt" files, office files, Photos.

I'm going to try "GetDataBack for NTFS" or "GetData Recover my files" ( i don't know which one choose).
If somebody knows about the best "options to choose" before start using this apps, please, give me an advice.

(for example, there is an option called "Raw File recovery --> Recover lost files" disabled by default).

I will use a 1,2TB free Disk now to pass the backup (just to inform you in case is not enough, my prev disk had almost 1TB used.)

TCG · 16 Jul 2011

I would try GDB for NTFS. Use the default options first, I've rarely had an instance where I had to change operation mode.

Tip: Make sure you have a drive or enough free space elsewhere to store the recovery data as you cannot restore to the drive you are recovering from.

Heads up: If there is as much data on that drive as you say, expect GDB to run for a really long time. I'd expect that to at least take over night to fully scan and complete with results. I think you can try the trial version and see what the output looks like before you buy it. Only downside to that is that if it looks like it will recover for you, you'll have to purchase the full version, activate it, and then re-scan the entire drive with the paid/non-trial version.(they may have fixed this, I have not tried the newest version yet. Ideally you could save your results for the scan, activate, then import your results to recover without the full re-scan)

thesebastian · 16 Jul 2011

ok! I will try GetDataBack NTFS then.

I'm picking the option "Systematic File system damage". I'm doubting whether activate these options too (disabled by default):

- File system identification --> Excessive Search
- Raw Data --> Recover Lost Files

TCG · 16 Jul 2011

Good luck and by all means please post back here and let us all know how it goes.

~ tcg

thesebastian · 16 Jul 2011

Yes sure, i will feedback.

Btw..this recuva is taking too much time. I'm deleting huge files during the process (because the target disc is lower than 500GB), but i think files are "re-appearing" after i delete them...I think i'm gonna cancel and pass to getdataback now.