Disc Copy 2.3 ate up all my external hard drive-- from 320GB to 37GB now!

[sirzune]

Is there a way to delete the computer hard drive clone on the external hard drive and recover the files that were lost?  I want my full external storage capacity back and, if possible, the files.  Thanks.  I'm running XP Home.

[Allan]

No idea what you are talking about. How about starting at the beginning and telling us the whole story?

[sirzune]

Yea, I should start from the beginning...
I have a 300+gb external SATA hard drive with music, movies, etc.  I thought it important to do a full copy of my computer to this hard drive by using Easeus Disc Copy 2.3.  Well I prepared the boot disk per instructions and proceeded to copy from computer to external hard drive.  All went well...sort of.

I then checked the status of the external hard drive and it is exactly the same size as my internal disc.  I went into computer management and found that the external hard drive has 2 partitions [NTFS]: the copied C drive  and a huge amount of unallocated space , perhaps still with the files I'm looking to recover back to it.

I'd like to know if it is possible to actually keep the copied C drive and recover all the files on the unallocated space back to the external hard drive.  I can't possible be able to take any files (if recoverable) from external drive to computer drive, as my computer has only a 37gb hard drive (enough for my purposes).   I really think it impossible to keep the copied C drive on the external AND recover the allocated space, now that I think about it.  If this isn't possible, how can I  repartition the external hd to it's full capacity, never mind about saving anything. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Computer_Commando]

Nope, your files are gone.  You performed a disk to disk copy and that's what it did, 37GB internal drive created 37GB partition with the remainder unallocated on your external drive.  EASUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition might get some of them back.  Next time perform a partition to partition copy.  Better yet, create an image backup which is compressed.  http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

[sirzune]

Nope, your files are gone.  You performed a disk to disk copy and that's what it did, 37GB internal drive created 37GB partition with the remainder unallocated on your external drive.  EASUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition might get some of them back.  Next time perform a partition to partition copy.  Better yet, create an image backup which is compressed.  http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Thanks.  Well, in that case, is there a way to wipe the external HD clean of the copied C drive and simply get all the space back for storage again?

[Allan]

Use computer management to delete the partition(s) and reformat.

[sirzune]

Use computer management to delete the partition(s) and reformat.

Using computer management to erase and reformat a external hard drive seems to me to simple.  If this was the general way to go why are there so many programs dedicated to erasing and repartitioning data on external hard drives?

[Allan]

For the same reason every ice cream manufacturer makes vanilla and chocolate.

[Computer_Commando]

Using computer management to erase and reformat a external hard drive seems to me to simple.  If this was the general way to go why are there so many programs dedicated to erasing and repartitioning data on external hard drives?

Computer Management will destroy any data.  Programs you refer to will do what they do without destroying any data.

[sirzune]

Thanks.  I simply thought that computer management would actually take an inordinate amount of time doing this, as paid and some free programs will do it very quickly.  Wouldn't I benefit from using an outside program for speed and reliability (base, of course on user feed-back)?

If I happen to go with computer management, on the other hand, would I be able to partition the external hd to its capacity?

[Computer_Commando]

You asked:  "...is there a way to wipe the external HD clean of the copied C drive and simply get all the space back for storage again?"

Allan gave you the answer:  "...Use computer management to delete the partition(s) and reformat..."

Don't make it more involved than it needs to be.

[Allan]

Computer Management will destroy any data.  Programs you refer to will do what they do without destroying any data.

The OP wants to delete partitions and reformat the drive. How can a third party utility do that without destroying data?

[sirzune]

Okay, thanks for the responses.  Decided to go with computer management.  I'm grateful.

[Computer_Commando]

The OP wants to delete partitions and reformat the drive. How can a third party utility do that without destroying data?

He asked:  "...If this was the general way to go why are there so many programs dedicated to erasing and repartitioning data on external hard drives?"
I replied:  "...Computer Management will destroy any data.  Programs you refer to will do what they do without destroying any data..."

[sirzune]

Okay, all is fine now.  I deleted the partition in computer services, and formatted the external hard drive to its full capacity with Easeus Partition Master.  the only other thing is now there is an empty foloer on the external drive called "System Volume Information", but it's an empty folder, like my wallet.  Can I safely delete it?  I, again, thank you guys.

[Allan]

Yes, but it will just reappear. It's placed there by system restore. If you don't want restore points created for that drive disable system restore on it - but the folder will likely still be created and left empty.

[sirzune]

Thank you.  I just noticed something strange:  On the external drive there's 73mb of used space.  This drive is supposed to be empty as I deleted the partition that had C drive contents on it, yet I see no files.  Strange, or what?  Just found out is metadata.  What???

[BC_Programmer]

Okay, all is fine now.  I deleted the partition in computer services, and formatted the external hard drive to its full capacity with Easeus Partition Master.  the only other thing is now there is an empty foloer on the external drive called "System Volume Information", but it's an empty folder, like my wallet.  Can I safely delete it?  I, again, thank you guys.

That's a system folder that contains some bits of the NTFS data structures, and a few other things. You can't delete it anyway.

[Allan]

That's a system folder that contains some bits of the NTFS data structures, and a few other things. You can't delete it anyway.

System Volume Information is for System Restore Points - nothing else. And it can be deleted on drivers where System Restore is not enabled.

[BC_Programmer]

System Volume Information is for System Restore Points - nothing else. And it can be deleted on drivers where System Restore is not enabled.

While I was incorrect in that it contains bits of the NTFS filesystem ($MFT and friends are stored on the root of the drive, not in there). but, It is not <only> used for system restore points, it's used for a few other things, like the Vista/7 Search databases, Volume Shadow copy, and the Content Indexing service.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/11/20/55764.aspx

And it <can> be deleted, yes, but you will need to mess around with security permissions of the folder in order to gain access.

[Computer_Commando]

If he formats volume as FAT32, nothing will remain.