I idiotically formatted my 200GB hard drive.

[seedless]

Well I idiotically formatted my 200GB hard drive.

I don’t want to tell you a story, just the point that I accidentally formatted it, but the good thing was I stopped it at the thirteen percent of the format and shut down the computer, so I think I can salvage the rest of the data.

I know I lost a lot of data.

But I’m going to use some programs to recover it.


The point of the matter is that I cannot get the 200GB hard drive to load With my 80 gig hard drive that has the windows XP operating system.

and the tools I need to recover the data.

every time I try to load the 200GB hard drive with the 80 gig with the os.

I get an error “cannot load operating system”

the 80 gig will load by itself but as I said now with the 200 gig

I tried setting the jumpers to master and slave also cable select and I even tried setting the 80 gig on the primary IDE cable And the 200 gig On the secondary IDE cable.

*censored* I still Can’t get it to load of with my 80 gig hard drive Which has the software I need to recover the data on my 200 gig Maxtor, without getting the error

“cannot load operating system”

I think when I formatted the hard drive it Installed windows drivers and files that are conflicting with my 80 gig hard drives loading process.

It is there any programs bootable devices That I can use To force The 200 gig hard drive to load with the 80 gig which has the recovery programs and the os.

[GX1_Man]

I thinbk your data is long gone. I think the MBR for that drive will be so scrambled, that even if it is still there it will be unrecoverable. What OS'es are involved?

So you changed jumper settings from where it was functioning correctly before? Or were there problems before that?

I think you have two drives competing for first boot as they are both viewed as primary partitions, and only one of those can be active at a time.

As always, I would suggest booting with a Linux Live CD to move the data to the healthy drive. Then we can solve the other problems.

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/distro.php?distro=58

Let us know.  

[seedless]

I appreciated your quick reply like I said I have tried every jumper settings possible

From master to slave cable select and setting my primary hard drive which is that 80 gig on the primary IDE cable and the 200 gig on the secondary IDE cable

and still getting the error

“ cannot load operating system”

This program that you’re recommending Inspire live 5.0

Is it an executable?

Does it installed on windows or does it create the recovery disk?

And there really isn’t much information about this program on the website

How does it work?

[GX1_Man]

You burn it to CD. It is an ISO file so Nero, etc. can creat the CD. You just boot with that in your CD drive and it loads the operating system to run only from CD. It writes NO files to the hard drive (and will run fine in a machine with NO hard drive installed! It runs a little slower than what you would expect from an OS because it runs that way, but it is very dependable. It is the most Windows like of any Linux so it will be easy to navigate, etc.

Post back if any more questions, I will be around for a couple of hours.

Set the working drive to master and the funky drive to slave. Make sure all cables are plugged in correctly first.

[seedless]

hey agine still have problums T_T by the way is Inspire live 5.0 like KNOPPIX?

[GX1_Man]

hey agine still have problums T_T by the way is Inspire live 5.0 like KNOPPIX?

It is another Linux distribution that runs from the CD. It that sense it is like Knoppix.

[Dell4700]

If you originally set up this drive using the Maxtor MaxBlast disk (or other Maxtor tool), you may be able to repair the MBR and recover some data.  If you no longer have the floppy/CD, you can download it here: http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.8db0c3d6932ced37294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads

Also available are several freeware/shareware/commercial data recovery processes.

One is Active@ UNDELETE, a trial version is available here (also Tucows & ZD):  http://www.active-undelete.com/

Dell

[seedless]

I appreciate everyone’s support I still have problems loading by 200GB Maxtor hard drive with my 80 gig western digital hard drive I’ve been at it for Just about a Week and am running out of resources and ideas to try.

I have checked jumper settings just about ten times and set jumper settings to every configuration possible.

I have tried connecting my 80 gig western digital hard drive to the primary IDE Cable and my 200 gig Maxtor hard drive to the secondary IDE cable hoping it would work but still get the error.

I have tried every Linux live CD possible but everyone gives me the same answer cannot detect hard drive and or well not show up in the hard disk drive area.

I have been recently noticing that the Maxtor 200 gig hard Drive overHeats when it is on for long periods of time so am Afraid if I leave it on for too long it will melt. I could literally cook an egg on it from How hot It Gets.

I am currently running windows XP Sp2 on my 80 GB hard drive and am wanting to use Easy Recovery Professional, R-Studio to recover my data and also Active UNDELETE That Dell4700 recommended ,but like I said i cannot access the hard drive.

Guys I think I lost my data for life. family pictures, family videos, massive amounts of programs, all gone ,but I Won’t give up I shall find a way to save the day.   :-/

[seedless]

You say that you started formattting the 200 GB drive. Is it partitioned? Could an OS be installed on a partition and the drive run on its own?

hey Mac

the hard drive was only used for storage purposes  it was not partitioned nor did it have a OS on it. I think when I Partly formatted it drivers and files somehow got installed onto it and are corrupted. I think it’s Conflicting with it being able to boot with my 80 gig western digital hard drive which has theXP pro os on it and the file I need to Recover the data.

[seedless]

Hello agine

Recently someone told me that maybe I should unplug SATA Cable but leave the power Connector on it and power up the machine and then inserted the SATA Cable.
And that it might help me bypass that error I receive.
 
Is it safe?

[GX1_Man]

It is never wise to plug in cables on a running machine. Put this one in the "urban myth" category.


Contrary to what you posted above, the drive was partitioned and formatted prior to your mishap. Otherwise it could not have held any data to start with.

[seedless]

If the

It is never wise to plug in cables on a running machine. Put this one in the "urban myth" category.

hey GX1_man and mac

well I was thinking that most of the new technology today is "Plug and Play" so it might work.  

Worth a try yes?

Contrary to what you posted above, the drive was partitioned and formatted prior to your mishap. Otherwise it could not have held any data to start with.

GX1_Man i think what mac was trying to ask me is if my hard drive had more then one partition.

Mac I never had more then one partition on it.

GX1_Man I do understand that a hard drive has to be formatted in order to hold data.

hey guys

I'm still working on finding ways to recover the data I also have had someone recently tell me to use a boot disk would that work?

[GX1_Man]

See my first response regarding the Linux LIVE CD.