NTFS HD Disaster, any HD restore software suggestions?

[SatStorm]

OK, it is the first time which happens to me, but I know that it is usual...

I got a PATA Seagate 160GB last week, and install it to my w2k based PC.
It is the 3rd HD of this PC and I use it for storage. So, I install it as slave to my Pioneer 105 DVD-R.

While I was doing some mpeg 2 cutting with mpeg2vcr, suddently I saw that the directory I was working was empty. Access to the rest folders wasn't impossible and I understood that something happened. After rebooting, this HD (which is untouch after the disaster) is not accessable (when I try to browse it, w2k informs that this disc is not formated and if I wish to format it.

From what I know, somehow, someway, a file I was copying to this HD accidently delete a system file of this HD so now w2k can understand it. I also read that this happens with HDs and NTFS in general and that there are software solutions there to restore disasters like those.

I did a google search and indeed there are plenty software about restoring data.

My question is:
In that HD I only had Mpeg 2 files. Only. About 830 files. (My videoclip collection, a 6 months work...)

Which data restore software you suggest me to restore this HD? In a logical price about 40$

Thanks in advance

[jeex]

http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/

it isnt within your price range, but its always saved my ass.

[gmatov]

First thing I would try is Norton Disk Doctor.

I lost a 160 gig Maxtor somehow, could only see 1 partition of 8 gigs, was ready to fdisk and format, ran Norton for some other reason, and, lo and behold, it told me I had a messed up boot record, do I want to repair?

Yes, and it was all back to normal, though I did lose one DVD rip, as a check file. Still there, but useless for video. The other 100 + gigs are there.

No harm in trying. And, if you already have it, no extra money spent.

Cheers,

George

[Bjs]

Do a search for Drive Rescue , its saved me alot , and its free .

The creators contact mail : alexander_grau@web.de
might be worth a try .

If you cannot locate this program online , contact me and well arange a time online when you can grab it from me .

[stiltman]

http://www.restorer2000.com/

[SatStorm]

First of all let me thank you all for your suggestions

Unfortunatelly I was able to recover only 50 files out of the 830. All programs saw only those files and nothing more
And, after that, the HD is totally dead (can't boot, noises, etc...)

A 2 week old HD died and took with it 6 months of my life!

I need a drink.....

Just to add, that there is a good freeware tool to recover deleted files, called Restoration (currently it has version 2.5.14).
Pretty small also (~400kb).

[gmatov]

6 months of your life on a 2 week old drive? Man, you live fast.

Where did you find "Restoration"? I have searched for restore programs and that one didn't come up anywhere.

Sorry about your loss. I have been there, with proprietary , WD, Max setup disks Odd interpretations of drive parameters, other formats can't access them when they fail.

Ah, well, we live and learn. Backup to RW? Better than losing 6 months.

Cheers,

George

[SatStorm]

I used that new HD for storage, so I was copying there my projects from all my other discs / PCs, so to get them in order and burn them on DVD-Rs.

~90GB of 830 videoclips from ~90 VHS / SVHS tapes I was converting the last 6 months...

I was in the final stage before the actual authoring and burning to DVD-Rs. My projects was music videos (many rare...) and I had found the year of their release, titles and artists of the songs, on some of them I used heavy filtering, others was tricky to grabb (old tapes)... Just don't ask... For about 6 months each day for about 2 hours I worked for that project (beyond capturing / encoding, that was while I was at work, one PC automaticly captured the other encode last days capture with filtering). I have a dedicated PC just for capture.
And the irony is that I got that ******* HD for Back Up....
Today, they replaced my HDs (after 1 hour of testing it themselfs...) with a new one. From what I learned, the parallel ATA discs beyond 120GB are not suggested for w2k...

If you type "download restoration 2.5.14" on google you gonna find it on plenty sites.

[gmatov]

That IS ironic. I just bought a 120 gig WD USB external for backup, clear some stuff off the other drives for room.

Think I will give it a month or so before I depend on ot.

I tell everybody to enable S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS. It will catch a failing disk and tell you to "Backup and Replace". Took one back to the store after restarting comp after about 5 cooldowns to salvage my data, would run maybe 15 minutes before got too hot, locked up.

At the store, they said Bullshit, went to workbench, came out shaking heads, "I never saw that before, SMART says disk is no good!" Replaced it, no argument.

It's supposed to make a little hit on performance, maybe 1 %. I can live with that.

I know you said no warning, so, maybe, it wouldn't have helped you, but the next one it might.

End of sermon. Just think it's fanfuckintastic that the tech is there and incorporated.

Cheers,

George