did you do a search for a known file on the whole drive ? your data can be relocated to another location
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Can I recover my data?
OK, This is a doozy but I'm really hoping that someone can help with this. For some reason I think it may be an "easy fix" but I'm not sure. Let me give you a little background. I have two HDD's in my computer. One for the OS (70GB Raptor) and one for all of my data (500GB). On my data drive I have a folder called Documents (Used to be My Documents before Vista) and inside that folder I stored most all of my data, my music (folder), my pictures (folder), various and sundry other individual files and floders such as all of my pst files, quicken files, etc. Three nights ago I installed Vista Ultimate. After installing Vista I changed the default location of the documents folder to point to D:\My Documents. I changed the default location of the Music folder to what was then D:\"Documents"\My Music (Vista "renamed" My Documents to just Documents) and the Pictures folder I changed to point to D:\Documents\My Pictures. Each time I did this Vista prompted me to move the contents of the current folder to the new location to avoid having two Documents folders, music folders, etc, show up in Windows Explorer. I said ok and the only file it prompted to overwrite was some .ini file so I said yes and that was that.
I believed that all was ok thus far because I changed my desktop wallpaper by clicking on the Start\Pictures button and going to my wallpaper folder and selecting another wallpaper. Now here's where it gets scary. I downloaded and installed SP1 and didn't think anything of it. Sometime after installing SP1 I did the same thing to the Downloads folder, I changed the Default Location to D:\Downloads, accepted the prompt to copy/move any files to the new location. I can't remember if it asked about copying the .ini file or not. Well, shortly there after I needed to get a file from the Documents folder. I opened the documents folder and ALL of my files were GONE! The folders were still there but they were empty. Once I got over the chilling sickly upheaval in my stomach I clicked on the Music folder - same thing - all of my mp3's were gone. The folders were still there but empty, same thing with the pictures folder. Now here's the rub. The downloads folder that I changed was fine. Everything was as it was before, and all of my other files and folders that are stored on my D: drive are fine. The Music and Pictures file were both inside of the Documents folder. So I am at a loss. I have not used any type of Data Recovery Software yet nor have I stored anything else on the drive. I have since reformatted my C:\ Drive and reinstalled XP Pro. What I am really thinking here is that maybe somehow the Master File Table or File Allocation Table or whatever on the D: Drive got screwed up when I installed SP1 or whatnot (Well, It had to be the installation of SP1 because as I said I was able to access the pictures folder before I installed it and the Downloads folder after I installed it and changed the location) and that somehow it can be fixed, or edited, or SOMETHING either by hand or through the use of a particular program or something or other. I haven't ran Chkdsk on the D: Drive for fear of making the situation worse. I just KNOW that the data is still there I just can't see it. And why would it get rid of the files yet leave the folders in place? In Every folder all of the sub-folders are in tact but devoid of data. PLEASE HELP
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Answers
Quite adventurous to format C in the middle of a known issue. Perhaps rolling back SP1 would have been a better starting point. Now the matter is complicated a little more due to the likelihood that you have no permissions to view the content of the Documents folder. Taking ownership might permit access, but probably best to go straight for GetDataBack as suggested.
Take ownership of files and folders XP
http://support.microsoft.c
Chris B
Wish I had thought about rolling back SP1. That might have fixed the issue. I reformatted C: Because Easy Recovery wouldn't run under Vista. Doesn't really matter though because when I ran it last night the only thing it found to potentially recover on the entire drive was the pagefile.sys file and that's it. Actually it only took it like 45 sec to a min to scan the drive. Sounds like something's not stirring the Kool Aid with that. I already have ownership of the files and folders in the Documents folder. Searching shows nothing. It blows my mind that Ontrack shows nothing to recover.
You really should try GetDataBack. Beats the rest hands down. If you still find nothing on D, slave C into another system and try the recovery there as well. I have a feeling that Vista placed/left your folders on D but actually planted the data in the default locations on C, which you will now at least have partly overwritten. You wouldn't necessarily spot this unless you were checking space.
Chris B
Well. I tried GetDataBack and after scanning the drive for three hours it came back and showed me the directory structure of the drive but there were no files to recover. I just wish I could understand WHY whatever happened it left the folder structure in tact yet deleted all of the files from the folders and the files that were not in any folders. But anyway, bottom line GDB did nothing. Isn't there a mirror of the MFT that can be replaced somehow? Some way to view the MFT? Something? Whatever Vista did to this Documents Folder I'm sure there are some people out there who would like to find out because it so far is the most secure form of file deletion I've ever seen.
As far as placing the data onto C: I really don't think that is what happened. I say that because the folder in question is...well WAS about 60GB worth of Data. This entire process took only seconds for each folder. No way it could have copied it over to the C: Drive. And it left the data in the Downloads folder in tact when I changed the default location to the D:\ Downloads folder. It neither moved it nor corrupted or lost it.
How did you reinstall Windows XP? Was this a restore CD or a normal install?
I'm not holding any hope of you getting any of your files back. Usually a deletion just marks a file space available for reuse and the data is still there which is why most data recovery utils work. In this case it's like the entire MFT has been nuked.
I agree, however there is a utility to restore the backup copy of the MFT. I think it is Partition Edit which is on the MiniPE CD (http://flmsdown.net/2008/
Chris B
try bootit-ng : www.terabyteunlimited.com/
It was a normal install on the XP. I'm agreeing about at least part of the MFT being nuked but everything else on the drive is accessible, it's only everything inside of the documents folder except the subfolders that's gone. Even the downloads folder is still intact after reinstalling XP. I'll give these a try and see if something comes of it. Any tips on Partition Edit?
Hi again
It appears the prog I was thinking of was not Partition Edit. Partition Table Doctor on the same disk has some similar functions but is not exactly what I remember. For the life of me, I can't recall the name of the prog I used, but the hunt is on. If you have acquired a copy of MiniPE, have a good look at the available utilities, you might beat me to it. I specifically remember the option to restore the backup copy.
Chris B
Found it. Prog is testdisk (on MiniPE and downloadable elsewhere). Run testdisk, select the following options - log option (none) - proceed - intel - Advanced - boot - then right arrow to repair MFT. This copies the mirror to MFT. If this was the issue now it is fixed. I guess at this point it can't make matters much worse.
Good luck
Chris B
OK, Thanks Chris, Once I get another drive ready to copy over everything else that IS accessible on the drive then I'll try that and see what happens. But at least I'll have gotten everything else copied off somewhere safe before I proceed. I'll let you know how it goes. Should have the USB adapter probably by Monday.
I guess with the Holiday on Monday it will likely be sometime Tuesday before I get the USB adapter and am able to prepare the drive to restore the MFT. I am really hopeful that this will work and that when Vista nuked the documents folder that it wasn't copied to the backup of the MFT. What are your thoughts on that Chris? Not sure how often the backup of the MFT is performed. In retrospect I think I have done everything wrong. I should have unplugged that drive the instant this happened so that the backup copy of the MFT wasn't overwritten. Now I'm not sure that it hasn't been changed as well to reflect the missing data.
It's a bug in windows vista and there is no solution yet.
Se the following link:
http://www.winvistatips.co
<<It's a bug in windows vista and there is no solution yet>> Now that's nasty. I will do some testing also. Has the backup MFT been overwritten? Testdisk will tell you if they are identical or will overwrite if they are not, so you will know one way or the other. Now wouldn't it be something if this worked and resolved the bug for the others also!
Chris B
OK, I have the data I want to save backed up to various media and am planning on using TestDisk to try to copy the backup of the MFT. I have a quick question though and wanted to see what you thought. I am wondering if I should change the Documents folder that Vista renamed back to My Documents before I attempt to restore the MFT or if I should just leave it as is. A part of me thinks that I should change it back but there's the other part of me that says leave well enough alone. What do you think. Wouldn't it be funny if that's all it took to fix everything was to rename the Documents folder back to My Documents? LOL.
Thanks
It would indeed. I think I would attempt the MFT fix first, as if the data is there the system cannot currently see it, therefore a move would fail. But I see your point and it does make sense. Ideally take an image and try both options, but of course most imaging progs aren't going to back up what is seen as empty space. Don't know if any prog will do a byte for byte image of the full disk - so as to retain deleted data if it exists. Must have a look about.
Chris B
>> Don't know if any prog will do a byte for byte image of the full disk - so as to retain deleted data if it exists. Must have a look about.
There are some. For example
dd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
Indeed there are - I learn something new. Here is a Windows one which may be easier to use (not tested) - http://www.tkshare.com/r-d
Chris B
imho, every imaging program does that, acronis being one of the best known : www.acronis.com
Normal imaging procedures will not copy deleted or inaccessible files or slack space. An informative article on computer forensics here - http://www.insidecounsel.c
Chris B
Alas Poor Documents, I knew thee once. Well looks like that's it Chris. The MFT was exact so no joy there either so at this point I'm going to give up the ghost. I have actually found backups of most of the things that I really needed, forgot that I had put them on a thumb drive to carry to work with me one day to keep on my work computer (Contacts, Resumes, and the like) so I'm not completely out in the cold and if nothing else it is a stark reminder to refine my backup habits even further. I really don't know of any other way to award the points because even though no one solution was successful in and of itself each one was a good solution and had the potential to work in another scenario perhaps. I do think that you Chris deserve the bulk of the points as you have provided me with the most help and have also helped me to add to my arsenal of software and knowledge. I thank you each and every one of you for your help, your suggestions and insight, but mostly for not rubbing my nose in the fact that I failed to follow my own cardinal rule and Back up Back Up BACK UP!!!! LOL.
Thanks Again Guys So Much,
Val
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by: dbruntonPosted on 2009-01-10 at 18:04:04ID: 23346426
OK.
Download GetDataBack http://www.runtime.org/ Free to try. If it sees your files you pay for full use.
Note there are other apps out there that do the same job as well. Some of them are free. I plug GetDataBack because it works for me.