Sucks to be me

[TomInPA]

Sometimes when you nuke something, all you have done is to over-write the index files. A pro can recover it. The more you mess with it and overwrite the actual data, the less likely it is that recovering the file allocation tables will recover data. Seriously, if this stuff is important to you, take it to a pro. You might be amazed how much data resides on the disk that you can't see without a data recover and undelete utility.

 

[dcarver]

Sometimes when you nuke something, all you have done is to over-write the index files. A pro can recover it. The more you mess with it and overwrite the actual data, the less likely it is that recovering the file allocation tables will recover data. Seriously, if this stuff is important to you, take it to a pro. You might be amazed how much data resides on the disk that you can't see without a data recover and undelete utility.

I hear yah and understand the entire pix.

At work we use a recovery center in Santa Barbara - and the initial cost is $750.

..too much for me.

..and this was a Raid5 array - significantly complicating the issue since all the data is spread across various drives.

it's just a SAD lesson learned.

Thanks for your input Tom - I think this post might read harsh, but I hope it does not.

This has been one heck of a day.

..did I mention the dog just got skunked and now the whole house smells like **** and my eyes are burning?

 

[SkooterG]

Stupid hurts. In more ways than one. Something I know all too well.

I never back anything up. Never had a problem.

 

[airboss]

What's a hard drive? :huh:

Makes ya hate technology. Never would have done that with a hard copy. :blink:

I feel your pain.... some how.

Oh Yeah, just ask Ollie North and Fawn Hall 'bout that.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Stupid hurts. In more ways than one. Something I know all too well.

I never back anything up. Never had a problem.

HOLY CRAP

Are you friggin nuts?

If I said that I'd be condemning my hard drive to die the next day!

 

[ionbeam]

Sometimes when you nuke something, all you have done is to over-write the index files. A pro can recover it. The more you mess with it and overwrite the actual data, the less likely it is that recovering the file allocation tables will recover data. Seriously, if this stuff is important to you, take it to a pro. You might be amazed how much data resides on the disk that you can't see without a data recover and undelete utility.

Indeed, good advice here. Even when something is 'deleted' and not visible it still remains on the HD. The one thing you don't want to do right now is to load, copy or move anything on the drive or you may write over the invisible files. While a pro is expensive they are effective and can recover most of your life for you. Take a chill pill and when you have cooled down a bit reconsider your recovery plan.

 

[Bungie]

I knows that pain.

I've been programming professionally for about 20 years, and before that 10 years learning stuff during the 80's. So one would think I would no better. Nuh uh. I was migrating a huge lab database with 9.5M row of data, Access based! being used by 30+ users concurrently over to MSSQL. They wanted to keep the Access front end until a web based front end could be written. After 5 weeks of work my desktop got corrupted this happened at about 9am on a Monday morning.

It's been ages since I've done this procedure, so I rebuilt my profile. Without backing up the contents of 'My Documents'

... POOF! gone!

Turns out the backup set was gorfed.

Tried to undelete and got most of everything back, EXCEPT the rewritten Access front end.

 

[SkooterG]

I knows that pain.

I've been programming professionally for about 20 years, and before that 10 years learning stuff during the 80's. So one would think I would no better. Nuh uh. I was migrating a huge lab database with 9.5M row of data, Access based! being used by 30+ users concurrently over to MSSQL. They wanted to keep the Access front end until a web based front end could be written. After 5 weeks of work my desktop got corrupted this happened at about 9am on a Monday morning.

It's been ages since I've done this procedure, so I rebuilt my profile. Without backing up the contents of 'My Documents'

... POOF! gone!

Turns out the backup set was gorfed.

Tried to undelete and got most of everything back, EXCEPT the rewritten Access front end.

Blah,blah, blah! Damnit! This is North America, speak ENGLISH!!!

 

[wfooshee]

. . . got most of everything back, EXCEPT the rewritten Access front end.

Well, that'll re-prioritize development of the web interface, won't it?? :blink:

*** ignoring Skooter's pleas for English ***

It's bad enough when it's your own stuff that vaporizes, but it's especially incredibly bad when it's someone else's files and data.

My two (yes, twice!) experiences were first, expanding a RAID 5 array for a customer's Netware server, a very simple process. Add a hotplug drive to the server, run the online utility at the server console, add the drive to the array, create a logical volume using the new space, and when the array expansion is complete, either extend an existing OS volume or create a new one on the new logical volume. Don't even have to power down the server or kick users off! Except at some point in this simple process the existing volume disappeared. Had to reinstall from scratch and restore from tape, so all they lost was that day's work, but it was a long unbillable night.

Second one was worse. . . . Repairing a failed array, two volumes. Two drives in the array had failed so the data was toast, nothing there. Used the System Erase utility to start a new install, not realizing that there was an attached USB drive that was their only backup since all they did was a Windows backup to a disk file to "preserve" their data. (Tape drive was dead, I didn't know that.) Now this customer has no server AND no data. We split the On-Track recovery cost for the external USB drive. and got his stuff, but it was $$$$$.

For carver - Man, all I can say is I feel your pain. Really. I have had it happen to me, so I keep my personal stuff across several places, now. My PC is the "master", but a very large USB drive keeps a copy, and the stuff that isn't security-conscious I keep on my deskop at work, too. That would be pictures and stuff, but no secrets.

At least skunks are not very common in my neck of the woods. . . . .

 

[Bungie]

Blah,blah, blah! Damnit! This is North America, speak ENGLISH!!!

Hey, I feel the same when the Network guys I work with start talking about BGP, routing, rate shaping and ****. I like to interrupt them with something like .. .

"Hey! Look! Theirs a new module for Warcraft!" it's called nerd sniping, and it's a handy skill to have.

 

[MEM]

I never back anything up. Never had a problem.

Uh - oh

 

[yamafitter]

Blah,blah, blah! Damnit! This is North America, speak ENGLISH!!!

Hey, I feel the same when the Network guys I work with start talking about BGP, routing, rate shaping and ****. I like to interrupt them with something like .. .

"Hey! Look! Theirs a new module for Warcraft!" it's called nerd sniping, and it's a handy skill to have.

I shall smite you mightily knave!!!

 

[FatNakedGuy]

What TomInCa says!

 

[BwanaDik]

Sorry to hear it Don, tough to be you. Maybe this will help

 

[BikerGeek99]

Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

While I've lost a personal hard drive here and there over the years, I haven't lost anything truly important. Yet.

Back In The Day, our HP-UX production box coughed up a hard drive here and there, but good-old RAID10 saved us.

Turns out the backup set was gorfed.

Is that a technical term - gorfed?

 

[beemerdons]

When this dcarver thread finally gets translated into English, or even Spanish por favor, would someone kindly PM FJRay, SkootyG and Papa Chuy so we Luddite/Neanderthal's can finally find out what the feck is going on here! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

 

[TomInPA]

Sometimes when you nuke something, all you have done is to over-write the index files. A pro can recover it. The more you mess with it and overwrite the actual data, the less likely it is that recovering the file allocation tables will recover data. Seriously, if this stuff is important to you, take it to a pro. You might be amazed how much data resides on the disk that you can't see without a data recover and undelete utility.

I hear yah and understand the entire pix.

At work we use a recovery center in Santa Barbara - and the initial cost is $750.

..too much for me.

..and this was a Raid5 array - significantly complicating the issue since all the data is spread across various drives.

it's just a SAD lesson learned.

Thanks for your input Tom - I think this post might read harsh, but I hope it does not.

This has been one heck of a day.

..did I mention the dog just got skunked and now the whole house smells like **** and my eyes are burning?

The next door neighbor did a similar thing the other day. He has a RAID array and when installing a new drive, answered Yes to the prompt asking if he wanted to stripe the drive. Believe it or not the file allocation tables were restored at a cost of $150 by the Geeks at Best Buy. Maybe try a cheaper option. As long as you have not done a low level format or started overwriting the drive, your data exists.

 

[Bugnatr]

When this dcarver thread finally gets translated into English, or even Spanish por favor, would someone kindly PM FJRay, SkootyG and Papa Chuy so we Luddite/Neanderthal's can finally find out what the feck is going on here! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

Count me in too, I have no idea what he said BUT if you decide to go the C4 method I'll bring a big bottle of Patron!

 

[Bounce]

1 copy is none

2 copies is 1

3 copies is 2 (one near backup and one off site)