Should I remake the D: drive?

[WanderingGold]

Two days ago I accidently formatted my D: drive when trying to format a USB drive. I never used the D: drive for my important folders, so I haven't lost anything I use daily. However, I read that the D: drive usually contains the System Restore information and other back-up data. Should I make a partition for the D drive, and if so, how do I set it up to function automatically as before?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[PSCO2007]

Macrium Software

Once you formatted the D partition, you erased the recovery info.


Make a backup image now.

Make a restore CD - instructions on main page.

If you get a virus, hdd failure, etc, you will restore the image to you C drive and be ready to go in 20 minutes.

After you create the image , close the box and click Restore and point to where the image is and click Verify.

This will assure you of having a good backup, should you need it.

Keep the image on a separate hdd.

I always make 2 copies ( in case of failure of one of the hdds) and also use internal hdds as I don't trust externals.

GOOD LUCK.

BTW - this is a much better solution anyway.

If you ever had to use the Recovery partition, you would lose all the info on your C drive - programs, data, updates, etc.

This restored image ( and you should make them often to be current) copies eveything on the hdd.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Recuva

A standard Quick Format won't erase the actual files, only the file index/table.

You could try using a recovery program like Recuva.
Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

I used it on one of my external HDDs last week.
A few minutes after running a Check Disk, which said there were no issues, Windows suddenly claimed that it had no file system.
Recuva was able to locate almost every file (i.e. only a few were unrecoverable).

 

[whs]

I would also support the imaging route. Here is how. Recovering the D partition may be possible - I think. But I never had a lot of luck with Recuva. Try AOMEI recovery instead.

How to Recover Partition with Partition Recovery Wizard in AOMEI Partition Assistant?

 

[WanderingGold]

Thank you all! I tried Recuva, it's found ~10,000 files from "Recovery (//?/)" which I think is the lost drive. I will make an image anyway to prepare for any future bad luck. Do I make a partition and restore these files, or just restore them?

 

[lehnerus2000]

Making a backup image before ...

Making a backup image before attempting any restore operations is the best course of action.

I'm not sure how other imaging programs work, but Macrium Reflect lets you:

• Mount the image as a drive in Windows Explorer
• Copy files from a back up image (once it's mounted)

I assume other imaging programs will also allow this.

 

[WanderingGold]

That is an excellent point. I'll give an update when I make the image tomorrow. Thank you for all your help, PSCO2007, whs, and lehnerus2000!