All the files are still on there, but the boot record file index, or whatever it’s called, got erased,
and now Windows thinks the disc is not initiated and need to be formated.
EDIT: Or at least it thought so when I was able to see it, a few months
back…
What I want to do is to restore the disc index and be able to access the files on the disc.
I once had to do this on another disc years ago, but then I had a friend who did all the work.
Unfortunately he’s too busy to help me this time.
The harddrive disc is a 250 GB SATA disc.
I run XP.
Apparently the operation itself shouldn’t be absurdly complicated and there’s supposed to be a freeware
program out there that does this.
(I know it isn’t SpinDisk, but something similar…)
The next thing I want to do is to copy the content to a brand new 500 GB disc. Should I do this directly,
during the recovery process, or should I do it as a second step?
I would prefer to muck about as little as possible with the original 250 GB drive, as the files are
valuable to me…
What program should I use?
If I’m careful and read everything, will I manage this on my own?
Which method is most likely not to result in data loss?
Okay, a little progress has been done, but not with the important
disk.
Nevertheless, I connected the original TDL3 infected disc from my
sister and booted, when the CheckDisk/ScanDisk found it and repaired
and deleted some files. After that it was healthy and could be NTFS
formated as usual from the DiscManager. Now I can rebuild and install
that computer at least.
Freeing the one I’ve lent her…
Don’t know what’s going on with my wiped SATA disc. It’s like it is
not recognised at all. TDL3 might of course be on there, preventing
the boot somehow, but now I do have the WRC installed…
???
When that disc is connected it freezes my boot just when XP is about
to show it’s welcoming screen with the different user accounts.
Just like it did when TDL3 had hit…
Sorry for being a bore. Despite thinking I was properly Backed Up, there
was about a years worth of downloaded films (bought), music and unfortunately
a few of my work files that I had put serious effort into…
Ehrrm, that’s way beond my comp skillz… :-[ I would’nt even know
where to start.
But I agree a CD or DVD boot might be needed here…
I have to use a boot selection screen to manually choose boot disc
ever since the TDL3 struck, and if the “faulty” disc is connected
it does present itself correctly as the Hitachi disc it is.
But it still interferes with the boot somehow, regardless of which
SATA connection it is attached to…
I’ve found my files on the hit disc and I’m reading up on TestDisk
and very reluctantly tries the program out a little, but I don’t
want to f*** someting up at this stage… :-\
The disc is a NTFS one.
What option should I choose in the various menues, and what
exactly is it I want to do?
It wasn’t easy and I had to try many different methods, but now my computer is
back to a similar state as before I got hit with the virus!
I’ve gained some experience and will be fanatically Prussian about Back Ups from
now on!
My rig also got 1 TB new harddrive space. (2 x 500 GB)
Anyway, Thanks guys!
And this is a brilliant forum…
PS: My sisters Vista comp will be thrown away. There was nothing to be done with it.
It might be a genuine motherboard failure and the TDL3 was on there from before,
or the TDL3 induced the motherboard failure, or broke some crucial components.
Maybe I’m just asking for trouble when I try to do this on the
