I've really done it now (computer help)

[stevedonel]

From time to time, my computer seems to become bogged down with spyware and other crap. Every couple months, I wipe it clean and re-install windows. I have done this ever since I owned my first computer, probably 50-60 times. For this reason, I keep windows on a small drive all to itself; programs and files are kept on a seperate drive and spyware seems to leave the extra drive alone.

This time, I formated, reinstalled, blah, blah, blah. Now in the windows explorer, I click on the D: and it says "The disk in drive D: is not formated. Would you like to format it now?" NO, I dont want to format it!!!! It has all my important files!!!! Amoung which are my PT database ( I knew I should have backed it up)

Did I screw myself, or is there a program that can recover this drive? HELP

[Bones424]

i dont' wanna say your screwed yet but u may be...there are a few things that u can try:

1. if you have windows XP...goto start>programs>accessories>system tools>system restore....restore to the last day it will let you when u had all your files accessible...this does NOT erase anything...only changes settings back to the way they were that day. restart after restore and check for drive access.

2. if option 1 does not work then i recommend running your anti virus scan on drive d: you will probably get a response of the drive not being accessible but it won't hurt to try...also do the same w/ spybot and adware (PM me if you need links for these)...if you get a not accessible error on all of this try the next step.

3. we are getting closer and closer to a "screwed" response. goto start>my computer and right click on the d: drive and click properties....click the tools tab and go right down the line. do the error scan if you get past that w/o a problem goto the defrag and if you get past both of them you should be able to access the drive again then for the love of god back it up!


if none of these options work then ur stuck and u will need to format and do it all over. either way...examine your normal web browsing habits....there is no reason to be bogged w/ so much spyware that u need to reinstall windows every few months....keep ur anti virus up to date and run spybot / adware once a week and you'll be fine....know that porn sites carry the most spyware and popups but everyday more and more sites advertise w/ popups...if you notice alot of popups or spyware do not wait for the weeks end just run your programs and get rid of it before it gets out of hand. i also recommend doing away w/ internet explorer and downloading mozilla because it has a built in popup blocker and "seems" more secure that IE....in the past 8 months since i built this new PC i have not had one unwanted popup or any problems w/ spyware going w/ this method.

[whileone]

i've used disk recovery software, i thought the name of the company was quantum, but that's apparently not right. Even if the disk is damaged some files (or parts of files) can be extracted, i'd say surf the shareware sites looking for one with good reviews. they can work, but it's been years since i've needed one so i can't reccomend a particular package.

the stuff i used cost about $30 bucks... i would stick to the 50 dollar price range.

good luck.

[stevedonel]

SCREWED!!!

I did every possible check I could find. Windows recognizes the drive, understands what type/size/etc the drive is; it just says that it's not formated. Windows doesnt have anything to fix it, I'll look around for some software. Might be time to replace it anyway.

thanks

[Bones424]

if you do indeed replace the drive buy urself a USB flash drive as well....sorta like a new age floppy disk but w/ more capacity....will be able to backup most important documents on there plus is secure in the fact that u can carry it on your person anywhere. programs can be reinstalled but personal documents are tough to get back w/o a backup!

[Aceofone]

Try these links:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/...;en-us;Q153973
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q271274

If this doesnt work for you (the links or the fix), try a data recovery program.

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0....search=+Go%21+
This is a link to downloads.com, for the data recovery programs you can try there.

Hope this helps.

[stevedonel]

Aceofone, do you have any experience with those programs on download.com? I'd try one, but dont want to screw myself even further. I know the files are still on the drive, but can these programs mess them up to the point that they are irretreivable?

I'm trying to get the IT guys at work to look at it. I think thats my safest route here.

[Aceofone]

Aceofone, do you have any experience with those programs on download.com? I'd try one, but dont want to screw myself even further. I know the files are still on the drive, but can these programs mess them up to the point that they are irretreivable?

I'm trying to get the IT guys at work to look at it. I think thats my safest route here.

If you've got IT guys that can actually look at the compy, then go that route, but data retrieval is not difficult, it is just hit or miss, it will work for you or it will say that it cannot, I haven't heard of a data recovery program screwing up a HD before.

[thenonsequitur]

Some advice:

1) Make sure you have installed ALL windows XP service updates. Service Pack 2 is the most important. Serivce Pack 2 includes several updates specifically related to hard drive recognition.

2) Was your drive set up as a dynamic disk? If you don't know, it wasn't. If it was dynamic, the new system doesn't know this, and you have to manually set it up to be dynamic. I would NOT recommend doing this unless you know for certain that it was set up as dynamic before.

Other than that, I can't think of what could be going wrong. But it sounds to me like this is a software problem, not a hardware problem. Hard drives don't typically die in situations like this--they tend more often to die during a heavy file transfer process, or if they sustain physical damage. Also, a hard drive that is physically damaged for will often make strange noises.

One more thing--do you have a western digital 200GB drive with the 8MB buffer? I've heard reports that this particular drive is far more prone to malfunction than a typical hard drive.

[LeFou]

If you're feeling frisky, do your own data retrieval with a linux liveCD like Knoppix. You can boot it from the CDROM and then surf into the windows partition to get your files. Then move them off that machine to somewhere else. Sounds like it's belly up