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Help! Just erased my hard disk... weeks of work lost.

F

fried-gold

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 9, 2008
95
0
Berlin
Ok so this is maybe a bit hard to follow but please help me. I have just erased all of my architecture honours year et all off my computer.

I have two laptops at the moment as one is faulty. Needed to free up some data from time machine as it was nearly full before back up my computer to transfer to the new one. This is going to sound like madness but i deleted all of the time machine backups, because I also have old backups for a previous laptop and there is only enough room for both. Then to free up even more space i downloaded Back-in-Time to remove some rubbish from the old mac back ups, found a file I had been looking for and tried to restore that to the desktop. HOwever i clicked the wrong button and it started restoring my whole computer. It wiped my desktop and everything. I managed to stop it after only 66 KB were written. I have removed the time capsule. Is there any way to get my stuff back ? I really need it because it has all the work from my honours year, and i have deleted all back ups...

PLEASE HELP!!!!!
 
OK really not helpful. I've just lost my entire portfolio, theres gotta be some program or something??
 
If the data is not on the machine, and you do not have a backup, you are in deep trouble. You can try a data recovery service/program, as the data is likely still physically on the disk. DiskWarrior maybe?

Oh, and do not use the computer until you are ready to attempt recovery. The more the disk is used, the greater the chance of your stuff getting paved over.
 
I haven't had to do something like this in a long time, so I'd have to defer to others' advice here.

But the very FIRST steps to do here are:

1. STOP using the overwritten drive. Unmount and then disconnect it from the Mac. Goal here is to prevent any further damage.
2. Take a DEEP breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat for two minutes -- yes, this stuff works. You need your wits together first.

:)

There is a pricey option but if you're willing to pay money, there are drive recovery firms with the required software and know-how for recovering deleted files.
 
dukebound85 said:
what you want me to do? perform magic?
Click to expand...

Yes please, I think I would appreciate that very much right now.

I am using the other computer although the other one is still on. As previously stated by J the Ninja, i'm an idiot, please someone give me step by step damage limitation solution. Also i can't afford data recovery, although it literally just deleted, nothing has been written over the top. How would i use disk warrior to recover it? Install on the disk or do it remotely?
 
fried-gold said:
Yes please, I think I would appreciate that very much right now.

I am using the other computer although the other one is still on. As previously stated by J the Ninja, i'm an idiot, please someone give me step by step damage limitation solution. Also i can't afford data recovery, although it literally just deleted, nothing has been written over the top. How would i use disk warrior to recover it? Install on the disk or do it remotely?
Click to expand...

turn it off for starters

i honestly dont know what to tell you


if there was an easy way, im sure we wouldnt have people having horror stories about losing data

thats the whole point of backing up

since you deleted your backups, there really isnt another safeguard to recover your stuff
 
Ok, given that i have deleted all the back ups, if i have no other options looks like i'm going to have to get disk recovery done. This work is worth a lot to me and it looks like im going to have to pay for it. How much does this cost? And how successful do you reckon it is likly to be?
 
Data Rescue II

This program is pricey but might work. I would put the deleted drive in an external enclosure, then download the demo version and see what it can find. Your post is hard to follow but make sure you don't boot from the drive in question. Boot and run Data Rescue II from another drive. If it looks like it can salvage your most important files, go ahead and cough up the $100 as the price for this lapse in judgment.

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
 
They are normally quite pricey, at least a few hundred the last time someone told me about it. I remember when it first came out it was like $1000 (so I heard). The chance of them getting your info back is pretty high (again, just from reading other members experiences). Oh this is not software though, this is where you take it to a place and they do some stuff to get it back. Maybe try an IT person you know.

You guys don't have to be so mean to him, although he shouldn't have deleted his backups and has to pay, he was asking for help, and is probably stressed about losing his portfolio. There is no need to tell him he's an idiot.
 
fried-gold said:
Ok, given that i have deleted all the back ups, if i have no other options looks like i'm going to have to get disk recovery done. How much does this cost? And how successful do you reckon it is likly to be?
Click to expand...

I couldn't say because I don't know the going rate for that work done on your side of the pond. But a major factor into the cost here is the amount of complexity and time spent doing the recovery work.

It's usually when a drive has given up the ghost that they have to resort to total disassembly in a white room (clean) environment, fix the physical issues, then start work on data recovery. Often they have to fix logical damage with the filesystem as well, and this often requires specialized software or direct knowledge (by specialists) of how the filesystem in question stores files.

Now, what you have going for you here is the simple fact that the hard drive is alive and that you interrupted the operation very early on. Additionally, you are running a well-known OS with a well-understood filesystem, HFS+, reconstruction could potentially be relatively simple. Here, we'd probably pay about USD $200-$300 for this sort of scenario. I know of pricing because we once had to investigate this at work. There are various HFS+ file recovery software tools on the market, but having used none of them, cannot speak as to how well any of them works.
 
crayonshin said:
This program is pricey but might work. I would put the deleted drive in an external enclosure, then download the demo version and see what it can find. Your post is hard to follow but make sure you don't boot from the drive in question. Boot and run Data Rescue II from another drive. If it looks like it can salvage your most important files, go ahead and cough up the $100 as the price for this lapse in judgment.

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Click to expand...

Where would i get an external enclosure from? Given that this would probably void the warranty this presents a problem. I've got to give this computer back to apple in a couple of days as its being replaced...
 
Its pricey but seeing how much more the information is worth to you, I would not do anything other than handing it over to a firm like Data Doctors or something.
 
You don't need magic, you need prayer as well as o follow the advise given to you. I will be praying that you get all of your hard work back. Let it be a lesson learned!
 
fried-gold said:
Where would i get an external enclosure from? Given that this would probably void the warranty this presents a problem. I've got to give this computer back to apple in a couple of days as its being replaced...
Click to expand...

Ok, I reread your post and it looks like we're talking about a time capsule. Well, as others have said, a data recovery service is the safest thing to do but also very expensive. The do it yourself via software method is cheaper but potentially risky. You'll have to decide.

If you're going to try Data Rescue II, I would first TURN TIME MACHINE BACKUP OFF IN PREFERENCES, then mount the time capsule and run the Data Rescue Demo to see if it will see and find anything on the drive.
 
crayonshin said:
Ok, I reread your post and it looks like we're talking about a time capsule.
Click to expand...

Not strictly true. recovering the deleted backups would be a start but would also mean losing the past 3 weeks of work, time is money as they say, and if i was going to shell out any money at all it would probably be worth getting all the data back.
 
I have nightmares about this happening.

All my work..my life, gone. That's why I back-up and READ before clicking.

Good luck to ya mate. May the Mac god look kindly on your poor soul.
 
fried-gold said:
Not strictly true. recovering the deleted backups would be a start but would also mean losing the past 3 weeks of work, time is money as they say, and if i was going to shell out any money at all it would probably be worth getting all the data back.
Click to expand...

If it were me and I am also going to say a prayer for you -- but if it were me I would do the external enclosure thing and see if you can't scavenge some data off the externally mounted drive.

Hopefully the first thing that is restored is the OS, not your files. If so, you might luck out.

Do the external thing first. If not, you will have to do data retrieval.

Treat that hard drive like gold until you figure it out. I would get it out of the computer asap, no matter that you have to return it to Apple or not.
 
Thanks every one for your help and kind words.

I'm gonna hit the hay, get up early and take my computer down to a data recovery lab. I can't risk losing whats on the drive. I'm pretty skint too, so looks like my girlfriend is going to be bailing me out on this one, so she's gonna be pissed too.

Fingers crossed. Thank you all agin.
 
fried-gold said:
Not strictly true. recovering the deleted backups would be a start but would also mean losing the past 3 weeks of work, time is money as they say, and if i was going to shell out any money at all it would probably be worth getting all the data back.
Click to expand...

Look, I just gave you an alternative to a data recovery service and told you how to do it in general terms.

1) don't boot off the drive you want to recover
2) boot from another drive and turn time machine backup off
3) mount the drive to be recovered; be it a time capsule, or a laptop internal drive that you took out and put in an enclosure
4) run Data Rescue II, do a full scan and see what it finds
5) if it finds your data, buy the full version and hopefully restore your data

That's as plain as I'm going to explain this. Where to buy an enclosure you ask? Warranty ramifications? I don't know, you'll have to figure that out.

Good luck.
 
fried-gold said:
i deleted all of the time machine backups
Click to expand...

polar-bear-face-palm_thumbnail.jpg


I hope you get your stuff back.
 
macswitcha2 said:
You don't need magic, you need prayer as well as o follow the advise given to you. I will be praying that you get all of your hard work back. Let it be a lesson learned!
Click to expand...

I'm just above 50% sure that praying will not help this situation at all.


Good luck, OP. I think you're doing the right thing giving it to a professional. Try not to seem hysterical when talking to the recovery specialist. They'll charge you even more because they'll think they can get away from it. State very matter-of-factly that what is on the drive is important.
 
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