Storage forum: Lost and Found. Or the Storage Forum Sticky,

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7588_102-0.html?messageID=3079868&tag=forums06;posts#3079868 and our member "DeadLacie" wrote this after a suggestion to try a LiveCD:

"Windows Skipped - SOLUTION FOUND - THANKS!
by DeadLacie - 7/13/09 6:28 PM In reply to: I'd skip Windows for this. by R. Proffitt Moderator

Thanks R. Proffitt. Your suggestion was taken and a correct one at that. I used Ubuntu and was able to access the RAW partition with ease.

I wanted to add this to my posting in hopes that it will help someone else in the same position as I was. Here is what I did to retrieve my data. Note that in my case the drive was functioning but that I just could not access the RAW partition of the drive.

1. Attach target drive to machine. In my case a 500mb Seagate SATA drive.
2. Download ISO image of UBUNTU Desktop edition. It's open source and free (and cool).
3. Burn ISO to 80 minute CDR.
4. Set computer to boot from CDROM.
5. Boot from the Ubuntu CD and select to boot without installing the OS.
6. Once Ubuntu loads you will have access to all the drives on your system. At least, in my case I had access to NTFS WinXP drives and the target Seagate drive that was Linux.
7. Open the partition and copy all your files from that partition to one of your NTFS drives/partitions. NOTE that you will have to have enough space on your other drive(s) to copy everything over.

That was it. I now have all my data on my NTFS drives.
Thanks for the others who communicated on this thread."

Thank you DeadLacie. You made it sound simple!
Bob

Message was edited by: admin to edit word

This post is mostly for missing drive letters and not corrupt drives. For this to apply your USB stick or drive works fine in other machines. That is, all machines but yours.

Here's your articles:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925196

If you need to known more read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816071 where MSFT names names of companies that install filter drivers that cause drives to vanish.
Bob

http://www.pandorarecovery.com/

Not tried it myself, but I've seen good review posts about it by members comicfan and richvball44 as told in the forum discussion here;

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6138_102-504854.html

Extract;

"Of all the free or some paid for recovery tools I've used, I am most impressed by this one. The files were not just recovered to a point, they actually worked, music, documents, pictures, all in perfect condition. Normally I scoff at most free recovery tools, not this time. So yes, it's more than my opinion, I have proof it works, sitting in my recovery folder."

Mark

Edward O'Daniel posted a nice list recently. I'm glad to copy it here.

If the drive is damaged Geek Squad will not be able to get the data recovered. They are limited to the same software that you can obtain to try it yourself.

Look around on Ontrack's site as they do offer recovery software but more importantly they point out when to try software and when only a clean room recovery will work
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/file-recovery-software/

Avanquest has a couple of file recovery utilities:
Data Recovery Professional$39.95
Smart Data Recovery$49.95

Easus for partition recovery -
http://www.easeus.com/landing/data-recovery-wizard.htm

Active@ recovery software -
http://www.partition-recovery.com/products.htm

DiskInternals -
http://www.diskinternals.com/partition-recovery/

There are also several free file recovery utilities such as Pandors, Recuva, and some more here -
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/datarecovery.shtml

Now and IMPORTANT caveat! If the data is valuable but you first want to try for yourself I STRONGLY advise that you clone the damaged drive to another drive and work on the clone so the original doesn't risk further damage.

Link -> http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29

CNET Download.com Link -> http://download.cnet.com/Roadkil-s-Unstoppable-Copier/3000-2242_4-10580640.html

"Publisher's Description From Roadkil:

Recovers files from disks with physical damage. Allows you to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data. The program will attempt to recover every readable piece of a file and put the pieces together. Using this method most types of files can be made usable even if some parts were not recoverable in the end."

The link should provide some help to basic HD problems to include recovery or simple boots. Be warned, attempts to save data may produce the final breakdown or not, it all depends. Let's hope the outcome is in your favor.

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/200-ways-to-revive-a-hard-drive/

You can also use the Hiren CD in order to attempt repairs on various PC problems or issues. good luck -----Willy