Okay... I have scoured the internet for a solution... I never post in forums and live by searching Google for answers to all of my computer problems... but it seems that this one exceeds even the bounds of the great search engine.
From the beginning: Earlier today, I had some free time and figured I'd install the latest version of Ubuntu onto a partition of my 750 GB external WD drive. Things seemed to go swimmingly until I restarted after the install and it wouldn't find any system whatsoever to boot into... I tried using the Leopard install DVD and the Ubuntu install CD to access files to see what the heck was wrong, but alas, I ended up having to completely re-install OS X. Suck.
Mad at Ubuntu, I went to erase the partition in Disk Utility and it thought for a second, spit an error about unable to erase data, and unmounted both my "Time Machine" partition and my other one labeled "Boris" (which, as it my luck would have it, has all of my important files on it - nice). I know for a fact that I only selected that specific partition to remove, NOT the other ones, but they ran away in fright.
As it stands now, I am able to see the HD in Disk Utility with one partition (the Ubuntu one, mentioned earlier) but am unable to access it at all in any way.
My question is this - because I need those files - should I break down and buy some recovery software, and if so, what is going to be the best bang for my buck? I have TechTool Pro 5, but it doesn't see anything on the drive.
I'm lost. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
From the beginning: Earlier today, I had some free time and figured I'd install the latest version of Ubuntu onto a partition of my 750 GB external WD drive. Things seemed to go swimmingly until I restarted after the install and it wouldn't find any system whatsoever to boot into... I tried using the Leopard install DVD and the Ubuntu install CD to access files to see what the heck was wrong, but alas, I ended up having to completely re-install OS X. Suck.
Mad at Ubuntu, I went to erase the partition in Disk Utility and it thought for a second, spit an error about unable to erase data, and unmounted both my "Time Machine" partition and my other one labeled "Boris" (which, as it my luck would have it, has all of my important files on it - nice). I know for a fact that I only selected that specific partition to remove, NOT the other ones, but they ran away in fright.
As it stands now, I am able to see the HD in Disk Utility with one partition (the Ubuntu one, mentioned earlier) but am unable to access it at all in any way.
My question is this - because I need those files - should I break down and buy some recovery software, and if so, what is going to be the best bang for my buck? I have TechTool Pro 5, but it doesn't see anything on the drive.
I'm lost. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.