copy large files from unformated/unknown partition

[marcusb]

hello everybody! first of all, i know Ive messed up....really bad

i was going to reinstall my dads laptop the other day. i used the recovery Cd's he got from acer to set win xp back to square one. 5min after i started cd1 he came running and said he had forgot to copy some files to his usb stick. i cancelled the operation and tried to reboot win xp.... it didn't work. what a shocker.

i booted the laptop with a boot cd and started browsing the partition with ms-dos. the files were still there but the disc is unformatted, unknown or something like that.

Ive tried to copy files with ms-dos to a usb stick and it works. the only problem is that the larger files doesn't get bigger than 32KB on the usb-stick, I'm talking about jpg's and mp3's. smaller files like *.xls can be copied to the usb-stick and works perfectly when opened on other computers.

does anyone of you have a solution for this?

I'm thanksfull for all help i can get and i apologize for my bad English.

[3ddy]

what copy command are you using?
have you tried using xcopy?

[marcusb]

yeah, ive tried both copy and xcopy. with copy the files doesnt get bigger than 32kb and with xcopy 48kb.

theres two partitions on that comp and i cant install windows on the other partition before i format the "unknown" partition where my files are. if i format the "unknown" partition and install windows on the other one. do you think ill be able to recover the files with any freeware after the windows installation?

[llmeyer1000]

Yes!
If you are absolutely sure that you are installing to the other partition, you will be good to go.
A fantastic tool is "GetDataBack" Data Recovery program. www.runtime.org  They have a version for FAT partitions and one for NTFS. I've used both.
You would have to have an operating system installed, which is usually done on a different physical HD, but that may not be possible in the case of the laptop. The other partition will work just as well. I have both the FAT and NTFS versions and have fully recovered data from several "Unformatted" Hard Drives.
Wish you well!

[llmeyer1000]

STOP!! I think I goofed!

I didn't read you post correctly. I thought you were going to format the other partition.  Do NOT format the partition with the data on it. unless you use the /Q switch. If you format without the /Q (quick), you will possibly overwrite data.

I assume you are trying to install WinXP or 2000 to the NON-Data Partition, but the OP system is choking when it sees the unformatted partition. Is that the case?

Windows 98 setup might work, because it doesn't look for all the partitions. It will only look for the Active Primary Partition. Try first using Fdisk and setting the NON-Data Partition active. Then install your operating system. That won't work if the second partition is not a primary partition, which is likely the case. In that case, you may need something like the command line version of Partition Magic to change the attributes of the partition.

Another good option I just thought of is Bart's PE. Download and setup Bart's PE on another computer. Use the Bart's CD to boot the laptop. You will then have a stripped down version of WinXP to work with. This method is probably the quickest and safest, and will work for you. Guaranteed or your money back.

[patio]

You did goof...since it's a laptop chances are the other partition is the Recovery partition which contains all the Recovery files and a copy of the OS...

[llmeyer1000]

You did goof...since it's a laptop chances are the other partition is the Recovery partition which contains all the Recovery files and a copy of the OS...

Yes I goofed about telling marcusb to go ahead and format the partition with the data but I don't think the second partition is a recovery partition(even though many laptop makers do use that recovery method). marcusb said:

i used the recovery Cd's he got from acer to set win xp back to square one. 5min after i started cd1 ...

Most likely, since he has multiple recovery Cd's, the recovery data is on the Cd's, NOT on the HD.

At any rate my last suggestion would be the quickest, safest, and least expensive because the program is free, and safest because it makes NO changes to the HD.

Another good option I just thought of is Bart's PE. Download and setup Bart's PE on another computer. Use the Bart's CD to boot the laptop. You will then have a stripped down version of WinXP to work with. This method is probably the quickest and safest, and will work for you. Guaranteed or your money back.

The guarantee was meant as humor(in a not so funny problem), but the rest was serious. By the way it's available in XP or 98.

www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a 'BartPE' (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows 98 Cd's.

You might still need some recovery software if the partition is indeed formated, which I doubt. You said:

i booted the laptop with a boot cd and started browsing the partition with ms-dos. the files were still there but the disc is unformatted, unknown or something like that.

Ive tried to copy files with ms-dos to a usb stick and it works.

If you can see the files in DOS, I doubt the partition is unformatted. You should be able to see then in Bart's PE without any special software. I can't remember if Bart's will find the USB stick after it is booted up, so you may want to put it in first.

[marcusb]

i tried to boot with this bartPE but C:\ is empty when i run "a43 File Managment Utility"

[llmeyer1000]

It sounds like you did everything right. The "a43 File Management Utility" is the equivalent of windows explorer and would normally be able to see your files. I am surprised that since you said good ol' DOS could see them that the "a43 File Management Utility" could not. Did you DOS by itself, or some DOS based program, such as Norton Disk Editor or ...?

I'm guessing that it is a FAT partition rather than NTFS. (DOS by itself can see only FAT.) Obviously there are some serious problems with the partition.  Anything is possible but since DOS can see quite a bit of the drive, it is very likely that the damage is limited to the system area of the drive. The MBR must be intact, or you couldn't see the partitions. It is most likely that the damage is in the Boot record of drive C: and possibly some FAT(File Allocation Table) damage. Since FAT partitions have 2 copies of the FAT, it is possible that DOS is using the second FAT table, while the Windows "a43 File Management Utility" is unable to.

But that doesn't help you recover the files. It is very likely that DOS's scandisk or Norton Disk Doctor(the command version) could identify the problem and fix the errors on the drive. Then Bart's PE should work for you. That "probably" will work,... I say probably BUT...

While Scandisk and NDD are awesome utilities and can usually (maybe 99% of the time) correctly identify and repair a drive, I have used both and on one drive NDD totally messed it up it up and made further data recovery virtually impossible. Anytime you write to a drive with data on it, you are taking some risks, and in the case of Scandisk, you are trying to repair the drive itself. Since the utility that comes with Bart's isn't working, you have 2 choices that I can see. The quickest is to use scandisk and let scandisk repair the drive, then boot with Bart's and hopefully the files are visible. There is a good chance that will work.

The safest method is to connect the HD to another computer if possible(possibly not on the laptop), Or...
Get data recovery program that is capable of reading the drive and analyzing the file system without making any changes to the drive itself. You would then make a new boot disk(Bart's PE) with the recovery program (possibly GetDataBack) on the disk. (Or the program could possibly be copied to an external drive and run from there.) This method will most likely cost a few bucks and will take considerably more time, but is the safest. It depends on how valuable the data is to you and your father.

It's up to you, but ... I think you might want to try scandisk(or NDD). They usually do the right thing.
Expect a message or 2 such as:
"Your boot record is corrupted. Do you want to repair it?"
"One of the copies of the FAT is damaged. Do you want to repair it?"
Say yes and hope for the best.

[marcusb]

i just have to say that everything is recovered now. the suggestions llmeyer1000 gave me with bartspe and getdataback worked out great