Data Recovery

A while ago I posted a thread about data loss which I suspected came from a filesystem error. Here's the thread in question. I didn't have much time to spend on recovering the data back then, but I've since grown tired of seeing the drive unused, and I kind of need some of the data on it, so I'm back. The problem seems sorta complex, but I'll try to explain everything odd I've seen so far. Hopefully someone will be able to help.

Alright, first of all, in the last thread I made, people suggested I try to use "GetDataBack for NTFS". I had no hard drive space where I could copy the temporary data so I didn't try. Now I've managed to clear another HD just like the one containing the data I lost, so I decided to try it. I didn't exactly work. It did seem to be able to recover a number of files, but not everything, and most importantly, labelling all the files as "XXXXXXX.EXT" where the Xs are numbers and EXT is an extension. The thing is, when scanning the drive for lost data, the software actually displays some filenames I recognize as being part of the files that disappeared from my drive. So it's a good indication that the data is still fine, as least, some of it.

Something odd I've noticed, however, is that while both the HD with the data I'm trying to recover, and the HD on which I want to copy the recovered data are the exact same HD, both 160GB WD Caviar SE, exact same model number, GetDataBack seems to display different numbers when it comes to the number of cylinders and heads for the drives. Partition magic also does the same thing, but the number of cylinders it displays differs, even for the drive I have no problem with, so I'll just assume it has something to do with how the software counts the number of cylinders. The number of heads is the same in both program, though, being 16 for the drive with data to be recovered, and 255 for the other (to make things more confusing, the 16 heads figure makes much more sense to me. GAAH!)

My BIOS, however, detects both drives as being the exact same thing. Furthermore, loading partition magic and checking the properties of the only partition on the drive I'm trying to recover shows that roughly 14% of the space on the partition is labelled as "Bad". Searching through the help files didn't help me figure out what "Bad" meant in this context. So I've tried another of partition magic's functions, named "Check for errors", on the same partition, and it reports no error! Windows also shows the partition as being 149GB, the capacity of the drive. Using scandisk, however, reveals that the same amount of space partition magic describes as being "bad" is in bad sectors, yet it says there are no errors even when using the /R option, supposed to recover readable data from bad sectors.

My question is this: What's the most effective way to set fire to a har- I mean, what the hell is going on here, and how can I fix this whole goddamn mess, or at least get some data back in a way that won't require me to wade through 75GB worth of data (the largest amount of data GetDataBack apparently could recover) labelled with nothing but numbers? As I said, I could see filenames I recognized at some point during the scanning of the drive, so the data concerning the files that disappeared is likely still there.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

OnTrack EasyRecovery Pro. I've recommended this fine piece of software countless times now and it's almost guaranteed to recover all your data.

I guess that's the reason for the $1,500 price tag.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Have you tried using the recovery tools that WD has on their webpage (I wish I had saved the exact stuff I used to get it back =\)? They were able to save everything from one of my drives when Partition Magic could do absolutely nothing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Ok, been a while since I posted this, but I've been extremely busy lately when I thought it would be the opposite.

I've checked on the WD website, but I can't find any tool that actually seems to be related to data recovery. All they seem to have are the "Data Lifeguard Tools" and "Data Lifeguard Diagnostics" software, which I've both tried.

As for OnTrack EasyRecovery Pro, I've managed to get my hands on a copy, and I've already run their "Full disk test" or whatever it's actually called, and the drive where my data was (and hopefully still is), doesn't seem to have any physical problems. I'm going to try to recover the data with it now.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?