In computers, a partition is nothing but a logical division of a hard drive, created, to have different operating systems on the same hard drive. A partition is created when you format the hard drive. Most Operating systems allow users to divide the hard drive into multiple partitions. Files in Windows operating system can be organized on the hard drive, using two different file systems i.e., FAT (File Allocation Table) file system and NTFS (New Technology File System).

Like files,Partitions too can be lost, overwritten, or damaged by a virus attack. This can result in a semi-catastrophic failure. These problems, create a genuine need, for a quality data recovery software.

Recovering lost and missing partitions using REMO Recover (Windows) Pro Edition, is a simple task. To recover data from a drive containing a lost or missing partition, follow the simple steps given below,

Step 1: Launch the application either by double clicking the desktop shortcut, or by selecting the icon from the Programs List in the Start Menu. The Main window of the application pops up, as shown in Figure a. Click on the Recover-Advanced button.

Figure a: Main window

Step 2: As you click  the button, a new window is displayed, as shown in Figure b. Select the appropriate option, depending on the partition, from which you wish to recover the data.

Note: In this example, we are describing NTFS Partition Recovery.

Click on the NTFS Partition Recovery button.

Figure b: Select the Partition for Recovery

Step 3: As  you click the  NTFS Partition Recovery button, a new window is displayed, as shown in Figure c. Click on the button, present on the left upper hand corner of the window. On clicking the button, a new Wizard  window is launched, with various options, as shown in Figure c.

Figure c: Wizard Window

Select the Recover your data option, and click on the Next button, to continue, as shown in Figure d.

Figure d: Select Recover your data

Step 4: As you click the Next button, a window is displayed, to select the physical drive from which you wish to recover your data (see Figure e).

Figure e: Select Physical drive

Step 5: Select a physical drive, and the processing mode to process the drive.

The software provides two processing modes.

• Display default partitions- This option displays the partitions already present on the hard drive.

• Search for lost partitions- This option displays the lost or corrupted partitions of that hard drive, which are not listed in the Display default partitions option.

Note: By default, the processing mode is set to Display default partition(s). If you do not find the partition(s) you are looking for, in the default list, then, you can search for lost partitions, by clicking the Search for lost partition(s) radio button.

Since you have to recover lost partitions, Select the option Search for lost partition(s), and click the Next button.

You can use the Quick Scan or the Thorough Scan method, for finding the lost partitions, as shown in Figure f.  Quick Scan does a swift search for the lost partitions, and hence saves time. Thorough Scan does a detailed search, and is therefore more dependable.

Select the Thorough Scan option, and click the Next button.

Figure f: Select Disk Scan Mode

Step 6: On clicking the Next button, the software analyzes the drive, and lists all the found partitions in the partition table. Select the logical drive on which data recovery needs to be performed.

Once the drive is selected, the software automatically scans the selected drive for files and folders, and displays the data in a tree format, as shown in figure g.

Figure g: Found files and folders

Step 7: Once the tree is formed, the final step is to restore the data to a safe destination drive. Select the files and folders you want to save, from the list, and save them onto the destination drive, using the Save button.

If you do not want to save the data now, but do it later, then you can save the scanned information in a file, using the ‘Save Scan Information’ option from the Tools menu.You can later use the ‘Open Scan Information’ option, to open the scan info file, and recover data onto the desired destination drive.

Important:

• If you do not find your files and folders in the tree structure formed, then, run the Turbo scan option from the Tools menu. When you select the Turbo Scan option, the application performs a rigorous search to find files and folders and will list all the found files and folders.
• Never save  data onto the partition or drive from where you are recovering data, as this may result in overwriting of data, and would result in permanent data loss.

Tags: accidentally formatted partition recovery, hard drive partition recovery, partition recovery, recover data from fat partition drive, recover deleted partition, recover formatted partition data, recover lost partition