Recovering data from an "unallocated" partition

Factual Questions
1

LSLGuy category 3 PC owner looking for some help please…

I’ve got a single-disk pc split into two partitions (C - operating system, D - data) and have encountered a slight problem. While trying to merge the two, an error has occurred and I’ve now lost the d drive (and presumably the contents therein).

I can see the C drive in My Computer, however its size is still the same as it was pre-merge (about 7 gig) - D drive is not there at all.

With Partition Magic I can see what used to be the D drive, however it is listed as “Unallocated” and, rather worryingly, says: Size MB 21,563.8; Used MB 0; Unused MB 21,563.8.

Does this mean that I’ve lost everything that was on D? Or is there some way to retrieve that info? (I’m clinging on to a small hope that recovery is still possible as I didn’t actually request a format of the drive)

Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks.

2

Try some of these.
I’ve used PCInspector successfully.

Just don’t use your PC until you have to.

Si

3

Nope, it’s all gone. But thanks anyway for your help.

4

There are data recovery services such as Ontrack who can probably help.

5

Access Data makes a forensic toolkit program (designed for use by law enforcement) that can look at data on unallocated parts of a hard drive as long as it hasn’t be written over.

I’m not sure how well it can restore tons of lost files, but law enforcement routinely use it to dig up kiddie porn and stuff on hard drives that have been wiped.

6

Try the TestDisk suite. TestDisk and the included PhotoRec can recover data from damaged partitions. You’ll need to boot the computer from another disk or put the drives in another computer.