Partition Magic Error #48 - Sector Not Found

[mtnagel]

I was trying to merge two NTFS partitions in Partition Magic v8 (in Win XP Pro) and I got the error message "Error #48 - Sector Not Found". When I restarted, I couldn't see the second partition (mostly my data), but the first one (with Windows on it) was fine. Windows now only "sees" the one drive, but it only lists it as 20 gb (it is a 40 gb hard drive that I had 2 partitions set up on), so I'm hoping that the other one is still there, but Windows just can't see it.

Does anyone know who to get that other partition back? I can go into PM from Windows and from the rescue disks, but I still get the same error message. The PM tech support has been horrible (they basically said, "You should always back-up before manipulating a partition." Yeah, thanks. I know that now. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I lost that data (thankfully I just backed-up my pictures before this happened), but I would like to get the data back if possible.

I've tried some data recovery programs, but they didn't help, though the couple I tried weren't very user friendly, so I'm not sure if I used them properly.

Any suggestions?
Matthew

 

[redbeard1]

Check this thread. He had the same thing happen and was able to recover it with Acronis recovery expert.

Thread

 

[mtnagel]

Thanks, I will give that a try tonight. I'm praying that it works. I just want to get this solved.

Matthew

 

[mtnagel]

I downloaded that Acronis recovery program and I ran a "normal" scan and it came up with nothing. Then it gave me the option of doing a more thorough scan of every sector, but it warned me it would be slower. So I started to do that. I came back an hour later and it hadn't even moved 1 single bar on the progress meter. So I left it over night and in the morning it had moved about 8 (out of the 30-40 bars) and it had found 2 deleted partitions, both had the same letter as the one that is lost ("f"), so that looks promising, but I couldn't see any data since it was still scanning. Hopefully it will be done by the time I get home from work today and I can, hopefully, report back with good news.

BTW, I guess it's taking so long because it's on a slow PC (350 mHz, 196 mb RAM) and the drive is 40 gb.

Matthew

 

[nageov3t]

same thing happened to me awhile ago. I was converting a primary drive to a logical one when the power went out.

when I booted up my computer again, windows wouldn't load and partition magic showed it as one giant unrecoverable partition.

I downloaded GetDataBack for NTFS ($$$), though, and that software allowed me to access my data, so I was able to move it all to a different hard drive and reformat the one with the bad partition.

 

[mtnagel]

Thanks for the suggestion Loki. I might have to try it if this other program doesn't work. I see the NTFS one is $79, which is a tad steep, but it looks like you can download a trial version and hopefully it can show me what I can save before I pay for it.

Matthew

 

[nageov3t]

trail version was pretty helpful... it lets you see what exactly is on the drive, but sadly won't let you actually move the data off of it.

 

[mtnagel]

Loki, you are my new hero! That GetDataBack program actually worked! And it was very easy to use. I must have tried like 5 other data recovery programs with no luck.

Redbeard, I tried the Acronis, and like I posted, it didn't find anything on the normal scan, so I did the thorough scan and after (literally - no joke) 19 hours (!!), it still wasn't half way finished! The GetDataBack took about 5 hours to do it. Thanks for trying though.

I'm so happy that I was able to accomplish this. The Partition Magic tech support was basically, "this happens" and "you should have backed-up", and "there is nothing else you can do". I'm not kidding. No mention of data recovery software. That's pretty much one of the first things I thougt about. I guess I won't be using PM anymore . Plus, I already have any elaborate back-up plan set up - I even have duplicate copies at work just in case.

Thanks again
Matthew