richard@exocet.mentec.ie (Richard Rooney) (03/17/91)
Does anyone know an effective way of recovering from an FDISK disaster -
I "Fdisked" the wrong device !
I know PC-Tools and the Norton Utilities will recover DELETED
files but can they be used in my situation ?
I need to restore 2/3 un-backed-up directories.
mhr@mendip.UUCP (MHR {who?}) (03/20/91)
In <2697.27e2ce06@exocet.mentec.ie>, richard@exocet.mentec.ie writes: > > > Does anyone know an effective way of recovering from an FDISK disaster - > I "Fdisked" the wrong device ! > I know PC-Tools and the Norton Utilities will recover DELETED > files but can they be used in my situation ? > I need to restore 2/3 un-backed-up directories. > > I usually consider myself much of an expert on PCs and DOS systems, but here I am in unfamiliar territory, so proceed with caution. I've never actually tried this, but I doubt it can hurt any worse than what you already did. Basically, FDISK under most MS-DOS versions doesn't actually do anything except rewrite the partition table on your disk. While this is extremely dangerous, it _should_ leave the actual disk contents alone. So, the first move would be to re-FDISK the disk and reset the partitions back to where they were. In case I'm wrong about how much actual damage FDISK does, even if the FAT's of your partitions have been destroyed (which is what FORMAT does, not FDISK, as far as I know), you should be able to recover most of your small or contiguous files using either PC-TOOLS or Norton. If you're using DR-DOS, I think you're lost because their FDISK also formats the partition, clobbering the FAT and (I think) the file data as well. Also, the Compaq version of FORMAT actually rewrites every sector in the file system being formatted, thus also wiping out your data (now _that_ I have done, much to my regret - lost two months of work because my backup also failed to restore - different versions or something). The only other way would be to go buy a book which talks about these particular subjects (I don't know the names of any, sorry) and do it by hand with a sector editor (a la PC Tools, among others). Good luck! Make sure you check with a true expert on FDISK before doing what I suggested - you may regret it if you don't. -- Mark A. Hull-Richter UUCP: ccicpg!mhr In all things, restraint, ICL North America especially with respect 9801 Muirlands Blvd to posting articles and Irvine, CA 92713 (714)458-7282x4539 doubly so for flames.
oneel@heawk1.rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov ( Bruce Oneel ) (03/20/91)
A columnist for Micro Conocopia (Misspelled, but my eyes tear up when I think that it isn't published anymore) had a problem where a new piece of necessary software trashed the partition table. What he basically did was write a program to copy it to a file, and the copy it from a file back to the disk. That way he could just reboot off of a floppy and copy the partition table back in place, reboot, and continue. He had no problems with this, and on simtel20 try PD1:<MSDOS.MICROCORN>. To solve your problem though, you probably should be able to just re fdisk the disk. Hope you had good backups. bruce -- | Bruce O'Neel | internet : oneel@heasfs.gsfc.nasa.gov| | Code 664/STX | span : lheavx::oneel | | NASA/GSFC |compuserve: 72737,1315 | | Greenbelt MD 20771 | AT&Tnet : (301)-286-1119 |
cdb@waikato.ac.nz (Craig D. Beere) (03/21/91)
I don;t know how you can recover from FDisk now, but I can suggest how you can recover from it if you prepare beforehand... PC Tools: 1. Run MIRROR/PARTN to save your partition info to a floppy disk. You can get this back with RESTORE/PARTN. 2. Run MIRRIR heaps (like in you AUTOEXEC.BAT, your MENU.BAT, ...) to save the status of the root directory, both FATs and the Boot area of the disk. THis makes it heaps easier to recover from something drastic. Norton Utilities has the same tools, I can't think of their names just now. /******************************************************************************* ** Craig D. Beere (a.k.a. ++Byron) ** cdb@waikato.ac.nz */ #include <standard_disclaimer> #include <witty_quote>
bking@nro.cs.athabascau.ca (Barry King) (03/21/91)
mhr@mendip.UUCP (MHR {who?}) writes: > In <2697.27e2ce06@exocet.mentec.ie>, richard@exocet.mentec.ie writes: > > > > > > Does anyone know an effective way of recovering from an FDISK disaster - > > I "Fdisked" the wrong device ! > > I know PC-Tools and the Norton Utilities will recover DELETED > > files but can they be used in my situation ? > > I need to restore 2/3 un-backed-up directories. > > > > > I usually consider myself much of an expert on PCs and DOS systems, but > here I am in unfamiliar territory, so proceed with caution. > > I've never actually tried this, but I doubt it can hurt any worse than > what you already did. Basically, FDISK under most MS-DOS versions > doesn't actually do anything except rewrite the partition table on your > disk. While this is extremely dangerous, it _should_ leave the actual > disk contents alone. So, the first move would be to re-FDISK the disk > and reset the partitions back to where they were. > > In case I'm wrong about how much actual damage FDISK does, even if the > FAT's of your partitions have been destroyed (which is what FORMAT does, > not FDISK, as far as I know), you should be able to recover most of your > small or contiguous files using either PC-TOOLS or Norton. > > If you're using DR-DOS, I think you're lost because their FDISK also > formats the partition, clobbering the FAT and (I think) the file data as > well. Also, the Compaq version of FORMAT actually rewrites every sector > in the file system being formatted, thus also wiping out your data (now > _that_ I have done, much to my regret - lost two months of work because > my backup also failed to restore - different versions or something). > > The only other way would be to go buy a book which talks about these > particular subjects (I don't know the names of any, sorry) and do it by > hand with a sector editor (a la PC Tools, among others). > > Good luck! Make sure you check with a true expert on FDISK before doing > what I suggested - you may regret it if you don't. > > -- > Mark A. Hull-Richter UUCP: ccicpg!mhr In all things, restraint, I've succesfully done what Mark describesut be careful - some 'sector' editors will write out a cluster at a time even though you may only be editing what appears to be a sector. I trashed part of the FAT once when I thought I was only changing the boot record. I think Norton will handle this correctly but proceed with caution or you may end up having to patch the lost directories back into existence by hand...it works but it is _very_ tedious... Barry King ersys!bking@nro.cs.athabascau.ca Edmonton Remote Systems: Serving Northern Alberta since 1982
hanke@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch (Norbert Hanke) (03/21/91)
NDD (Norton Disk Doctor) out of Norton Utilities V4.5 (I don't know about V5.0) will do the job for you, automatically. I did it twice with clobbered partition tables, both times with no loss of any data previously stored on the disks. Norbert Hanke ETH Zurich, Switzerland