Yay!! Whilst chugging along, half asleep at the wheel, and working on the backup of my data - I managed to fubar it quite nicely. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd certainly appreciate em. Here's my situation:
I've been running Windows 2k3 server trial edition on a RAID array using a couple of Raptors for the past 6 months. The trial was about to end, so I did the usual sorting/tidying up bs, and moved the soon-to-be backup stuff to a separate IDE drive for archiving later on. This was approximately 7-10 days ago.
After moving and sorting, I deleted the files (from the array), and got ready to re-install Windows for the umpteen thousandth time in my life. Unfortunately, what's new for me isn't Windows - but the fact that I'm now using a RAID array. The long and short of it here is that, in my comatose state, I forgot that I'd left that IDE drive plugged in while doing the new Windows installation...and, of course, the fact that Windows would look to that drive for setup (rather than my array) during the setup. Next-next-next - and, before I know it, I have a nice and brand new formatted IDE drive with 2k3 on it. Beautiful - except for the fact that this same drive is where my backup once resided.
So I now have a RAID array with an expired version of 2k3 on it, and another drive with a second (working) 2k3 installation that has unfortunately been written over the data at issue here. Nice..eh? That's what 4 hours of sleep a night'll get you.
In any event, my questions, in no particular order, are:
1. The older Windows is no longer fully functional, but I *can* access it through safe mode. At this point I'm debating over whether it'd be better to scan the IDE drive from software running on the old Windows install (and write recovery to the Raptors or a 3rd drive) or to go about it the other way and scan for the old, deleted files on the Raptors from the IDE drive with the fresh Windows install.
Put a little more simply, am I better off trying to fish for files that have been deleted for a week or two (probably post-defrag) but are on a disk that hasn't been formatted or on a disk that *has* been formatted and has a new OS install, but nothing else? (The IDE disk is brand new, btw.) Seems to me that both options are pretty far-fetched, but I'd appreciate any feedback.
2. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for data recovery/unformat software that might be of use here? I've been working with an older version of R-Studio (and have tried both approaches discussed above)...but so far it's been no luck.
And dat's about dat. The data is not entirely unreplaceable, but this is a pain in the arse. If anyone could provide some insight, it'd be much apprec...
Thanks...
Zeek
I've been running Windows 2k3 server trial edition on a RAID array using a couple of Raptors for the past 6 months. The trial was about to end, so I did the usual sorting/tidying up bs, and moved the soon-to-be backup stuff to a separate IDE drive for archiving later on. This was approximately 7-10 days ago.
After moving and sorting, I deleted the files (from the array), and got ready to re-install Windows for the umpteen thousandth time in my life. Unfortunately, what's new for me isn't Windows - but the fact that I'm now using a RAID array. The long and short of it here is that, in my comatose state, I forgot that I'd left that IDE drive plugged in while doing the new Windows installation...and, of course, the fact that Windows would look to that drive for setup (rather than my array) during the setup. Next-next-next - and, before I know it, I have a nice and brand new formatted IDE drive with 2k3 on it. Beautiful - except for the fact that this same drive is where my backup once resided.
So I now have a RAID array with an expired version of 2k3 on it, and another drive with a second (working) 2k3 installation that has unfortunately been written over the data at issue here. Nice..eh? That's what 4 hours of sleep a night'll get you.
In any event, my questions, in no particular order, are:
1. The older Windows is no longer fully functional, but I *can* access it through safe mode. At this point I'm debating over whether it'd be better to scan the IDE drive from software running on the old Windows install (and write recovery to the Raptors or a 3rd drive) or to go about it the other way and scan for the old, deleted files on the Raptors from the IDE drive with the fresh Windows install.
Put a little more simply, am I better off trying to fish for files that have been deleted for a week or two (probably post-defrag) but are on a disk that hasn't been formatted or on a disk that *has* been formatted and has a new OS install, but nothing else? (The IDE disk is brand new, btw.) Seems to me that both options are pretty far-fetched, but I'd appreciate any feedback.
2. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for data recovery/unformat software that might be of use here? I've been working with an older version of R-Studio (and have tried both approaches discussed above)...but so far it's been no luck.
And dat's about dat. The data is not entirely unreplaceable, but this is a pain in the arse. If anyone could provide some insight, it'd be much apprec...
Thanks...
Zeek
Facebook
Twitter