I goofed up bad guys, HALP.

[Funkosapien]

Righto, so my dads computer kept crashing, figured I'd reinstall windows. Got him to backup all his stuff onto an external hard drive. Like 5 years of files. Once he done that he unplugged it and I reinstalled Windows with an old copy of Windows XP I had laying around. Did the slow format, like 90% of the way through it crashed.

So I decided to vacuum out the inside of his computer (good thing I did, the CPU heatsink was FILTHY, I've had computers that kept crashing from a third as much dust on the CPU heatsink).

However when I plugged it all back in, I accidentally plugged the external hard drive back in as well, and in my underslept 1am autopilot slumber, my brain read it as 'oh it didn't finish, it must be 2 partitions of the same hard drive, one of them unfinished, didn't even read the size amounts. I accidentally deleted the partitions on both hard drives. After I realized what I did I just turned it off and restarted it with the external unplugged. And tested the external on my Computer and can't see nothing.

I goofed up bad didn't I? Is there any way of recovering the data? If so how much is it gonna cost? Lemme guess, hundreds? Not possible? God damn it. How boned am I guys? Please, don't sugar it down, innocent mistake but I know I goofed up. I just wanna know how bad.

Note to self : Never do this stuff tired again.

 

[harryfishrules]

Righto, so my dads computer kept crashing, figured I'd reinstall windows. Got him to backup all his stuff onto an external hard drive. Like 5 years of files. Once he done that he unplugged it and I reinstalled Windows with an old copy of Windows XP I had laying around. Did the slow format, like 90% of the way through it crashed.

So I decided to vacuum out the inside of his computer (good thing I did, the CPU heatsink was FILTHY, I've had computers that kept crashing from a third as much dust on the CPU heatsink).

However when I plugged it all back in, I accidentally plugged the external hard drive back in as well, and in my underslept 1am autopilot slumber, my brain read it as 'oh it didn't finish, it must be 2 partitions of the same hard drive, one of them unfinished, didn't even read the size amounts. I accidentally deleted the partitions on both hard drives. After I realized what I did I just turned it off and restarted it with the external unplugged. And tested the external on my Computer and can't see nothing.

I goofed up bad didn't I? Is there any way of recovering the data? If so how much is it gonna cost? Lemme guess, hundreds? Not possible? God damn it. How boned am I guys? Please, don't sugar it down, innocent mistake but I know I goofed up. I just wanna know how bad.

Note to self : Never do this stuff tired again.

So you want to recover data from a formatted hard drive? If so, this isn't easy but you could try this: http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/recover-formatted-partition.htm

 

[Funkosapien]

So you want to recover data from a formatted hard drive?

To be absolutely precise. In the Windows XP Home install thing, when you restart the computer and load up the CD, where it says delete partition. Before I even made a partition or formatted it. I deleted the partition, that's where I realized what I did, when it didn't merge into one partition, and I turned off the computer. I buggered up didn't I?

 

[bignastyid]

As long as it wasn't formatted and overwrote you should be able to recover it.
http://www.extend-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0nGi-vhXw
https://www.piriform.com/recuva

 

[jsmithepa]

If you have just deleted the partitions, but not reformat it, you may be able to undo it. Google RECOVER DELETED PARTITION. I see something called easeUS.

 

[Funkosapien]

As long as it wasn't formatted and overwrote you should be able to recover it.
http://www.extend-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0nGi-vhXw
https://www.piriform.com/recuva

Oh sweet baby jesus, I love you guys, I love you guys so much. You got no idea how many headaches you guys have saved me, if you've saved me on this one I'm gonna write you a for real love letter.

I'm gonna check these links out, if you got any more info on this please lemme know. I'm sorta freaking out here.

 

[harryfishrules]

As long as it wasn't formatted and overwrote you should be able to recover it.
http://www.extend-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0nGi-vhXw
https://www.piriform.com/recuva

Oh sweet baby jesus, I love you guys, I love you guys so much. You got no idea how many headaches you guys have saved me, if you've saved me on this one I'm gonna write you a for real love letter.

I'm gonna check these links out, if you got any more info on this please lemme know. I'm sorta freaking out here.

It's going to sound harsh as heck, but this is why you always backup data both regularly and before you start fiddling with the system, just to be safe.

 

[Funkosapien]

Trying the free version of this software, if that doesn't work I'll buy a copy n try that. Will let you guys know how it goes.

http://www.extend-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html

 

[Solandri]

It's going to sound harsh as heck, but this is why you always backup data both regularly and before you start fiddling with the system, just to be safe.

No, he did the proper thing and backed up.

This is why hard drives need a write-protect switch. So after you finish the backup you can switch it to read-only mode, and you won't accidentally delete your backup because of a boneheaded mistake like this. One of my important files became corrupted once. No problem since I kept backups. I plugged in my backup drive, then proceeded to copy the corrupted file over the good backup. We're all human, we all make mistakes. A write-protect switch would go a long way towards protecting against this type of mistake.

And before you say it can't be done, it can. I have a SATA-USB3 adapter which has a write-protect jumper. I didn't know it had that feature when I bought it, but I learned later that the adapter was designed for HDD recovery specialists and police forensic investigators.

 

[Funkosapien]

I'm on the Windows 10 preview and it said unable to recognize file system or something, will try it on the XP computer once that finishes reformatting/installing.

Edit : The waiting for the other computers main drive to reformat is the worst part =S.

 

[Funkosapien]

And before you say it can't be done, it can. I have a SATA-USB3 adapter which has a write-protect jumper. I didn't know it had that feature when I bought it, but I learned later that the adapter was designed for HDD recovery specialists and police forensic investigators.

Some sort of dongle or whatever probably wouldn't be a bad idea as a mid term solution? Something you can attach to any HD that switches it to read only, is that a thing that is doable? Or would it have to be on the hardware end?

 

[Funkosapien]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0nGi-vhXw

Thank you my friend, that video right there, that saved my ass, it really did, thanks for helping me out there man and showing me what I need to know in a format so simple even I could understand it. Me old man already went through losing 10 years of files a while back and I didn't want to put him through losing another 5. How can I thank you man? Want a fancy forum signature or something made up? I'm pretty handy in the ol photoshop, you took some time out of your day to help me out, please, let me return the favor. (the old one I got on here is a bad example, here's an example of some of my other work, I'll make you up something real nice if you want? :
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc456/KlLLFACE/Cool%20Pictures/BaronVonReaverton_zpsaeb67109.png
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc456/KlLLFACE/Ol%20Photoshop%20Work/LOBOfinal.jpg


And may I also amend a frame of reference so you know why I goofed up. Holy sweet jesus I need a new mattress, my 2 sleeping choices right now are a hardwood floor underneath an air bed that I can't find the hole on, and a Couch that is somehow less restful than the Hardwood Floor but doesn't give me a sore shoulder when I wake up. Even if I go to bed early, I spent 5 hours trying to get to sleep, I'm lucky if I sleep that long, I wake up several times during the night, and I wake up more tired than the day before. My brain running on fumes for the past few months (years really, long story) caused me to make not just that muck up I already told you about, but I purchased the wrong software from that company by accident and burnt $25, had to go back n redownload the other software, which was free btw. I think I'm gonna stay away from anything breakable for a while =p. About the only thing I'm not messing up on lately in Planetside 2 Squad Leading, and that's cause I got that many thousand hours of leadership its muscle memory now, even then I'm far from my best. I NEED SLEEP! Sorry, felt I needed a rant =p.

Really though, thanks again man, hope I can find some way to give you the thanks you deserve.

Cheers,
Funk.