Test Disk:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/https://www.ubcd4win.com/l?testdisk.html
QUOTE
TestDisk is a powerful data recovery utility! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing your Partition Table).
TestDisk can run under DOS (either real or in a Windows 9x DOS-box), Windows 32-bit (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003), Linux OSs, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and SunOS; precompiled binary executables are available for DOS, Win32 and Linux. But TestDisk will find lost partitions for all of these file systems:
* BeFS ( BeOS )
* BSD disklabel ( FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD )
* CramFS (Compressed File System)
* DOS/Windows FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32
* HFS and HFS+, Hierarchical File System
* JFS, IBM's Journaled File System
* Linux Ext2 and Ext3
*
Linux Raid
o RAID 1: mirroring
o RAID 4: striped array with parity device
o RAID 5: striped array with distributed parity information
o RAID 6: striped array with distributed dual redundancy information
* Linux Swap (versions 1 and 2)
* LVM and LVM2, Linux Logical Volume Manager
* Netware NSS
* NTFS ( Windows NT/2K/XP/2003 )
* ReiserFS 3.5 and 3.6
* Sun Solaris i386 disklabel
* UFS and UFS2 (Sun/BSD/...)
* XFS, SGI's Journaled File System
TestDisk queries the BIOS (DOS/Win9x) or the OS (Linux, FreeBSD, Windows) in order to find the Hard Disks and their characteristics ( LBA size and CHS geometry). TestDisk does a quick check of your disk's structure and compares it with your Partition Table for entry errors. If the Partition Table has entry errors, TestDisk can repair them. If you have missing partitions or a completely empty Partition Table, TestDisk can search for partitions and create a new Table or even a new MBR if necessary.
However, it's up to the user to look over the list of possible partitions found by TestDisk and to select the one(s) which were being used just before the drive failed to boot or the partition(s) were lost. In some cases, especially after initiating a detailed search for lost partitions, TestDisk may show partition data which is simply from the remnants of a partition that had been deleted and overwritten long ago.
TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, the command line parameters /log and /debug can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.
TestDisk can run under DOS (either real or in a Windows 9x DOS-box), Windows 32-bit (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003), Linux OSs, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and SunOS; precompiled binary executables are available for DOS, Win32 and Linux. But TestDisk will find lost partitions for all of these file systems:
* BeFS ( BeOS )
* BSD disklabel ( FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD )
* CramFS (Compressed File System)
* DOS/Windows FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32
* HFS and HFS+, Hierarchical File System
* JFS, IBM's Journaled File System
* Linux Ext2 and Ext3
*
Linux Raid
o RAID 1: mirroring
o RAID 4: striped array with parity device
o RAID 5: striped array with distributed parity information
o RAID 6: striped array with distributed dual redundancy information
* Linux Swap (versions 1 and 2)
* LVM and LVM2, Linux Logical Volume Manager
* Netware NSS
* NTFS ( Windows NT/2K/XP/2003 )
* ReiserFS 3.5 and 3.6
* Sun Solaris i386 disklabel
* UFS and UFS2 (Sun/BSD/...)
* XFS, SGI's Journaled File System
TestDisk queries the BIOS (DOS/Win9x) or the OS (Linux, FreeBSD, Windows) in order to find the Hard Disks and their characteristics ( LBA size and CHS geometry). TestDisk does a quick check of your disk's structure and compares it with your Partition Table for entry errors. If the Partition Table has entry errors, TestDisk can repair them. If you have missing partitions or a completely empty Partition Table, TestDisk can search for partitions and create a new Table or even a new MBR if necessary.
However, it's up to the user to look over the list of possible partitions found by TestDisk and to select the one(s) which were being used just before the drive failed to boot or the partition(s) were lost. In some cases, especially after initiating a detailed search for lost partitions, TestDisk may show partition data which is simply from the remnants of a partition that had been deleted and overwritten long ago.
TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, the command line parameters /log and /debug can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.
I've used Restoration and Disk Investigator before and they are fine for files, but not so for partitions.
Another small utility that might be useful is this one that will delete files and directories that are illegally named. I've had a disk wipe program screw up and leave gigs of illegally named temp files and directories. Sometimes DOS commands will delete using the short file name; but many times this will not work.
If not for the CD some of you might find it useful to use on your PC:
DelinvFile:
http://www.purgeie.com/delinv.htm
And one more great little program is Crap Cleaner. This deletes a boat load of old and unnecessary files. It's very easy to clean up a system with this:
Crap Cleaner:
http://www.ccleaner.com/
