Member Avatar for spidey

HELP PLEASE!!

I got 2 partitions C and D. C: is my main drive. Both have OS installed.

A week ago, C: is not starting up. Since then, I'm using D:. When I was trying to retrieve a file stored in C:, a message appeared saying C is not formatted and asked if I want to format it now. I also tried to explore Drive C but same message appears after hanging for some seconds.

HELP, I think my C: got damaged. Is there any way I can RETRIEVE files from that drive? I got tons of important files saved there. My friend suggests Partition Magic. I just don't know if it would work.

Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.

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Do not click "Format" and stop using C: immediately. The "drive not formatted" message usually means the NTFS metadata or the partition table/MBR is damaged (logical corruption) or the drive is failing (physical). Any write activity — running chkdsk, accepting a format, or attempting repairs from the running system — can make recovery harder or destroy files.

Best-practice recovery workflow (priority order): remove the drive and attach it to a working PC as a secondary/slave drive or use a USB-SATA/IDE adapter; do not boot from the damaged disk. Make a sector-level image of the drive to another healthy disk first, then perform recovery from the image. If you can use a Linux rescue environment, GNU ddrescue is the safest imaging tool because it tracks bad sectors and lets you retry later. Example workflow:

ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /mnt/recovery/C_drive.img /mnt/recovery/C_drive.log
ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /mnt/recovery/C_drive.img /mnt/recovery/C_drive.log

Replace /dev/sdX and paths for your system; first pass (-n) avoids retries, second pass (-r3) retries bad sectors.

After you have a verified image, try non-destructive tools on the image: TestDisk to repair partition/MBR or to restore a lost partition, and PhotoRec for file‑carving if directory entries are gone. ’s suggestion of Recuva can help for simple deleted files, but when file-system metadata is corrupted it often returns unfamiliar or fragmented files — that matches what reported. The XP install CD that asked about can repair boot records (fixmbr/fixboot), but only use those after making an image because they write to the disk. Avoid running chkdsk until you have an image and understand the consequences.

Regarding ’s "refrigerator" tip: it is a risky, last-resort trick for intermittent mechanical failures and can cause condensation and permanent damage. If the drive is noisy or contains critical data, consider stopping DIY attempts and using a professional data‑recovery service. Quick checklist: do not format, image first, recover from the image, only then attempt repairs.

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Member Avatar for sparkax

What OS is installed on C and on D ?

Member Avatar for spidey


Both have Windows XP as their OS.

Member Avatar for spidey


I tried Recuva. It displays files I'm not familiar with. Maybe these files are just leftover from damaged drive. I don't know. It does not display my documents, media and other files.
I really need help. Feels like I lost a quarter of my life.

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
Try all that has been offered but if you have no success, install a new drive and put you old drive in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Then install it as a slave drive and try to copy the info off it then. This works most times but the drive will fail again as soon as it gets warm.

Member Avatar for sparkax

Do you have the XP installation disk ?

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