From: "Geo" 

The last time I used any of this type of utility was when I had a boot
virus wipe the partition table, I believe I used a norton utility but I
don't think I was using NTFS at the time so I've no idea which ones work
best in todays world. I just know there are some out there that can fix the
partition tables. The problem I ran into is that some data about file
names, directory structures, and the like always seems to be lost. That's
why I said save yourself the trouble and just reinstall, the best I would
hope for from a recovery util is being able to pull some data off the disk
but you'll probably end up reinstalling after that.

Geo.

"Chris"  wrote in message
news:42307190$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> At this point, I think only the partition table was what got changed.
> The installer seemed to have lost where the installation media was...I
> have 3 CD's and I was not clear which was which, so it never seemed to
> find the right install point.
>
> Since it is only the partition table(s) that need checking, what utils
> might I consider, so I can at least try to make a backup of the drive
> before I reinstall everything
>
>
> /Chris
>
> Geo wrote:
> > there are some unformat utilities but they don't work real well and it
> > depends on the type of format you did. Save yourself some trouble and
just
> > reinstall it.
> >
> > Geo.
> >
> > "Chris"  wrote in message
news:422fe7ae{at}w3.nls.net...
> >
> >>Hey all,
> >>
> >>I downloaded FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE and burned the CD's.  So far so good.
> >>I tried to install it and chose my partition, etc.  All went well until
> >>I rebooted into Windows on the same computer which was installed 1st.
> >>
> >>My partitions look like:
> >>C: == Windows partition including my profile
> >>D: == Applications/Games/the bulk of my crap
> >>E: == My mom's backup of her "old" system (discussed
here previously)
> >>
> >>I discovered that I blew away the wrong partitions and lost my D: and E:
> >>drives.  My install of FreeBSD failed in that it never found the source
> >>info to even format the partitions I created.  Does anyone know if there
> >>is a way of recovering my system, ESPECIALLY the D:?  E: is backed up
> >>onto DVD, so it's not a big loss.  My mom's computer is functioning fine
> >>anyway.  This really blows that I screwed up so bad and really am not
> >>looking forward to reinstalling Windows XP.
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>
> >>Chris
> >
> >
> >

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