How to recover files even though the hard drive is reformatted?

Question

is there any way for me to recover all those files that have been deleted because of my stupidity? I accidentally crashed my computer because me wanting to upgrade my XP to Vista and then voila! It crashed! We forgot the administrator password, wasn't able to recover XP option, and then the precious pictures on my computer were gone. d**n. Is there any way for me to recover these data? Please. Please. Please. I'm disheartened now. I know its my fault. But is there any way?! Thanks in advance. Hope for your kind answers..

Answer 1

you have to clean your drive about 5-10 times before everything is really lost for good.  Data recovery is really pricey but there are computer nuts that can do it.  Good Luck!

Answer 2

The answer to your problem is a qualified yes. It is possible. The question is how much time and money you want to put into it.

Data, once loaded onto a computer, stays there for a very long time. A file is created and an index file tracks where that file is located (what sector and track on the metal disks in the hard drive). If you add or modify that file, the changes you've made are stored on another section of the hard drive by the index is updated to show both spots where your file is (the original file and the updated file). Now, when you DELETE a file. It does not wipe the file itself. It only deletes the index file that said where it was stored, saying that sector and track is available for writing again. If you do not install, modify or add any more data to that hard drive; you are very likely to find it via data recovery. There are a few free versions out there, you can pay anywhere from $40 to several hundred dollars to buy software to do it yourself OR you can send it to a company (usually ones that handle business data recovery for ungodly amount of money) to do it for you. I have used GetDataBack to recover data on a drive that wouldn't boot up NOR could I see data if I hooked it to another hard drive. After it ran a scan for about 36 hours (it was an 80 GB drive), I was able to recover about 98% of what I had. I wasn't able to open what were essentially temp files, so that's no big deal. However, you have installed an operating system on top of the data you want to get back. If any section of your hard drive that had written over the files, you aren't likely to get those back. The good news is that you can probably recover MOST, since operating systems don't take that much space (Win98 uses about 500 MB, XP uses about 1.5 GB) unless you have Vista (which can take up to 15 GB). The chances for file recovery drop with VISTA and/or if you have continued to write data over the data you want back.

If you are serious about getting the data back, stop using that drive. You can get a new hard drive (or a used one you don't need data back on) and install the OS on it. Use that for your computer. You will just need to make sure the size of that drive is big enough to hold data you want to pull off the other hard drive. You can get a program like GetDataBack and install it ON THE NEW DRIVE. You should never install anything on the same drive you want to pull data from. Next, you hook your old hard drive as SLAVE to the new hard drive (that is done with jumpers on the hard drive, and maybe even set in the BIOS depending on the computer you're using) You can check the hard drive manufacturer for documentation on how to install their drives.

Once that's in place, you install the software, run the scan and save the data to the new drive. In time, you should get at least some files back. The only other thing to mention is that when you get the software to recover data, you need to get the version that matches the file system you were using. Your options are either FAT or NTFS. When the drive was originally formatted, it would have had to been one of these two choices. Win98 could only use FAT (file allocation tables) but XP could use either (including NT file system). I am not sure what Vista needs, but would guess NTFS. You can probably ask the software recovery software people what they think you might have.

Anyway, it is POSSIBLE to get the data back if you want.

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

There is no need for you to worry about your files when ParetoLogic Data Recovery Pro is on the job.

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You might want to try it here:

http://www.paretologic.com/lp/datarecove...

Answer 4

look  for a program called restoration on the internet, its free, small in size and very easy to use, install it and run it, whatever it finds you can get back to your computer, if it doesnt work you'll have to look for a more complicated and expensive data recovery software.  

Answer 5

Formatting completly wipes everything on the hard drive. No files. No operating system. No thing.

Sorry but your going to have to start from scratch. ;\

Answer 6

You will have to contact pc repair shops, PC World are very good, when your hard drive is reformatted, not everything is always erased, in alot of cases, there are ways extracting that data.  It depends really, because typically reformatts do delete everything.  

But its best to ask them, police on many occassions have recovered files that have been permanently deleted and reformatted when it could be substantial evidence.  

Answer 7

sorry mate! if u formatted then no way to recover!!! its like searching for burned document!

for details about system maintenance, visit http://vicky-sys-maintenance.blogspot.co...

Answer 8

A data recovery company might be able to save the pictures, but it will really cost you. If you are considering that, discontinue using the hard drive for now.

If you are in a large city, check your local phone book. Otherwise, Google for someone.