I really need to recover my files. My NTFS partition failed. Please help me...?

Question

Hi, everyone.

1 week ago, WinXP suddenly didn't recognize one of my partition (NTFS 40GB). It was listed with RAW filesystem (PartitionID still 0x7h which is NTFS), happened after restarting.

There's no sign of mechanical failure (strange noise/vibration, etc). Another partition works fine. I've tried reading it on another computer. No cigar

Cold-Boot, Last Known Configuration, CHKDSK, etc didn't work.

That partition was my backup. All of my files were stored there including driver/utilities/my data for the last 7 years (the harddisk itself is < 3 years old).

I've searched through the internet for any file recovery tools. None of them (around 3 - 4 tools) could see my files directly. They have to do some sort of physical scan first which would take hundreds of hours (??).

I don't know much about data recovery tools, could anyone recommend one for me ?

Also, I prefer not to move my harddisk anymore (in case it would provoke mechanical failure).

Thank you all...

Answer 1

I used RecoverMyFiles when my mother-in-law bumped the power button on my PC during a defrag. I was able to recover all the files using the low level scan. Yes, it did take a long time to run but at least I had the files recovered (in my case, my backup was about two weeks old and needed to get a few emails back).

Oh, leaving the partition inactive is suggested until you run the recovery software. Leaving it inactive will increase your chances of recovery.

Answer 2

If your data is that important you need to use the recovery tools. They all take a long time to recover, it is a difficult task. If this is a backup it implies a copy of original data, it should NOT be the only copy.

Answer 3

Ehm..
An "undelete tool" I used to recover my files is Wondershare data recovery. Free Download here http://j.mp/1uUrrJD
I love it!
Best