Looking for free partition recovery software.

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TwoSeven

1623 posts

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#139444 9-Feb-2014 18:56

Hi Folks,

I'm just wondering if anyone knows of some free software that will recover a deleted partition (scan the files and recover them). I deleted an NTFS partition on Win 8 messing around and need to pull some data back (it has not been formatted).

Most of the ones that come up in a google search seem to be of the kind - scan the files but pay us money to recover them.

Regards.

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Gilco2

1556 posts

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#982875 9-Feb-2014 19:22

I have used "Test Disk" with excellent results in the past. Havent tried on Windows 8 though. Successfully recovered partitions and files all intact

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KevinL

656 posts

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#982901 9-Feb-2014 20:00

+1 Testdisk. Shouldn't need anything else.

TwoSeven

1623 posts

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#982949 9-Feb-2014 20:52

Thanks - will give it a go tomorrow.

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xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#983196 10-Feb-2014 10:20

Have had success with Recuva from Piriform.com

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TwoSeven

1623 posts

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#983611 10-Feb-2014 20:06

I tried the free version of Recurva but it just appeared to only support undelete of files - not recovery of partitions.

Test Disk detected the issue and was able to find the partition but was unable to recover the files - I am unsure if I need to create a new partition record or not (doesn't say in the documentation).

The issue is that Windows (8) decided that for some reason there were 2 partitions on the drive - one marked D: contained 200MB free space and the other E: contained data. When I deleted the D partition so as to expand E, it removed both partitions.

When I scan the drive, Test Disk can see both partitions and lets me select the second, but it cannot get the files back.

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KevinL

656 posts

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#983614 10-Feb-2014 20:09

You should be able to write a new partition structure.

The step by step might be useful: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#983630 10-Feb-2014 20:21

the partition I recovered with test disk I just chose write new partition record and all went well. I wasnt too worried as it wasnt end of the world if it went wrong.

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TwoSeven

1623 posts

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#983681 10-Feb-2014 21:17

I am getting a warning - number of cylinder heads mismatches 240 (NTFS) != 255 (HD)

When it is finished the deep scan will see what creating a new partition. If I just press P at the end of the deeper scan with the partition I know the data is on, I just get an error - cant list files.

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TwoSeven

1623 posts

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#987208 14-Feb-2014 12:07

Just an update - I solved the issue using a product called EaseUS Data Recovery. It was a free download to do the scan but I had to pay for a license to get the data (the free version only allowed 2GB).

The app was simple to use - just pointed it at the drive, did a scan, selected all files, clicked recover and chose a destination for them to be saved.

It has appeared to have pulled back all of the data (I have only checked a bit) but I did need a drive with double the capacity of the target to save the data on.

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Lias

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#987258 14-Feb-2014 13:27

FWIW I've had very good experiences with R-Studio (http://www.r-studio.com/)

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