1 Topic by needhelp (edited by needhelp 2007-07-10 22:37:57)

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Topic: [SOLVED] recovering old partition after delete using gparted

Ok this is going to sound stupid but here goes...

I got a new comp and wanted to scratch the default OS on it (vista) and setup a dual boot with xp and ubuntu. To do this, I deleted the existing partitions (weirdly there were two partitions by default 1 major one and 1 smaller 10gb one that had the label "recovery" -- i ignored this since I was doing a scratch install anyways, turns out this was a bad idea). Anyways, turns out the drivers for some of my devices were located in this "recovery" partition and I need them to get xp working, especially the sata drivers (*sign* - if wish I could just use ubuntu but alas I need xp for work purposes).

And so instead of trying to get a hold of these drivers that my provider (gateway) didn't provide on a cd, I was wondering if I can recover the partition after having deleted it and created a larger ntfs partition on top of it (i believe the older partition was also ntfs). Since I have not installed a new OS to that partition nor have done any "nuke'em" procedures that clear the data, I was hoping that recovery might be possible and easier than calling up gateway and waiting thru their customer support. I'd appreciate it, if someone could even point me to recovery softwares that might do something like this.

Let me know if you need any more information, I have a feeling this might not have come across as clearly as possible.

Thanks,

- Joe

2 Reply by class413

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Re: [SOLVED] recovering old partition after delete using gparted

A good idea is to always backup the M.B.R. before any partition changes. Anyway, a good (open source) tool is the TestDisk. I didn't use it till now, but I heard good thinks about:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

But, in any case, I think it would be possible to find xp drivers if recovery fails.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by needhelp

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Re: [SOLVED] recovering old partition after delete using gparted

Ok i'll give this a try. Also, I'm not too familiar with backing up MBR, how exactly would i do that (for future reference ofcourse... its too late now sad )
Thanks.
- Joe

4 Reply by needhelp

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Re: [SOLVED] recovering old partition after delete using gparted

Just ran the testdisk and wow it worked great! I was able to get the data and everything back. So no need to go searching for the drivers. Thanks class413 for your help!.
- Joe

5 Reply by class413

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Re: [SOLVED] recovering old partition after delete using gparted

...for future reference...

It is rather easy to backup MBR from Linux command line. There are w!n programs too (even free), that do the job.
There is a link about MBR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

As you have your system working, it's now time to practice about data safety!

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***