bad partition

[moemac8]

I have two HDs in my computer. One is my C: drive. The other is partitioned in two, E: and F:
I had trouble with a loose serial ATA cable causing the second HD not to show up. I finally replaced the cable and now my E and F drives show up in my computer but I can not access files on the F drive, Windows says it is unreadable or corrupt. I downloaded a data recovery program called PartRecovery and it sees the F partition and all the folders on it, but it is a demo program and won't fix it. Whats wrong, did the partition table get screwed up??

Any ideas to fix it that don't requires 20 experience with DOS??

 

[wanderer27]

Maybe try to run Diskscan on the Drive/Partition.

It might be able to recover the file index table - no gaurantees though . . . .

 

[moemac8]

nah, i tried that already. I did however download a program called iRecovery. It is the trial version and after taking a long time to scan the partition, it will allow me to copy over one folder off that partition at a time.

 

[wanderer27]

Wow, that sounds like fun

 

[Kaervak]

Give Test Disk a shot. http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk Completely free too. I recently used this when my partition table destroyed itself on my file server. Worked quite well. Take the time to follow the read me. It doesn't have GUI so you have to pay attention to what you're doing but it does work.

 

[docinthebox]

Before spending any money, have a look at these two free Linux distros specializing in partition repair and data recovery:

1. RIPLinux:
http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/

2. Trinity Rescue Kit
http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12

Basically, you download the iso file, burn a CD, and boot up the CD to use the programs.

Good luck!