[muppet_3000]

Hello to all out there.
Ive just finished formatting my PC (running windows XP) but before I did so i copied all of the information such as My Docs etc to my 2nd hard drive and then disconnected it so that it wouldnt get wiped when i formatted the PC to reinstall windows. However now the drive is recognised but it says that the disk has not been formattted and then gives me the option to format it.
Does anyone have any ideas as to how i can read the information on the disk?
I've tried plugging it into another computer but i get the same problems.
I have the program at the following link http://www.cgsecurit...g/wiki/TestDisk
however i'm not too sure how to use it.
Hopefully someone out there can help me.

Thanks in advance
Yours Muppet

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Hi muppet_3000...

Try running chkdsk on the drive.

Click Start, then Run, type cmd and click "Ok". A command session window will open. At the command prompt, type chkdsk /f /r ?: (replace ? with the drive letter of the affected drive) and press "Enter".

You may be told the drive is in use and asked if you want to run this on the next boot. Type Y and press "Enter".

Type exit and press "Enter" to end the command session.

It the machine does not automatically reboot, do so manually. This will be a long check...be patient. 60 to 90 minutes is not unusual for this check...it should boot directly to Windows once the check is complete.

Can you then see the contents of the drive?

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi muppet_3000...

Try running chkdsk on the drive.

Click Start, then Run, type cmd and click "Ok". A command session window will open. At the command prompt, type chkdsk /f /r ?: (replace ? with the drive letter of the affected drive) and press "Enter".

You may be told the drive is in use and asked if you want to run this on the next boot. Type Y and press "Enter".

Type exit and press "Enter" to end the command session.

It the machine does not automatically reboot, do so manually. This will be a long check...be patient. 60 to 90 minutes is not unusual for this check...it should boot directly to Windows once the check is complete.

Can you then see the contents of the drive?

wannabe1

[muppet_3000]

will that cause any information on the drive to be lost or changed at all
remember this is everything i have.

[wannabe1]

Nope...should just straighten out the file system.

[muppet_3000]

it says it cant scan it because its of RAW type

[wannabe1]

You've lost the partition, then. You're probably going to have to use recovery software to recover the data.

[muppet_3000]

well ive got this program http://www.cgsecurit...g/wiki/TestDisk
when i run an analysis on the disk it tells me that it has the partitions set up how they were previously before i re-formatted with the section i want to access being hpfs - ntfs. Do you know of any good recovery software?

[wannabe1]

GetDataBack has always worked for me. You can try it for free, but if it manages to recover the data, you'll have to purchase the license to finish the recovery. There are two versions...one for FAT32 and one for NTFS. They cost $69 and $79 respectively.