[sb335is]

K i've got a 250gb hdd

my windows took a shit so i nuked it. previously it was partitioned into a C and E and the E was 40gb

So now all the sudden i reformat and fresh install 7 (after it showed up on my setup) and now i click on my computer and my HDD is gone!

and its all one hard drive just partitioned so WTF how can it disappear and

HOW DO I GET IT BACK!?!?!'

[radix]

You're saying that your E: drive disappeared? If it doesn't show up in the disk's partition table, it's possible that you may be able to repartition the drive and recover the data if:


1. You knew the exact cylinder boundary that the partition started on.
2. No data has been written over the tracks/sectors past that cylinder boundary.

I've done this before, so I know it can be done. However, the second point is the real gotcha. If you did a quick reformat then you might have a prayer, otherwise you're data is gone. Still, if you've filled the drive anywhere near capacity you might still be screwed. Even worse, you may be screwed even if you haven't.

The reason is due to some OSes taking an advantage of an effect called constant angular velocity when installing data on disk. The disk spins as a constant rate, so data is read faster at the outside edge of the platter because the outside of the disk has a higher absolute velocity than the inner edge of the platter. Due to this, some operating systems place frequently used data on the outside edge of the disk, so that it may be accessed faster during a boot for example. If windows 7 does this, there's a chance that the data in your former E: partition has already been overwritten, at least in part.

I'm afraid that you might have to resort to some sort of forensic disk recovery tool at this point, or pay to have the data professionally recovered.

[sb335is]

The E drive never had anything on it and it was completely empty. I formatted it before because I had a gig or two of misc data on it.

fffffuuuuuuu i just want my space back haha thanks for the reply

[radix]

Originally Posted by twoturboz

The E drive never had anything on it and it was completely empty. I formatted it before because I had a gig or two of misc data on it.

fffffuuuuuuu i just want my space back haha thanks for the reply

Just shrink C:, then create an E: partition. I don't know how to do this in Windows 7, but it wasn't hard in XP Pro.

[Feyd]

I remember the good old days of partitioning a HDDs in DOS... But I've been on Macs nearly 100% since winXP so I'm afraid I can't help.

All I can offer is that if you do go and repartition the drive think hard about whether 40gb enough for your porn collection. I personally have a 500gb Time Capsule that (minus the backups) is nearly full of pr0nz. Not sure what I ever plan to do with it. I guess I just collect. LOL.

[TotalPower]

I used to use partition magic....the windows way of doing it is never good unless you know your DOS comands and /u .

Just buy 2 hard drives, use one for wanking and one for working.

[pmeloche]

I still use PartitionMagic. Simple yet powerful tool, hence not from Microsoft.

[Chewy734]

If it's really important stuff you lost, that you also didn't back up, and you really really need it back, I suggest taking it out and calling drivesavers.com (as a last resort).

[fai]

type compmgmt.msc on the run command
go to Disk Management and check if it shows there