Help! Disk Utility erased all my data!!

[alumac]

Hi,
I just bought a new WD hard disk and backed up all my data to it (80 GB). I then performed a clean install on my Macintosh HD.

Before I restored my data to the internal drive, I thought it would be a good idea to copy my fresh installation to a new partition on the external disk.

So I booted up disk utility to check if partitioning would affect my data. Using the partition tool, I clicked the plus sign (without applying changes). Disk utility said that if I add a partition, it would simply add a new volume and that the previous volume would not be erased. I clicked apply, and now there is nothing left of my data in the original partition.

Can I get it back? Undo the partition, or file recovery?

This is a nightmare. Please help!

Thanks..

 

[spinnerlys]

Use Data Rescue II to recover your data, it works with such a simple error (meaning, that only the partition table is gone, and no data was damaged, instead of corruption or hardware damage.).

 

[alumac]

Use Data Rescue II to recover your data, it works with such a simple error (meaning, that only the partition table is gone, and no data was damaged, instead of corruption or hardware damage.).

Oh, they don't let you try it for a while. I might have to stow away my disk for a while until I can afford to buy it.

I hope it works!

 

[spinnerlys]

You could look for other data recovery software, or have ago at this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/704905/

S/he deleted the HDD's partition table and was able to recover it with a Linux CD.
You are in the same boat, as you edited/deleted (the old) partition table, so it may help.

 

[alumac]

You are in the same boat, as you edited/deleted (the old) partition table, so it may help.

I added a new partition. I don't know if thats the same as deleting a partition? Also, I was taking a look at DiskWarrior by Alsoft. If it "rebuilds" directory structure, does that mean it will find the deleted files?

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Data Rescue 2 and Photorec will do the best job of recovering data.

Not sure how exact Disk Warrior works with its directory rebuilds. Never actually used it before.

 

[Xeon3D]

I made a video that could help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdRkQMulWFs