My data is all gone

[motorollin]

Only one word can sum up how I feel at the moment, and I think it will be censored. But I'll try anyway.

BOLLOCKS.

In the process of trying to get my 4-way IDE interface working, Elbox have suggested that the problem was caused by the RDB of my hard drive. So I plugged in another hard drive, installed and partitioned it, and copied all my data over.

I then rebooted to the backed up data, ran HDToolBox and reinstalled the RDB on my main drive. I then recreated the partitions and rebooted, planning to boot up to the backup drive again, and copy the data back over.

I rebooted, and the machine hung. Wouldn't boot. Powered off and back on again, floppy started clicking, hard drive light flashed, then the power light started flashing on and off, and the machine hung.

I then decided my first priority was to make sure my data was ok on the backup drive. So I reconnected my CD-ROM and booted to an OS3.9 Emergency Disk. No partitions showing on Workbench. If I run Setpatch from the CLI so I can see it's output, I see an error something like "Failed to activate BD1:" (the second partition on the backup drive).

Is my data gone forever?  :-?

--
moto

[amigaoneproductions]

If you can get the RDB back to the way it used to be,  you should be able to then read the data,  failing that I would try QuaterbackTools, or in fact any data recovery tool that is able to read from a quickformatted drive (which is basically what you have as far as data recovery is concerned)

All is not lost,  it depends on how much work you are willing to do

[motorollin]

So you're saying that if I put the RDB back how it was on the original drive, it would be as if I had never formatted it? How do I do that?

--
moto

[doctorq]

Download RDBRecov from Aminet, and follow the docs. Most likely it will bring your data back.

[motorollin]

I did reinstall it and created FFS partitions (I didn't have SmartFileSystem handy and just wanted to get it working). I also quick formatted the FFS partitions. Does this destroy any data? Can it still find SFS partitions if FFS ones have been created?

--
moto

[doctorq]

Nope, your data is gone for good I'm afraid.

[motorollin]

Why :cry:

--
moto

[doctorq]

Because the RDB is overwritten with the new information you installed. Until you formatted the new partitions your data was still there, but as you formatted, everything got screwed up.

It's a pain, went through the same myself, but I managed to solve the problem; took me over a week to get everything up and running. I'm guessing you have no chance, sorry.

[motorollin]

I have a backup of the system partition on a Zip disk, so at least I don't have to set up all my drivers. And I have just found an ABackup image of my other partition dated 31 December 05. The only thing that has changed is I've added some games. So it's not a disaster after all :-)  Just extremely inconvenient.

Thanks for the replies.

--
moto

[Thomas]

Well, formatting is deadly. Quick format is not as deadly but still critical. I am not sure but I think the RDBRecov manual several times states "DO NOT FORMAT ANYTHING !!!". You should have read it before you started any action.

However, as I see it, you still have the backup on the second HDD. You probably just forgot to install SFS on it. So get the latest SFS archive from wherever it is, unpack it, copy SmartFileSystem to your emergency disk, swap HDDs so that the new drive is in there, boot from the emergency disk, run HDToolbox, select the HDD, go to "Partition drive", go to "Add/Update" and add SmartFileSystem. Save changes, remove the emergency disk and reboot. Should work now.

Regarding your first HDD, it is silly to think that FFS could find anything on a former SFS partition and vice versa. If it could it would do so at once, without formatting. By formatting you tell it there was no useful data on it before, so it throws away everything.

With a little bit luck you could get back your data on the first HDD by just installing SFS on it the same way as with the backup HDD. But I doubt it. By formatting at least the boot block has been destroyed. Perhaps SFSsalv can stil find something.

And next time you start your experiments, you should read the docs of any software you are about to use, *before* you use it. Especially the installation instructions for SFS.

As for your FastATA problems, probably you set up a too high speed in FastATAPrefs. Was the same for me. If I choose PIO5, it won't boot but with PIO4 everything is ok.

Bye,
Thomas

[amigagr]

what softwear you have use at first place to save the rdb of the disk? you know, you don't need any other softwear except HDToolbox, i believe is the safest option. and of course it was a big mistake to install the ffs in a previus sfs disk and to want to save it... from now on, after you setup the disk save the rdb and a mountlist of the partitions from hdtoolbox and with the latest sfs save them in every possible place just in case... (i have both the setups of 1200 and 3000 in every partition of both the amigas plus cdroms and emergency disks...) http://strohmayer.org/sfs/files/SFS_1.247.lha

[minator]

Can RDBRecov work from UAE in Windows?

[amigagr]

in theory if you use a hardfile or an amiga formated disk with uae it will work

[Thomas]

minator wrote:
Can RDBRecov work from UAE in Windows?

It does not find FAT32 or NTFS partitions on a PC drive if you mean that. But it can find Amiga partitions on an Amiga HDD connected to the PC. And it can find Amiga partitions on a partitioned HDF.

Bye,
Thomas

[ncafferkey]

Unless I've missed something, shouldn't you be able to boot from your back-up drive again if you disconnect the main drive (and maybe the CDROM too)? You've already booted from it, and you didn't change the partitions on it since then.

Also, AFAIK a quick format only writes to a small number of blocks, so most of the data should still be intact on the main drive. The question though is whether the available recovery tools are able to find old partitions in these circumstances.