Just as an FYI to everyone here.  I may have destroyed my computer and lost all my artwork, art software and files from over the last decade or so on my computer.  Yeah, just as I get a new DVD burner and Hard Drive.

I am hoping all is not lost though but it may be.  Does anyone know if you can recover data from an accidentally repartitioned hard drive and if so... how do I pull that miracle off?

Oh yeah, it has to be free to dirt cheap too.  I'm in a major financial crisis.

So, this is just another pickle on top of this sundae of fun.

Thanks for any advice.

ouch, sorry to hear that, that's a tough one.

I'm sure the FBI would know how to search for data on the repartitioned disk. But I don't. You might want to google for toolsrelating to your actions like recovering repartitioned disk or recovering tools for  data from disk, etc...

I'm curious, i'll search too.

Did you format the disk and cause an erase/write-over the blocks? that would have wiped out the data.

Yeah, google for 'recovering repartitioned disk' and find a Symantec tool and tons more.

Haven't seen a free one yet.

http://ntfs-recovery.com/articles/formatted_ntfs_disk.php

the first one I looked at was the above for 100 buckazoids I'm sure there are others and this may or may not be the best but don't expect to get it done for free - read the information on the site above anyway and do NOT use the disk you reformated for ANYTHING until you can afford to get it taken care of properly. 

If anyone else out there has experience with Compaq "Quick Restore" disks that'd be a great help.  I stopped the process after the accidental partition.  Before I did all this I supposedly backed up all the files, but seeing 38gb compressed to less than 12 doesn't have me too convinced I actually did... unless it left out all of my artwork files, models, main bryce files, zipped files et all.  The music I am not to worried about, I have 80% of it on discs, fonts are generally easy to get.  It's losing all my adobe software (long since lost my disks in movies, Quark, Dreamweaver Ultradev/Fireworks, and a few other progs I don't have access to anymore that'll hurt the most.

Note to everyone... this is what you get from uninstalling AOHell.  Rat bastards wrecked my registery years ago, and finally had to try to reinstall factory conditions.

Thanks for the tips too.  Unfortunately since I can't boot my computer until I reformat, unless I can get in contact with friends who know what they are doing, I'll have to wait a bit longer before I can move foreward.

Some advice from my PC savvy friends at Cable Forum.

I hope you don't mind that I asked them on your behalf but it's an good question for the less PC savvy among us on the forums there..and here :unsure:

Sorry to hear this, have you tried contacting Compaq? Maybe they have an updated system recovery solution.

Don't mind at all.  Any little bit helps, and there were some good points there.

And as for the 10 years without a backup, more like partial backups because until 2 days ago, I didn't have a CD or DVD burner of any sort, and just finally bought a new drive.  But... I've realized something helpful here.  Before I did all this I moved my Quark folder to my new Drive and my full Adobe folder too.  So, I may have saved myself that software. 

Plus there is the backups... supposedly of the "files & settings" which may or may not be all my stuff from the drive.  That's the good news.  So where I am sitting is wondering whether or not now to go foreward, finish off what has been started with the Quick Restore disk and hope it DOES allow me to do a partial restore without scrubbing the drive, or do I take the two drives over to a friends house, see if he can temporarily move the data onto his computer (assuming he has an IDE drive), then take the new drive, run the Quick Restore on that to make it a master, then REINSTALL the data (I hope) to the new drive, and then after that's settled, go back and wipe the old drive and use that as the slave.

I wish I would have listened to my instincts when I started this mess.  Now I have a huge knot to untangle.  :::bangs head on desk till mushy::::

Yes!!!

("do I take the two drives over to a friends house, see if he can temporarily move the data onto his computer (assuming he has an IDE drive), then take the new drive, run the Quick Restore on that to make it a master, then REINSTALL the data (I hope) to the new drive, and then after that's settled, go back and wipe the old drive and use that as the slave")

That's exactly what you do. That is exactly what I have done countless times for my friends and family over the past 10+ years.

Hey, look, if you do find the right tool, but it's not free, let's see if we can all pitch in a few bucks to cover it.

Do you have a paypal account, just in case?

you might also ask a local PC store that says they do PC recovery, and see how much they'd charge if they're successful at it. shop around.

Attached Link: http://www.google.com/search?q=vantec+sata+ide+to+usb

I also assume you are not using the cooked computer to talk to us now. Anything you write to this drive such as the cab files to reinstall windows can write over data you lost. Try to get everything off before you put anything on.

Go to PCWorld.com...They have lots of free things like that.

First and most important advice - do not do anything in terms of writing to that disk until you know you have the data off of it (and backed up). Do NOT continue with the Compaq restore process. Keep that disk safe!

Then (using whatever computer you can access), download Partition Find & Mount from here:
http://findandmount.com/

This is an ace little Windows utility that does a good job of passively finding deleted partitions. The less overwriting you've done the more data it will find. The joy is, the demo version is fully operational and you'll know whether it has saved your stuff or not. If your stuff is there it will present it in the regular Windows Explorer fashion. You can even copy files off the demo mounted partitions at a painfully slow rate so you can rescue essential items for free if you have the time. If you see gigabytes of your art history is safe, believe me you will find the forty four bucks for the full version that permits regular speed copying and rewards those programmers.

I know this works because it rescued me a couple of weeks ago. The disk I had was partitioned into C: and D: , the idea being that I could reinstall Windows without affecting my data on the D:. Trouble was, my WinXP disk is from before the service packs so it didn't recognise the large hard drive size. I'd created my first partition, formatted it and installed Windows before I realised the implications. That's when I discovered by backup was kaput!

Luckily I stopped there and started researching. After a few cruddy programs I found this gem and it recovered my D: drive. All was safe on that, but the old C: drive was toast (it could see it but it was too corrupt). I quickly purchased the full version and grabbed my stuff.

The program works fine with the hard drive placed in one of those outboard USB caddies and seen in Windows as a removable drive. Hitching it up to a spare SATA/IDE channel of another PC is quicker.

Even if that prog or others can't see your old partitions or data, don't give up on it. Keep that disk safe and use another (beg, borrow or steal) to reinstall Windows. Some other technology might save the day.

BTW, you may still have problems with your art software even if you can pull it off the disk. If you have previously copied the software setup files from the (lost) disks onto your hard drive then you'll be OK (just reinstall with those, assuming you have the licence key codes, etc). But if you only have the final installations in "Program Files"  then those may not work under a new install of Windows (and maybe not even with a repaired Windows, if you can pull that off). Some programs tie themselves up with a particular Windows installation to the extent they can't function without it.

A Bryce5 installation works fine by itself in its own folder transfered onto a new machine, but Bryce6 requires a fresh install.

You guys are some of the greatest.  Group hug!  Come on everyone group hug.  You have made me blush with your advice, kind words and offers of help..

Okay, so the plan is, get ahold of my friend... dammit!  pull the data off, then format back to factory condition, and if I'm lucky finish reinstalling what was pulled off. 

So thanks for the offers, I'll keep you all informed.

"Okay, so the plan is,  get ahold of my friend... dammit!  pull the data off, then format back to factory condition, and if I'm lucky finish reinstalling what was pulled off."

Just make sure you have all the data off (don't assume!) before you format. With normal methods your friend will only be able to pull off what Windows can normally see. If your data (or some of it) is hidden in a deleted partition you'll still need to use the special software to access it.

Good luck!

Good luck on getting your data off.
Don't rush and make sure you get everything.

Attached Link: http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1

Sigh... good news bad news. 

Bad news was, I was unable to get stuff off the drives.  The situation just wasn't possible, so I had to trust that the backup made by Compaq (whom I'm a tad upset with) would work.  Note to self NEVER buy a computer again without an official copy of the operating system, and not this crappy "Restore Disk" stuff.  Secondly, it's a "Drive Specific" restore disk.  So it HAD to go on top of all my data.  So my plan was shot to hell  .I lost a few programs, the worst loss found so far has been Poser 4 which I don't have the disk for anymore,   Also my web development programs of Dreamweaver and Fireworks

Good news.  The restore backup worked.... mostly.  I have all my models, files and textures!!!!!  Those were all compressed and saved.  Now barring any problems, I can use them again when I reinstall Bryce (since that got deleted but I have the disk... somewhere)  Next, the damage from AOHell is gone and I can reinstall software.  I feel so much better again.

Bonus!!!  As a test of moving software, I moved all my adobe software AND Quark off the formatted drive before it happened and they are doing fine so far.

So now it's a task of resetting things and putting back the way I like them.

Thanks all for the sage advice, I wish I could have used it, but Compaq thwarted us all... but I got lucky.  You guys have been a great help and support to me this last week.  Hopefully I will be able to do artwork again very soon.  (of course this is also contingent on a new job too.)

Thanks once again people!

Bittersweet results, Glad you were able to salvage some of the loss.

if it wasn't for the money part, there are companies that can get back everything. Did it a few weeks back for a client, but it was $1,500+.

Yep. I kept all my Bryce files, but no more "Buster" pictures till I get a new copy of poser. Hey! wait! I fergot, I downloaded a copy of DAZ Studio a while back and couldn't install it.... til now... heh heh heh. Now where'd that disk go???