Doaaah! I formatted the wrong drive with InstantCake!

[swabbie]

Well, I've really gone and done it now.

I actually formatted my Windows XP "C" drive
by incorrectly entering HDB instead of HDC
during the Instant Cake upgrade process.

Now I can't get any of my years long family
photos, or email. To say nothing of all the rest
of the stuff.

This sounds like something that only a bonehead
would do, but here I am.

Surely, I can't be the first one that has ever
done this, and if there is a magic "work around"
that will let me have my photos and email back,
I'd be forever in your debt. (and you'd have very
good Karma for a long time)

Thanks if you can help.

(an embarrassed Swabbie)

[gjustice]

Backups?

[Dkerr24]

Sorry swabbie, but it overwrote your C: drive... all the data there is gone forever.

That's why I completely disconnected my Windows drives when I hacked my DTivo drive.

[classicsat]

There is an off chance a data recovery service could help.

[DTVPro]

data recovery services are EXPENSIVE as hell

[bhorstkotte]

I did a google search for "unformat xp", and came up with this as one of the first results: http://www.restorer2000.com/ - I've never used it, so can't say whether it works, and don't know how much it costs, but something to look into (along with any other tools that may come up from the same or similar search).

[mr.unnatural]

This is exactly why I use an old PC strictly for use with Tivo upgrades. I don't keep any important files on the C: drive so I won't lose anything if such an accident occurs.

If you insist on using your main PC or one that contains things you don't wish to lose then it's a good idea to keep a small drive (1-5GB is adequate) and load any Windows OS on it that supports FAT32. Just swap out the C: drive when you want to work on your Tivo. A couple of cheap removable hard drive bays makes the process quick and painless. It's cheap insurance and will give you peace of mind.

[knr]

When I worked at my former firm, we switched out a gentleman's laptop to a newer model and prepared to give the older machine to a new employee. However, one of my IT counterparts forgot to copy over the Outlook PST file, and reformatted the drive. He reinstalled Windows, Office, etc. *before* discovering that there was a missing PST file. I thought the data was gone, and with it, 3+ years of emails.

I jumped on Google and found a utility called "Recover My Files" by GetData.

I said a quick prayer and installed it. It scanned the drive and recovered the PST file without a hitch. I couldn't believe it.

I would, however, rip the drive out of your current PC and install it into a second PC so that you don't risk further potential data loss.

Hope it helps.

-Kyle

[swabbie]

Kyle,

This is a prime example of the value of these forums.

Now for my best Gomer Pyle impression:
Thank You - Thank You - Thank You.

"Recover My Files" worked like a charm. It even got
files that I had deleted long before this happened!

Thanks again, Kyle, and my wife thanks you for saving
all our pictures.

The 'double redundant' backup is writing the DVD's as
I type this.

Swabbie

-- Snip --

I jumped on Google and found a utility called "Recover My Files" by GetData.

I said a quick prayer and installed it. It scanned the drive and recovered the PST file without a hitch. I couldn't believe it.

I would, however, rip the drive out of your current PC and install it into a second PC so that you don't risk further potential data loss.

Hope it helps.

-Kyle