Backtrack installation deleted Windows, help

[jora15678]

While being reinstalled, Backtrack 4 was installed over Windows instead of dual boot. Windows partition was deleted too and now I have only ext3 and extended: linux-swap partitions. This is Netbook so repairing from CD is not optional.
How to repair the Windows installation/files? Please help.

P.S This is very urgent, since I have two un-backuped projects in there.

[KMDave]

Well most likely you will have a hard time to restore your files.

Sorry to say but maybe you now learn to read up and get more knowledge before doing stuff.

You might be able to recover some with for instance Helix. You will either need an external disc drive or a thumb drive.

[killadaninja]

Congratulations, you should be proud of yourself, Open source 1 - Microsoft 0

[jora15678]

You might be able to recover some with for instance Helix. You will either need an external disc drive or a thumb drive.

KMDave, Have you worked with Helix? Remember that It was almost whole ntfs drive that became an ext3, (does the BT's installation overwrite the HDD?) Can Helix's "Adepto" deal with that?
I'm still wondering if I can repair the Windows boot somehow.

[jora15678]

I tried Helix with it's Adepto, didn't have success with it. Can someone explain what does the Backtrack's installation do to ntfs drives, does it leaves the information while formatting or overwrites it?

[g3ksan]

Basically what you've done is completely formatted your drive and installed Backtrack on it. Windows is gone, sorry. You shouldn't mess with things you don't fully understand.

[aerokid240]

Provided that the data isn't overwritten by the new install you may be able to carve the data out. If you want an easy but good program to use to attempt to revcover your files, take a look at diskdigger. It is a windows program and easy to use so you will need to hook up your hard drive to an external USB drive and plug it into a windows system (XP is what i used in the past, can't vouch for the Vista or win7 but i assume they will as well). The option in disk digger that you want to use is "dig deeper", this mode will try to carve data out of the hard disk by their file headers and footers (magic bytes). There are programs in linux that you can use as well but to not complicate you too much, diskdigger will suite you fine (For more info click here). You can check out my Security and forensics blog about using the disk digger program and some usefull resources. You can look at some of my other forensics posts as well for more info on recovering files.

Blog:
aerokid240.blogspot.com

[jora15678]

Provided that the data isn't overwritten by the new install you may be able to carve the data out. If you want an easy but good program to use to attempt to revcover your files, take a look at diskdigger. It is a windows program and easy to use so you will need to hook up your hard drive to an external USB drive and plug it into a windows system (XP is what i used in the past, can't vouch for the Vista or win7 but i assume they will as well). The option in disk digger that you want to use is "dig deeper", this mode will try to carve data out of the hard disk by their file headers and footers (magic bytes). There are programs in linux that you can use as well but to not complicate you too much, diskdigger will suite you fine (For more info click here). You can check out my Security and forensics blog about using the disk digger program and some usefull resources. You can look at some of my other forensics posts as well for more info on recovering files.

Blog:
aerokid240.blogspot.com

Thank you very much, I've already succeeded. Repaired all I needed except ~500 lines of code (which were overwritten by a dictionary file...) , I will keep min mind using your suggestion later for repairing the rest.

[GregSA]

. This is Netbook so repairing from CD is not optional.
.

Why not?

Google for USB Multiboot. Its free and basically can install any OS, Provided you READ the instructions carefully. I have used USB Multiboot many times with Windows, Linux and DOS ISO's on the same flash drive

[skull2006]

Congratulations, you should be proud of yourself, Open source 1 - Microsoft 0

Open source 1 - Microsoft 0

Good point.
LOL