Windows Server 2008 - System Restore

[Nushi]

Hello world...of Rebellioniverse,

I have no idea where to post this here. But, I figured of asking the rebellion anyway.

The other day I was configuring a Windows Server 2008 OS. I was setting it up for File Services so we had one central place to access, share, and stream files from, for our internal network. It's a small network consisting of roughly 6-7 PC's and devices with access; it has a 2wire router, and 1 Server.

While I was configuring the File Services, I had to find the drives I wanted to show up. Without too much detail as to how, because it was automatic and I don't know how, one of the most important drives became unallocated. It has not been formatted. But, the contents of that drive are as important as me losing weight. Yeah, like, memories, personal files, finances, and overall, a 500Gb wallet of Pentagon information. Well, a Pentagon, to me.

How do I recover the contents of this drive without destroying this data? How do I re-allocate it so it can be a Primary partition again? And, how do I make sure it doesn't happen again, because this process was conjured by Windows Server 2008 itself. I am astonished at this, and still in awe, as if watching a marble roll down the side of a mountain turning into an avalanche of random destruction. No clue as to why, or how, it happened.

I really could use some advice here.

Thanks

[Jcannon98188]

I am not sure how to do it yourself, but a pro data restore service could get it.

[Jcannon98188]

Also, get rid of that 2wire. Those are pure evil.

[Vicarious Ink]

Did you use more than one drive? Was it in RAID? If so, I hope you used an actual RAID controller, the software RAID is horrible and terrible....and horrible again. But this would be the first question.

[Nushi]

Hey there,

The drive was just a "Primary" drive for storage. No RAID was used at this time, though, the server does allow it. I am looking into a various of Data and Partition Recovery software from sourceforge, or other Open-Source solutions.

We never set up RAID in any of our labs, nor any time in the last 4 years at college. So, I do not have experience with that at this time. Eventually, everything will be RAID'ed. As, that seems to be the best way for Disaster Recovery.

I have not messed with the server since it lost magically lost the partition. I Eff'n hate Windows for taking ownership of added hardware, and infecting it with their signatures.

Thanks