free data recovery software?

hUMANbEATbOX

Contributing Member

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Joined

Nov 17, 2002

• Feb 9, 2007

• #1

so long story short, i hosed a HD with a lot of important data + pics + stuff i've collected.

i tried the "trial" of GetDataBack, and it is a complete joke. i spent about 1.5hrs scanning the HD, and it found all the files, but then i realized that in the "trial", you cannot actually recover anything. what a total pain. wish it woulda told me that 1.5hrs ago.

so does anyone know of some free software, or real shareware that i can actually use?

 

OP

hUMANbEATbOX

Contributing Member

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Joined

Nov 17, 2002

• Feb 10, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #2

buuuump.....anyone?

if this is the type of thing that is impossible to find for free, can anyone recommend a cheap reliable piece of software?

 

OP

hUMANbEATbOX

Contributing Member

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Joined

Nov 17, 2002

• Feb 11, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #3

so noone knows anything about data recovery software?

*taps foot*

 

IAmMoen

Member

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Joined

Apr 9, 2006

Location

Falcon Heights, MN

• Feb 11, 2007

• #4

i do. ygpm

 

Kendan

Senior Punk

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Joined

Aug 27, 2001

Location

Dark side of hell

• Feb 11, 2007

• #5

Have you tried knoppix? Sometimes linux can see data that windows can no longer see.

 

OP

hUMANbEATbOX

Contributing Member

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Joined

Nov 17, 2002

• Feb 11, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #6

Kendan said:

Have you tried knoppix? Sometimes linux can see data that windows can no longer see.

Click to expand...

no, i never even thought of that. windows sees the HD as RAW. GetDataBack found everything, and i can see my photos, school doc's, file structures, all that...but it won't let me save the files to my backup HD (what i'm running on now).

i'm guessing that mandriva might work similar? that's the only live cd's i've got right now..

and thanks Moen! PM replied

 

Kendan

Senior Punk

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Joined

Aug 27, 2001

Location

Dark side of hell

• Feb 11, 2007

• #7

Well download knoppix. if it can see the data then you need a non ntfs drive in that computer and you have to mount it writeable. or you can use the samba script to share the drive on the network and grab the data from another computer on the network (This is the slower way).

I think there might be a couple free data recovery programs, but I would try knoppix first.

Good luck

 

Audioaficionado

Sparkomatic Moderator

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Joined

Apr 29, 2002

• Feb 11, 2007

• #8

DON'T WRITE ANYTHING TO THAT DISK!

This has happened to me a twice so far.

Here's the fix: http://www.r-studio.com/

Try the demo to see if it's recoverable.

If so then you will need to buy it for $80.

Sorry about the price but you'll have to weigh it against the data's value.

None of the freebies worked for me. But R-Studio rocked.

 

OP

hUMANbEATbOX

Contributing Member

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Joined

Nov 17, 2002

• Feb 11, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #9

thanks audio!

yep, the data (well most of it) is recoverable. i scanned the disk with GetDataBack (i think it is similar to the r-data) and it found most of my valuables (mostly worried about personal photos).

i am trying r-data now, it seems to find the files too. for now, i am on a spare 80gb drive i had kicking around, and no, i won't be writing anything to the disk until i can get every last bit i can off of it. really don't mind paying for software, i just wanted a recommendation as to what is worth my $$. thanks again!