Please help! OS X is gone!

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kabbage

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Ok so I installed 10.5 yesterday then upgraded to 10.5.1 via software update and then started my journey towards windows. I am on an iMac 17" 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 1 GB RAM. So next I created a partition (14GB) for Windows using Boot Camp. I then printed out the instructions and proceeded to install windows. I absolutely selected the C:/ drive as instructed and when the windows install concluded my computer restarted and went right back to the beginning of the install for Windows. I started to go back through the steps but realized it was just starting over when i got to the step where I was supposed to pick the drive again, so I stopped. i then tried rebooting while holding Option but now there was no Mac partition at all! I had also installed 10.5 on an external firewire drive and have since booted from it and tried Disk Utility (i have attached photos of what it shows). i was an idiot and did not make a backup. my question is, does anyone know a way i can recover my photos, music and files?
 

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Looks like your entire hard drive is now formatted NTFS for Windows - all of it. recovery seems unlikely :(
Maybe someone else will chime in with more encouraging news, but with NTFS, and a Mac, you don't have too many choices.

I think the mis-step comes when the Windows reboots, and you get a screen that asks you to press any key to boot to the CD, so pressing a key on command causes the Windows installer to start up again, and so it goes (again!) - when no key should be pressed, and it then boots to the hard drive Windows partition to complete the install. If you haven't often (or ever) installed Windows, it's easy to get thrown off the path at that point. darn windows, anyway! You may want to give MS a suitable return gift. They certainly gave you a great one!
 
while i wait for help - i have found a product called Data Rescue II - am trying their demo - stay tuned... crossing fingers!

i also went back in with my windows install to see if i could finish the xp installation and when i selected the C:/ partition again it said that there was already an installation on there. it gave me the option to delete that from the partition - would that be a good idea? maybe that could bring back OS X? or am i dreaming? i didn't do it for fear of erasing even more files...
 
Certainly, try Data Rescue, It's some good software. _Don't_ make things worse by doing anything more if you want to have any hope of getting your data back. I doubt that will help with that NTFS partition, but it's worth a try...
 
So Data Rescue II sees a ton of my old files, which makes me think that my OS X partition is still intact but just not visible because of the Windows install. Would it make sense to save all the files with Data Rescue II then go back and try to delete the windows partition with the xp cd? I know it sounds simple, but there has to be a way to get my imac to recognize and repair the OS X partition.
 
I haven't used Data Rescue, but I think you are having some good luck. You have to review the user instructions for Data Rescue to see how to proceed. If you can't continue on your own - I suggest you make a new thread named something like "Need help using Data Rescue II", explaining your situation, and wait for specific responses. Also, you need to purchase DR II - from their site:
The demo mode only allows you to recover one single file, no larger than 500k. Once you've confirmed that Data Rescue II can indeed see the files that you wish to recover you can simply purchase a copy of Data Rescue II and a serial number will be immediately sent to you via email.
Click to expand...
 
I bought it and am downloading all of the files now - I guess my question now is - Is there a way to remove the PC MBR and for that matter all of the PC files I have installed and then try to restart from the old Mac OS X partition?
 
repost your question, with a quick overview of what you want to do. Post with a good title like "Can I remove NTFS that overwrote OS X partition?". That should get someone's interest. It's outside of my experience, but someone else might know. Make a new thread, your files appear to not be gone, but you need some help to get everything working now....
 
kabbage said:
Ok so I installed 10.5 yesterday then upgraded to 10.5.1 via software update and then started my journey towards windows. I am on an iMac 17" 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 1 GB RAM. So next I created a partition (14GB) for Windows using Boot Camp. I then printed out the instructions and proceeded to install windows. I absolutely selected the C:/ drive as instructed and when the windows install concluded my computer restarted and went right back to the beginning of the install for Windows. I started to go back through the steps but realized it was just starting over when i got to the step where I was supposed to pick the drive again, so I stopped. i then tried rebooting while holding Option but now there was no Mac partition at all! I had also installed 10.5 on an external firewire drive and have since booted from it and tried Disk Utility (i have attached photos of what it shows). i was an idiot and did not make a backup. my question is, does anyone know a way i can recover my photos, music and files?
Click to expand...

Exact same thing happened to me. Fortunately, I had a bootable backup. That guide is completely mis-leading. Someone needs to tell Apple that their guide is crap.
 
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