Ubuntu and Win7 file recovery programs

[DireWolf1972]

My HDD died on my laptop. It was running Windows 7 Home. Bought a replacement drive, but lost a lot of important files that are still on the dead drive (yes I know I should have been backing up).

I have used GetDataBack, Spinrite 6, and R-Studio in the past to recover files for friends who've had drives die. I might end up going that route and using one of these, but just wondering what are some really good Linux based file recovery programs that are out there.

I currently have Ubuntu 12.10 installed on the replacement drive I'm running in the laptop.

Starting to get used to Ubuntu and not really wanting to wipe it and reinstall Win to use GDB or R-Studio.

Spinrite which runs off its own bootable disk estimates over 100 days to complete is, so that one is out of the question.

Any suggestions of good Linux friendly recovery programs would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

[yancek]

SystemRescueCD has TestDisk which is designed specifically for this purpose. Download link below. It also has several other useful programs and is a handy tool to have:

SystemRescueCd

There is a tutorial on using Testdisk at the link below worth reading before you begin:

TestDisk Step By Step - CGSecurity

[Kloschüssel]

Maybe too late, but:

STOP RIGHT THERE!

If there is important data on your drive you should not power it on again. There may be serious physical malfunction that can physically destroy the remaining parts of data! The best thing you can do is to send the drive to a company that is a specialist on recovering hard drive data. They can open the drive and scan the platters for data.

And last but not least: DONT TRY THIS AT HOME ON YOURSELF! You would need a Cleanroom to open a hard drive and analyze the platter surfaces. If you open it by yourself it may be equally safe to just throw the drive out of the window while it is powered on and seeking.

Read here: http://www.stellarinfo.com/datarecov...disk-crash.htm