Accidentally turned my external hard drive to recovery disc

[Sharon]

Hello I need help. This is my first time doing any sort of data recovery.

I bought R-Studio and I ran the scan on my external hard drive. The files that I need were found. The majority of the files I need are Microsoft Office files (Word & Excel). I tried running the recovery to my desktop and it keeps asking me to rename the file as the file already exists. I am not sure why this is happening. Additional information is that in the log in the left column, the folder icon of the file I need has a red "X" on it. Could you help me figure out what I should try next? Thanks in advance.

[Alt]

1. What actually happened with the external disk? Was any data written to it?
2. Can I have a screenshot of the Files/Folders panel in R-Studio for that disk?

[Sharon]

It was a very stupid mistake. I didn't read correctly before hitting the okay button when creating a recovery disk for my dell. It required either a CD or an external hard drive. I created it on my external hard drive, erasing all my data. I think if anything can help me, it will be R-studio, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


I included all the screen prints I thought would be helpful.

The file log from the scan is quite long, from the green to orange to red files.
Also I included the error message I get when I try to recover a folder. With the prompt for renaming the file.
And the current contents of my external hard drive.

And I am not sure but I think by making it into a recovery disk, it created an extra drive... E and F? Not quite sure what is happening there.

I am linking my album:

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/lonecan ... 20Recovery


Thanks and hoping to hear from you soon!

[Sharon]

I made a mistake that I need to clarify!
It wasn't an external hard drive but a USB that I turned into a recovery disk. Sorry about the wrong information. Hope this helps.

[Alt]

And the most important question: did it finish creating the recovery disk, or you stopped the process soon? In another words, how much did the recovery data overwrite the old data on the disk?

[Sharon]

It finished the recovery disk process. I didn't disrupt it mid-way.

[Alt]

1. The backup process seriously corrupted the info about the old partition layout when creating the new one.
2. Looks like it overwrote app. 9 GB of the previous data with the backup. How much space did the old data occupy? I mean all data on the disk, not that you want to recover. If it was much more than 9 GB, there're chances that something can be retrieved. If it was app. the same, chances are grim.
3. You've selected the existing disk F:, created by the backup process. I don't think you will get something from it, you need to select a recognized partition without the EFFISECTOR label, that occupies the entire disk.
4. Also you need to look through the Extra Found Files section on the Drives panel.