Lost my directory.. if not more

[kotis]

XP Pro system running NTFS

I could not boot, so I removed the drive and put it into an external drive case and connected it to anther machine via USB. I could see entry's and so ran CHKDSK /F. It ran and asked if I wanted to repair, I said yes, and an error message came up saying their were open handles and that if I said ok, some things would not close properly... since I was not really running anything from the drive I said yes and now there is no directory, nothing... blank....

How do I restore the directory?

Is there a process that someone can point me to or a good utility that I can run that will do the work?

 

[Handruin]

Since you can't see the data in windows, you could try a tool call GetDataBack for NTFS. There is a free demo, but you'll have to buy the full version to recover everything. One of our members here (Mercutio) has used this on his RAID array with success in the past.

Maybe someone else can recommend a free alternative. Perhaps one of the live Linux distributions with some filesystem tools like System Resuce CD.

 

[Mercutio]

Yes, I recovered a 1.2TB software RAID using GetDataBack NTFS a few months back.

However, if you're doing data recovery, a couple things you should do, once you verify you're in a data-loss scenario, are to install the disk on an internal or native channel (IDE, SCSI, SATA; not USB or Firewire) and to not mess with it with tools like CHKDSK. Or anything else for that matter.
Data recovery programs are going to require you to have another drive of equal or larger capacity to write to and they DON'T ever write to the disk with the damaged filesystem.

 

[Clocker]

Kotis- PM me your email address and I will send you a utility you can try.

C