HELP - I accidentally formatted Boot Camp partition

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HELP - I accidentally formatted Boot Camp partition

I was setting up Time Machine and accidentally formatted my Boot Camp partition in stead of external drive. Is there any way of getting Windows programs and files back. I'm sure its only the file structure that's been altered as I haven't put anything on the new drive, but can't boot into Windows any more!

Tried linking computer in target mode to another mac running windows, but it can't see the drive in question. Do I need to install a firewire element to Windows (the computer sees the drive when booted as a Mac)

mac mini, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Dec 20, 2009 10:45 AM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 20, 2009 10:54 AM in response to mcradick

you certainly can not recreate the whole partition back as it was. your only hope now is to use data recovery software like Data Rescue 3 or File Salvage. those are mac programs though so I don't know how well if at all they'd work for recovering anything from a deleted bootcamp partition. you might need a windows data recovery program for that. in any case data recovery should be done asap to maximize recovery chances. the data from the deleted partition is now treated as free space and can be overwritten at any moment.

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Answer 2

mcradick Author

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12 points

Dec 20, 2009 11:06 AM in response to V.K.

I tried to do that but the windows computer couldn't see the hard drive (connected by firewire in target mode). When the same computer (an imac) was booted with MacOS it saw the drives no problem. Is there a firewire driver I need?

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Answer 3

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 20, 2009 11:50 AM in response to mcradick

xyou don't need any drivers for accessing the drive on a mac. windows can't read OS X extended formatted partitions without extra drivers (Mac Drive) which is why your PC appears not to see it. but it should not matter for a windows data recovery program which should work on it anyway.

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Answer 4

mcradick Author

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Dec 21, 2009 1:25 AM in response to V.K.

It comes up as a "G" drive but says that I need to insert disk. The data recovery software isn't seeing it, though it did once!! Maybe I need to try a different one.

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Answer 5

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 21, 2009 8:07 AM in response to mcradick

sorry, I have zero experience with windows data recovery programs. you can try asking on the bootcamp forum or on a windows forum somewhere. also, did you try any mac data recovery programs? they might actually work.

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Answer 6

mcradick Author

Level 1

12 points

Dec 22, 2009 8:23 AM in response to V.K.

thanks

still trying.....

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