PC Inspector

bingo_bango · 23 October 2006 at 2:53PM

Anyone used this to recover files?

I had a HDD crash at the weekend after the PSU failed, but have only backed up about half my photos. Everything else is backed up (thankfully), but I have photos of recent holidays I'd like to get back, along with photos of my kids etc.
From what I can see, I have to install an OS on a second HDD (which I installed recently, hence the PSU burning out :rolleyes: ), and then install and run PC Inspector from there.

Two questions.
Can I install Win XP on the second HDD (F:) by using Winnt.exe in C:/Windows (only got a recovery disc)?
I'll just have to use Win 98 instead if not.

For anyone who has used PC Inspector..... what sort of results did you get? Bear in mind I've only just formatted C:, so there won't be anything much written over at this point.

albertross_2 · 23 October 2006 at 3:07PM

have you formatted the disk that crashed (with all your photos on?):eek: If so, it makes recovery harder.

Can't you use the restore disk to install on the second hard disk, and use the old primary master as a slave? Or are you talking about a restore disk that requires a restore partition?

some other bits and pieces you could look at, or you could try a linux live CD.

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
http://www.partition-recovery.com/
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

http://www.finaldata.com/sub_products/products_1.asp
http://www.restorer2000.com/

bingo_bango · 23 October 2006 at 3:16PM

It was the quick format used by the XP recovery disc.

You're going to inform me now that it's bu**ered, and I have no hope of recovering anything, and that the missus is gonna make me take her back to Berlin again. Damn expensive PSU .....:D

albertross_2 · 23 October 2006 at 3:27PM

There's always hope, the underlying data is probably still there, formatting just makes it a bit harder to get at.

Final data can probably get at the files, but it's not free. Not sure about PC inspector, the interface is a turn off for me, so haven't used it much.

In future.. Norton Ghost or Acronis Trueimage!

I'd swap the primary and slave around and reinstall XP onto the spare disk, and work from there.

Donnie · 23 October 2006 at 3:30PM

You can use Hiren's BootCD if you can find a copy.

http://www.hiren.info/pages.php/bootablecd

bingo_bango · 23 October 2006 at 3:56PM

albertross wrote:

I'd swap the primary and slave around and reinstall XP onto the spare disk, and work from there.

No can do. C is an IDE drive, and F is a SATA drive through a PCI SATA controller card.
Also, I only have a recovery disc (which AFAIK requires the partition to be there, and doesn't install one), not an install disc. Although I suppose I could always 'source' one

Donnie · 23 October 2006 at 5:50PM

http://www.hiren.info/downloads.php/data-recovery/hard-drive/1

If you need a DOS recovery tool(no need to install an OS) on a Bootable CD, I'll try to help.

bingo_bango · 23 October 2006 at 6:51PM

What I intend to do is to load Win98 onto F, and run PC Inspector from there.
In the meantime, I've heard a wee bit about indexing the drive, but no v. little about it. Anyone got any info?

Donnie · 23 October 2006 at 7:04PM

Let us know how you get on.

bingo_bango · 23 October 2006 at 7:08PM

Will do. Likely be a day or two before I know for sure though.

tobyosbourn · 23 October 2006 at 7:29PM

I am pretty sure suse (a distro of linux) has a recovery tool on it which will work with corrupted fat32 drives.

PC Inspector

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