recovering data from hdd.....help

[MasterMinds]

hi, this is how it happened, last night there was a power failure and my computer was got off directly( without any ups in line) and i couldn't boot into winxp again.
i thought of installing xp again but couldn't find the disc instead i found ubuntu 9.1, i installed it without reading the on-screen instruction and simply clicking next next etc. now it got installed and when i tried mounting the partitions i was shocked to see, there was no partition, ubutu had created an ext partition out of my whole hardisc. now i want to recover the file, most of the files i have a backup but not all.

i have another system with xp on it.
plz guys suggest something.

 

[surinder]

no one?????

 

[CA50]

try recuva, handy data recovery (free ones)

 

[khmadhu]

u could have used live cd feature!..

did u check the partitions.. with this command fdisk -l

i think by default it will use the free space from the disk to install..

 

[surinder]

...........

 

[MasterMinds]

after the installation of ubuntu ony two partitions were left, one was of 230 gb(ext file system and other 2 gb (linux swap) i have 250 gb hardisc.
now using recover my files, it is scanning the disc real slow, lets see what happens.

 

[rhitwick]

Your HDD is converted to EXT3 file system now. Even if you plug it in the other XP system I'm not sure if the softwares like Recuva etc. can recognize it and scan it.

Try Acronis Disk Director....not sure if it will help.

And, why do u think they put those literature b4 the buttons, to read right........I hope from now on you will read'em

 

[MasterMinds]

yes hdd is converted to ext3 and i converted it to ntfs back using windows disc managment and created a 230 gb partition.
acronis disc director was of no use, i tried it.

btw, i stopped the analysis and tried to recover the found files but it wont do that, i think i should forget about the data and proceed with installation of os.

 

[celldweller1591]

default filesystem of ubuntu 9.10 is ext4 ... isnt it???and you have got two partitions one"/" root and other swap. Should have used live session instead !
But you formatted your hdd. You can recover your files, they may be corrupted but not all of them. A fresh install should be kept as the last option.

 

[MasterMinds]

thanks guys for the help u have offered, but now i have opted for fresh installation as recovering process was time consuming.
anyways it was a new experience.