Recently, My computer hung up while opening MS excel file (Winamp and outlook was running parallely),before anything works out, the power supply went out and the computer was shut down. when the power supply was back, the computer would not restart(the WINDOWS XP LOGO at startup would come but the windows wouldn't load). I tried to run it on safe mode, but then also it wouldn't run. Later i dismantled the harddisk(MAXTOR6EO40LO, 40 GB) and attached it to another computer and after running error check from that computer, i was able to run the system once again. But the problem is the files at partition E: wouldnot open. (I have three partitions C:. D: and E:). I tried to check errors on that partition, and when the error checking was completed (The messages displayed during that was kind of: Indexing file 26707; Recovering orphaned file.....) the computer wouldnot restart again.(Same problem as before). This time again, i dismantled the hard disk and was able to run back the system, but still couldn't recover my files from the E:. All my works of office are in that partition and most of files are very important to me. I don't know the way to recover my files, So if you have any idea of recovering my files, CAN YOU PLEASE HELP??? Any help will be highly appriciated
Nirman

i too had a problem like that, however, due to malware attack and on a separate physical drive. A computer geek gave me this idea which worked wonders. I installed partition magic version 8 within the system partition (XP pro) with which was able to transfer all the data-files to the undamaged partition. Another good approach would be install a recent Linux distro in partition D: (i assume you are willing to sacrifice the D:) , mount the current E: and transfer files to C: or any external storage device like external hard drives or flash memories. Good luck.

I don't have partition magic 8 but the 7 version. will that work????any idea?? and where can i find Linux Distro..is it downloadable or available thru vendors???

nirman,
i am not sure whethe rpartion magic 7 supports NTFS and kind of "non-destructive" partitions etc. i had used PM8 and it helped me out. I am also suggesting the Linux distributions in the hope that the file allocation tables not understood by windows XP might be understood by Linux. But most of them don't support NTFS which is the default in WinXP. Most of them are freely downloadable- check
www.distrowatch.com
you might want to try the ones of the "Live CD" genre, but with NTFS support so that you dont have to install anything in your computer, otherwise go for some distribution that supports NTFS and sacrifice your D: for it.

Still, i would recommend partition magic for the first attempt. Best of luck!

Just dig out your restore CDs and reformat your computer.

THen install MS Office.

Remember to back-up all your files before reformatting. Reformatting will delete all the files in the computer.

Thnx username...One more qs...Can the System restore function be any help...i m just not sure and haven't used that option...
and U day I don't have problem with the MS office....None of my files (.mp3s,.doc,. dwg) are opening in that partition..I think u misunderstood my problem!!!

I see no point that system not recognizing partition, when it was working well before system has crashed. Did you attempt to run CHKDSK? if not try to run it and do not abort the operation unless system hangs. Recovering Orphand file means system is trying to recover file from corrupt cluster but somehow it couldn't complete. Again I suggest you to plug harddrive in another computer and try to run CHKDSK from there. As username has suggested if you have NTFS partition in E: you should plug your drive to the system that can recognize NTFS partition.

I hope it would work..If not and if you really need to get access to ur files I suggest u to try Data recovery software.

Hey Pisces,
In that drive I can see all the icons of the files but whenever i try to open any of the file, the system just hang up..
Well i tried to run CHKDSK but as i said earlier the system returns back to same old problem...ie
I tried to check errors on that partition, and when the error checking was completed (The messages displayed during that was kind of: Indexing file 26707; Recovering orphaned file.....) the computer wouldnot restart again. (Same old problem)
Well I tried it from another computer also but another computer couldn't complete that too...and another computer doesn't recognize the partition too...well i don't know...but I am all pissed...I am trying to run the Partition Magic 7.0 hope that would work( I ll let u know abt that).. I just hope if anybody can suggest me...
HELP
Nirman

Hi,

Since you can see the icons in the damaged partition, i guess the allocation table / inode table is intact. What about trying the following things :

-1) Try to read the files from the command prompt instead of windows explorer. Primitive but works sometimes.

0) As Pisces suggested, try data recovery softwares . There are some real good ones in the market now-a-days and they are safe too. (eg. VirtualLab Data Recovery/ Rtools data recovery )

1) Why not give Partition magic 8 a shot? If it does wonders for username, it might for you too. If you don't have it, get it. P2P file sharing softwares are not just for downloading illegal music :-)

2) If (-1) , (0) and (1) don't work, it's time to depend upon out-of-band means. Try various tools that comes with ultimate boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) . It's good to clone the hard disk first so that u can experiment with it freely.

3) This is something I wud have done in the beginning but I guess you don't have a linux (with 2.6 kernel ) installed in your PC. If u don't want to install linux in your HD, just get "Knoppix(http://www.knoppix.org/)" (make sure to get the latest version 'coz it has the 2.6 kernel that recognizes NTFS partition; if the damaged parition is FAT, any older release will do) , burn it in a CD and boot using it. It should be able to read the data off the partition.

4) Usually the hard disk vendors provide data recovery services. You can send them the hard disk and they will recover all the data for you. It's really expensive though. Apart from that,some local computer stores also provide that kind of services for a reasonable price.

Well, hope something works out for you. Good luck!

arch119

oh! I didn't know about the problem.
If the additional partition is not recognised, format the diive (E:) from window explorer. If you want to recover the files from the drive, Try runing the computer on DOS and then go to E:. I'm not sure if it will allow you to that. If you are able to do that, copy the files to another drive. Then, restart on Windows XP.

Nirman, mail the Hard drive to me with a prepaid postage. I will fix it and send it Up Yours, I mean UPS. If you don' tget it by UPS, then consider that UPs guy is screwing FedEx Lady.

Nirman,
Mail the Hard drive to me with a prepaid postage. I will fix it and send it Up Yours, I mean UPS. If you don' tget it by UPS, then consider that UPs guy is screwing FedEx Lady.

Nirman man, that problem is way to complicated for sajhaities, one simple place, go to
- www.annoyances.org click on WINDOWX Xp and search for same problems or post a problem, i bet the help would be easier and quicker than you expect from sajha!

You could also try www.pcguide.com and post your problem in related forum.

Seems like you partition has some severe poroblem with clustering, if you dont want to poke your eye with a sharp stick then find some one who has a linux and know how to use it, he would be able to get your files and burn it into a CD. If you want to to do it yourself get KNOPPIX its a fav recovery tool of we the linux admins http://www.knoppix.net/. I could have done this for you if i had any test linux server, but my last test linux went commercial a month ago.

a few more suggestions
-regarding ionodes, windows displays icons based on the filename, so if you create a blank file (lets say abc.txt) and rename it, say abc.doc, it immediately switches from text-icon to MSword-icon. my guess is that there is something crap going on with the ionodes and/or file allocation tables.
-regarding linux distributions, there are tons of "live linux" distros, which means the operating system can be run live from the CDs and it doesnot touch the hard-drive. my fav used to be PCOSLinux (go to distrowatch.com) but i am skeptical about whether it supports the NTFS native to WinXP.
-from what Nirman describes, i believe, he has a lot of important files in the E: and he requires to recover them. therefore, i guess, it would be suicidal to use any software that tend to "write" anything on that partition. you should be using only those wares that ony try to "read" from the partition.
-as i suggested earlier, Partition Magic is a viable option.

*****Also, there are lots of free "deleted file recovery software", which are used to recover files that were permanently deleted from the hard drive (such as pressing "shift key" while deleting or deleting from the recycle bin). do a google and you will find dozens of them.

however, you should note that you should install those software in a different partition than that you intend to recover files from and you should care that you assign a different partition to save the recovered files, for example, you can install that program in C:, and tell it to recover in the files from E: to a folder say C:\recoverE\. As long as you take note of this, you can try these software safely, in the sense that they wont worsen your condition. They will only try to READ and not write in your partition. Also, Partition Magic or "Live" linux are also safe, but if you go for installing linux or anything with no prior expertise, a slight misunderstanding could format the partition as a whole.

Good luck again.

Run a win98 boot disk, in the command prompt copy over files from e to c drives.
Once you copy your important personal files, think about redoing your machine.

I tried the partition magic 7.0 (as 8.0 was not available in market) but it wouldn't recognize the drive...later I tried to recover it with Easy recovery( professional edition) but that won't do the work too..and lost at last, I tried to format the drive But it wouldn't get formattted (lest the drive now resulted in the RAW file system) ...Is there any chance that only partition get severely damaged not to be recovered again??? I don't have any idea right now....
BLANK AND DEEPLY in need of HELP
Nirman