My Situation ( I need help)

rosenthall · 01-23-2005, 11:15 PM

Okay. I'm sure a situation like mine has been mentioned many times before. I searched the forums for a while, and while I saw many things that were similar, I didn't see anything that matched my exact circumstances.

So, for all the people who answer this, who I'm sure have already answered many stuff like this before.....thanks :).

Okay, my computer had a bunch of viruses on it, so I sent it in to get it repaired. I specifically requested to have the data on my hard drive maintained, but it turns out that they just reformatted it, I think. (I still have to check with them.)

So, does anyone have any good recommendations for data recovery software for a reformatted hard drive? Or a link with a list of different ones, or where I can find user opinions on them? Also, I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to computers.........I hear people talk of attaching an external hard drive to recover data, and if so.....is there anywhere where I can find a good tutorial on how to do so, and, would a DAP that reads as a letter drive work for such an operation? Thanks a bunch to anyone who can help.

Jonathan

crazijoe · 01-24-2005, 06:39 AM

This would depend on how they have formatted the drive. If the drive was zero filled before they installed the OS, I can't see you recovering anything. If not then you would need to quit using the drive right now because anything you put on the drive is just writing over the data you are wanting to recover. Your best be is to slave the drive in another machine and run a recovery program like GetDataBack.
Normally, if a person gave me a computer that had problems associated with viruses that made the computer nonfunctioning I would zero fill the drive and reinstall the OS.

http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm

rosenthall · 01-24-2005, 11:03 AM

Okay, thanks.

You'll have to excuse me, I'm sort of new, but what is 'slaving' a hard drive, and would anyone know a good place to find instructions on how to do it?

crazijoe · 01-24-2005, 12:34 PM

Slaving the hard drive is when you would take the hard drive out of your computer and connect it on the same IDE cable with another hard drive on a different computer. You would set the jumpers of the drives so that the one you are adding is set to slave and the one that is already in the computer is set as master. The computer would then boot to the native hard drive and you can access the data off of your drive.

rosenthall · 01-24-2005, 08:44 PM

Okay, so, if I had my old hard drive--which it turns out, wasn't reformatted, just severely messed up, outside of my computer, could I hook it up to the neew hard drive inside my computer, and 'slave' it to that one? And also, would I need any sort of software to help me do this? Thanks.

Jonathan

crazijoe · 01-25-2005, 06:08 AM

No software needed. On the new computer, the ribbon cable that attaches to the hard drive should have an extra connector. You can connect the old drive there. But you will have to make sure that the drive that is in the new computer is jumpered as master and the old drive is jumpered as slave. If you do not have an extra connector on the ribbon cable you can usually go to the local computer store and get a ribbon cable with three connections (one for the MB, one for the master drive, and one for the slave drive). Also make sure you have a power connection for the old drive. When you fire up the computer , the drive will show in disk management.

01-23-2005, 11:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
rosenthall Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WinXP	My Situation ( I need help) Okay. I'm sure a situation like mine has been mentioned many times before. I searched the forums for a while, and while I saw many things that were similar, I didn't see anything that matched my exact circumstances. So, for all the people who answer this, who I'm sure have already answered many stuff like this before.....thanks :). Okay, my computer had a bunch of viruses on it, so I sent it in to get it repaired. I specifically requested to have the data on my hard drive maintained, but it turns out that they just reformatted it, I think. (I still have to check with them.) So, does anyone have any good recommendations for data recovery software for a reformatted hard drive? Or a link with a list of different ones, or where I can find user opinions on them? Also, I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to computers.........I hear people talk of attaching an external hard drive to recover data, and if so.....is there anywhere where I can find a good tutorial on how to do so, and, would a DAP that reads as a letter drive work for such an operation? Thanks a bunch to anyone who can help. Jonathan

01-24-2005, 06:39 AM	#2 (permalink)
crazijoe Tech Hardware Forums Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	This would depend on how they have formatted the drive. If the drive was zero filled before they installed the OS, I can't see you recovering anything. If not then you would need to quit using the drive right now because anything you put on the drive is just writing over the data you are wanting to recover. Your best be is to slave the drive in another machine and run a recovery program like GetDataBack. Normally, if a person gave me a computer that had problems associated with viruses that made the computer nonfunctioning I would zero fill the drive and reinstall the OS. http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

01-24-2005, 12:34 PM	#4 (permalink)
crazijoe Tech Hardware Forums Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Slaving the hard drive is when you would take the hard drive out of your computer and connect it on the same IDE cable with another hard drive on a different computer. You would set the jumpers of the drives so that the one you are adding is set to slave and the one that is already in the computer is set as master. The computer would then boot to the native hard drive and you can access the data off of your drive. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

01-25-2005, 06:08 AM	#6 (permalink)
crazijoe Tech Hardware Forums Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	No software needed. On the new computer, the ribbon cable that attaches to the hard drive should have an extra connector. You can connect the old drive there. But you will have to make sure that the drive that is in the new computer is jumpered as master and the old drive is jumpered as slave. If you do not have an extra connector on the ribbon cable you can usually go to the local computer store and get a ribbon cable with three connections (one for the MB, one for the master drive, and one for the slave drive). Also make sure you have a power connection for the old drive. When you fire up the computer , the drive will show in disk management. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

01-24-2005, 11:03 AM	#3 (permalink)
rosenthall Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WinXP	Okay, thanks. You'll have to excuse me, I'm sort of new, but what is 'slaving' a hard drive, and would anyone know a good place to find instructions on how to do it?

01-24-2005, 08:44 PM	#5 (permalink)
rosenthall Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 3 OS: WinXP	Okay, so, if I had my old hard drive--which it turns out, wasn't reformatted, just severely messed up, outside of my computer, could I hook it up to the neew hard drive inside my computer, and 'slave' it to that one? And also, would I need any sort of software to help me do this? Thanks. Jonathan