HARD DRIVE LOST DATA

[Guest]

I have just reinstalled WindowsXP because I felt evrything was running slowly
and to many errors were occuring. I upgraded to 2x2.4Mhz=4.8 CPU and the
machine is now lightning fast. I have three hard drives and when I did a
format, I accidently formatted the wrong drive. I now have c:=160Ghz
f:=300Ghz and g:=400Ghz. The c: and f: drives are OK but because g: was
reformatted and XP installed on it, I had to remove it from my system because
at startup the system would boot from G: I can however use g: via USB. There
are very important video files on this g: drive which were lost with
reformat. I have tried 3 different recovery programs but for for some reason
the recovery programs only show the existing files and numerous old deleted
files. Is there anyone who can recommend a program or way to recover these
lost .avi and .mpg video files.

 

[Malke]

I have just reinstalled WindowsXP because I felt evrything was running slowly
and to many errors were occuring. I upgraded to 2x2.4Mhz=4.8 CPU and the
machine is now lightning fast. I have three hard drives and when I did a
format, I accidently formatted the wrong drive. I now have c:=160Ghz
f:=300Ghz and g:=400Ghz. The c: and f: drives are OK but because g: was
reformatted and XP installed on it, I had to remove it from my system because
at startup the system would boot from G: I can however use g: via USB. There
are very important video files on this g: drive which were lost with
reformat. I have tried 3 different recovery programs but for for some reason
the recovery programs only show the existing files and numerous old deleted
files. Is there anyone who can recommend a program or way to recover these
lost .avi and .mpg video files.

Since you didn't say what data recovery programs you used, I can't
comment on them. If any of the programs were listed below, your only
option is to send the drive to a professional data recovery company. I
prefer Drive Savers, but there are others. General prices run from
$500USD on up. Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed laptop
drive for one of my clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was worth
the money; only you know what your data is worth. I understand that some
insurance companies are now covering data recovery charges so check with
yours.

Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software “Undelete” -
http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/


Malke

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have just reinstalled WindowsXP because I felt evrything was running
slowly
and to many errors were occuring. I upgraded to 2x2.4Mhz=4.8 CPU and the
machine is now lightning fast. I have three hard drives and when I did a
format, I accidently formatted the wrong drive. I now have c:=160Ghz
f:=300Ghz and g:=400Ghz. The c: and f: drives are OK but because g: was
reformatted and XP installed on it, I had to remove it from my system
because
at startup the system would boot from G: I can however use g: via USB.
There
are very important video files on this g: drive which were lost with
reformat. I have tried 3 different recovery programs but for for some
reason
the recovery programs only show the existing files and numerous old
deleted
files. Is there anyone who can recommend a program or way to recover these
lost .avi and .mpg video files.

After you have recovered your files following Malke's excellent
advice, consider the economics of the situation: Getting a data
recovery company to restore your files is likely to cost $1000
or more. Buying a 2.5" disk and an external USB case for
backup purposes costs perhaps $100.00. In other words, the
problem did not start with you accidentally formatting the wrong
drive. It started much sooner when you chose not to back up
your irreplaceable files.

 

[Ron Badour]

Do I understand you correctly, you formatted the partition and then
installed XP on it? If so, data recovery will not be possible where the XP
files now exist since they would have overwritten the previous data.
However, if there are files that were not overwritten by XP, you should be
able to recover them with Data Recovery Wizard Pro:
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/

 

[Guest]

Hi Ron, I'm not sure I understand your question. I formatted the drive, I
don't know what a 'partition' is. I did not create partitions if that's what
you are asking.

 

[Vanguard]

in message

Do I understand you correctly, you formatted the partition and then
installed XP on it? If so, data recovery will not be possible where
the XP files now exist since they would have overwritten the previous
data. However, if there are files that were not overwritten by XP, you
should be able to recover them with Data Recovery Wizard Pro:
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/

Be aware that the free download is just a demo version and will recover
nothing. It will show you what it could recover after you pay them $70.

"The Demo allow you to evaluate how Data Recovery Wizard recover lost
files. The only limitation is that DEMO versions do not recover files."

Since the OP wasn't backing up his files so they weren't the critically
important files that he claims they are. If you don't backup then they
weren't important. The money is better spent on him getting another
hard drive on which to save temporary backups (permanent backups should
always be saved on media that is separate of the mechanicals of the
drive so they can be used with another drive in case the original drive
fails).

 

[Vanguard]

in message

Hi Ron, I'm not sure I understand your question. I formatted the
drive, I
don't know what a 'partition' is. I did not create partitions if
that's what
you are asking.

You cannot format a hard drive. You can only format partitions defined
on the hard drive.

 

[Ron Badour]

What you and others call a drive is actually a partition. As Vanguard
points out, you formatted the partition--not the hard drive. What's
important is whether or not you installed XP on the newly formatted
partition. Some recovery programs can recover files from a formatted
partition--they cannot recover files that have been overwritten by others
files. The recovery software I recommended will recover files from a
formatted partition--not all programs can do that.

 

[Ron Badour]

I think you are making an assumption not supported by fact. Beauty (in this
case the value of the files) is in the eye of the beholder. Just because he
failed to back them up does not necessarily diminish their value to him.

I've worked on computers containing business records that were not backed up
or some times backed up to another drive in the same physical location. It
does little good to back up important records and not do it off site. If
someone steals the computers (and all hard drives) or if a fire should
occur, the important records are auf wiedersehen.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I think you are making an assumption not supported by fact. Beauty (in
this case the value of the files) is in the eye of the beholder. Just
because he failed to back them up does not necessarily diminish their value
to him.

I've worked on computers containing business records that were not backed
up or some times backed up to another drive in the same physical location.
It does little good to back up important records and not do it off site.
If someone steals the computers (and all hard drives) or if a fire should
occur, the important records are auf wiedersehen.
--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007

If you want to be really, really precise then it should be "auf
Nimmerwiedersehen". The expression "Auf Wiedersehen"
means loosely translated "see you again", which is pretty
much the opposite of what occurs after a theft or a a fire.

The other point I'd like to add to your excellent reply is
that the value of a backup is greatly diminished unless the
user performs a sample recovery right at the beginning
and then again once every six months. Many companies
back up their important data religiously every Friday, only
to find that they can retrieve nothing when the crunch comes
because of some flaw in the backup process.

 

[whiteurls]

What data recovery software you employed to recover your data. Have
you tried Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software a file and
partition recovery utility which recovers lost data from formatted
hard drive. Provides Partition recovery from FAT 16, FAT 32, NTFS and
NTFS5 file system.
For more information about the product: http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
Download the demo: http://www.stellarinfo.com/spwdr.exe