Need Help! Partition Move/Resize Failed Midstream - Files in Limboland!

I'm running WinXP Pro with NTFS partitions. I used PartitionMagic v8
to move and resize a partition. The process got hosed in the middle,
and left everything in a weird state. I can't access the partition via
Windows Explorer or a DOS command window. But I *can* see stuff there
with "Active File Recovery".

When I tried to actually recover some files, though, it didn't quite
work right. The "recovery" succeeded, but the file contents and
filenames didn't seem to match. For example, I had a lot of MP3 files
on the partition. A file got recovered called, let's say, "xyz.mp3".
But when I opened the file, I heard part of "abc.mp3".

So here's what I *think* happened...

PartitionMagic began moving the file data, so some stuff is physically
located in a different spot. But when it locked up, some files had
been moved but the file allocation tables, indicating where things
lived on the disk, hadn't been updated with the new information.

It's sort of like ripping out some pages of a book, relocating them,
renumbering the pages, but not updating the index with the new page
numbers. All the content is there, but if you look it up via the
index, you're going to land somewhere else.

So...my little question is, "Does this make sense as to what happened?"
And my *big* question is, "Is there any way to recover from this?"

I've got about 20G of mostly MP3 files. I'm 99% sure the data is fine.
I just need to figure out a way to sync up the files with their
correct names.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

It's sort of like ripping out some pages of a book, relocating them,
renumbering the pages, but not updating the index with the new page
numbers. All the content is there, but if you look it up via the
index, you're going to land somewhere else.

It also could be that all pages were ripped off, their page numbers erased,
pages dumped randomly on a pile. Try to find out how to read all
paragraphes.
And, by the way, it was not a book, but an unique manuscript.

On 26 Apr 2005 11:13:03 -0700, "prophead" wrote:

I'm running WinXP Pro with NTFS partitions. I used PartitionMagic v8
to move and resize a partition. The process got hosed in the middle,
and left everything in a weird state. I can't access the partition via
Windows Explorer or a DOS command window. But I *can* see stuff there
with "Active File Recovery".

Anyone have any ideas?

Get Findpart at

http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm

do:

findpart all fp.txt

and mail me the file fp.txt.
--
Svend Olaf

I suggest you use Partition Table Doctor to resolve your
problem.The software provides very useful functions:
Backup partition table, Restore partition table, Rebuild
partition table, undelete partition, Fix boot sector,
rebuild mbr,etc.

First thing I recommend you download the demo version of
Partition Table Doctor.( http://www.ptdd.com/download.htm )

Run the program and select "Rebuild Partition Table",
then choose "Interactive" mode. If you can find the partition
you need, that is Partition Table Doctor can help you. Otherwise,
Partition Table Doctor cannot help you.

See mo http://www.ptdd.com/recoverylostpartition.htm
http://www.ptdd.com/partition-recovery.htm

To me, yes - I'm wary of PM8 when it comes to NTFS, and am selective
about NTFS in general. I prefer a smaller dedicated XP "C:\" and
larger, linked program partition, both FAT32. Ghosting, in part a
considering for the former, but with both FAT32s accessible within a SE
dualboot or floppy routine. Large NTFS drives are peachy, but I prefer
XP alone to handle them, manually moving aside data in order to resize
or manipulate through the provided OS device interface only.

So...my little question is, "Does this make sense as to what
happened?" And my *big* question is, "Is there any way to recover from
this?"