HELP ME - I need to recover all data on my HDD

[Thomas S]

I reinstalled Tiger.

Beforehand I backed up all my data to Drive 2 (400gb). Then when doing an erase and install the drives got switched.

Now, I've got Tiger on the drive with all my ****ing data backed up onto. Is there a utility that I can use to RECOVER that data?

Also, on the system HD (Macintosh HD - 160 GB) I can still see all my files. But I cannot get into some of it (insufficient priveleges).

I am going to try and figure out how to boot that drive. However I'm still in HUGE trouble over that ****ing fluke.

CAN ANYONE HELP ME? What is a utility I can use to recover the data? There are somethings that I am unable to access completely because they were on the 400gb HDD and not the 160gb.

 

[CanadaRAM]

#1) STOP using the machine. Turn it off RIGHT NOW.
OSX overwrites unused disk sectors (where your data presumably is) very quickly. Every minute you use the machine means less of a chance to recover data

#2) Get a large external drive to recover your data to

#3) Get DateRescue II from ProSoft. Follow the instructions.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php

 

[Thomas S]

#1) STOP using the machine. Turn it off RIGHT NOW.
OSX overwrites unused disk sectors (where your data presumably is) very quickly. Every minute you use the machine means less of a chance to recover data

#2) Get a large external drive to recover your data to

#3) Get DateRescue II from ProSoft. Follow the instructions.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php

Ok. I pulled the plug from the rear faster than you could imagine after I read your reply. Hit my head too .

It was on about an hour or so. I also updated everything and then reinstalled. Will that hurt me?

With DataRescue where should I install it? On my PowerBook, or do I create a carbon copy of my PB drive on a large external or what? Wow. I'm screwed. Damn. Its still downloading...

All my files except two projects are still accesible on the original Macintosh HDD. Sadly however I think I'm ****ed up the ass when it comes to two projects of mine. I'm going to castrated and hung on a cross....

 

[Thomas S]

Ok. I'm booted to my original HD (the 160 gb). The 400gb one is completely unplugged internally. I'm downloading that DataRescue program right now.

Question is this - when I reconnect that HDD to do the rescue, will OS X **** me over with the rewriting?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Boot from the external (or even better from a bootable DVD of DataRescue) and the OS shouldn't need to write temporary files to the 400

 

[Thomas S]

So I cannot do the recovery from the internal drive (the one that is the original 160)? Looks like I'm making a run to CompUSA tonight.....

Do I have to i install Tiger to the external?

 

[CanadaRAM]

So I cannot do the recovery from the internal drive (the one that is the original 160)? Looks like I'm making a run to CompUSA tonight.....

Do I have to i install Tiger to the external?

Sorry, I was confused which drive was which. I didn't know you had 2 internals. Yes booting from a second internal which you DONT have lost data on is OK. You could install Tiger to that one to make the process easier.

 

[Thomas S]

Sorry, I was confused which drive was which. I didn't know you had 2 internals. Yes booting from a second internal which you DONT have lost data on is OK. You could install Tiger to that one to make the process easier.

Already bought a 500gb LaCie d2 Big Disk Extreme.

Oh well - needed to buy it anyways .

Now, since Aperture libraries are stuck on just a single drive, can I do a striped RAID configuration on these disk AFTER I recover the data? Will it hurt me with performance?

I cannot thank you enough. If I lived near you I'd buy you lunch . Thank you so much!

 

[CanadaRAM]

Already bought a 500gb LaCie d2 Big Disk Extreme.

Oh well - needed to buy it anyways .

Now, since Aperture libraries are stuck on just a single drive, can I do a striped RAID configuration on these disk AFTER I recover the data? Will it hurt me with performance?

I cannot thank you enough. If I lived near you I'd buy you lunch . Thank you so much!

Whyever would you want to do a striped RAID?? Ya got a data deathwish or sommat?

IF you are going to stripe 2 drives together in a RAID for a larger single volume size, they should be the same size drives. BUT if you have any data errors on either drive, you stand to lose the whole shooting match.

RAID setup requires reformatting, so the data would be lost.

What do you hope to gain by RAID?

 

[Thomas S]

Whyever would you want to do a striped RAID?? Ya got a data deathwish or sommat?

IF you are going to stripe 2 drives together in a RAID for a larger single volume size, they should be the same size drives. BUT if you have any data errors on either drive, you stand to lose the whole shooting match.

RAID setup requires reformatting, so the data would be lost.

What do you hope to gain by RAID?

Right now I've recovered most of the files. I've lost a few old RAW files, but I have the TIFF backups on disk. The RAW file disks are off-site so I should be golden.

Anyhow, in the future if I was able to gain much more hard drive space, then I would buy another 400gb internal and stripe them together. Right now I've surpassed 200gb (of which 183 were recovered so I'm happy) worth of photographs. Luckily my current client files were recovered as I hadn't backed up the newest reiteration of the photoshop work for one of my clients but I've got the last version on DVD so I'd have been fine either way.

If RAID were to help me since Aperture doesn't support disk spanning (WTF!) I'd be on it in a second if I could mirror it to an external striped RAID array.

Next time I do a reinstall I'm gonna clone my data to two separate disks and make sure I don't **** anything up again. Thanks again for all your help - I appreciate it.

Next time I go to Whistler I'll swing buy and get you that lunch I joked about!

Last question: Can I keep the LaCie turned on all the time when my computer is or should I turn it off except when I want to make a backup?