I had an old 40gb hdd that I wanted to install windows on and use on my secondary PC, the problem was for some reason it wasn't working running setup on my old PC. So I plugged the HDD into my primary rig as a slave alongside the 120gb Hdd thats in there, I booted setup and made looked at the list of HDD I knew which one I wanted formatted and windows to be installed on as it was 80gig smaller than my primary one so I select the HDD setup does the format and then a few more steps of setup before rebooting and completing setup windows was installed succsessfully. So I take the 40gb HDD out and start up the primary machine agian. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WEIRD. my primary machine boots into windows xp home intead of windows mce wich it was running before. I wonder how this has happned but figure there probably wasn't any harm done. I go into my computer and the harddrive is detected as 36gb the size of the hdd i formatted and was supposed to install windows on. Not only thatn but all my files are gone. I just hope to god the setup didnt somehow format the wrong drive as this would be a disaster. I have tried using file recovery software which atleast detects the full 114gb but it shows hundreds of folders full of subfolders which would take hours to sort through. is there any way I can get windows to detect the full size of the HDD, if I formatt the disk will it only format the 35gb or the whole thing deleting all my files?

Hi Luke,

Welcome to PCHF. We have a wonderful team of techs here, and I know that we can help you figure this out.

However, this is not my area of expertise, and as you have already stated the files on that drive are important. I want to request my Tech Team Leader to asssit you, he is amazing. Please be patient, as I am not sure what hours he is planning on working this weekend.

I will also PM our other Hardware Gurus, to make sure that this thread is looked at as soon as possible. Please know that our techs are all over the world, and as such keep different hours. Rest assured that one of them will be on by afternoon tomorrow.

Stay calm, and remember to breathe. We'll take very good care of you.

TTFN

LGW

Hi Luke, welcome to the PCHF.

In regards to recovering the data - unfortunately there isn't much chance of getting windows to detect it, and the file recovery software you've already used will be your best bet to recover the files - as long as the space on the disk they were on hasn't been over written.

It's going to be a slow proccess trying to recover your files - and not all of the files will be recoverable. But you should be able to get most of them as there's 90gb missing in windows on your drive.

As to why your your hard drive is only showing 36gb....that's an interesting one....very interesting - it's like it detected that you had the 40gb (36gb is the space available on a 40gb hdd) but formatted the wrong drive as you hope it hasn't...i've never actually seen this....

In future, i always pull out every hard drive except for the one I'm installing windows on - just "incase" as i have 2 pairs of hard drives that are identicle

Good luck and let us know how you go.

Thanks mate, yeah I figured that it was most likely the case. It definitly is a strange situation I haven't heard of anything like it before. I really have no clue where to go from here, I could do another format but I suspect that it might still detect the HDD as 36gb. Another option would be to do a low level format but niether of these methods would do me any good with the files I need to recover, especially the low level format.

I have had some positive expiences previously with recovering lost data off a HDD but considering the paticulars of this case my hopes aren't too high. If anything I guess this has tought me to ALWAYS back up my data and as you posted, to only put the HDD I wish to install windows on in the machine. I will keep the thread posted on my progress.

I'd say you've got a fairly good chance of getting the majority of your files back.

Can you quickly check something for me?
Goto Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc and check your "disc 0" in here...to see what size/partitions is has.
There might be "unallocated" space on the drive.
If this is the case - then the there's nothing too serious, but do not do anything with the drive until you've attempted a recovery of the files.

Really? do you recommend any programs, preferably freeware but I dont mind paying for it if its worth it.


EDIT: I think PC inspector file recovery seems to be the ticket, correct me if I'm wrong though, also I can't check my diskmgmt.msc because the windows I was supposed to install on the HDD was a "stripped down" version and some of the windows features don't work, unfourtunatly this is one of them. Does there happen to be an application that performs the same task?