Disaster!

[LineOne]

I am running WindowsXP and have an Iomega external drive. I thought I would
reformat and reinstall WindowsXP and backed everything up to my external
drive. Unfortunately I left the drive plugged in when reformatting and it
has reformatted and installed WindowsXP on my external drive, overwriting
all my backups! I have since successfully reinstalled WindowsXP on my
computer but is there any chance of recovering the data overwritten on my
external drive. Many thanks in advance.

 

[RonK]

It's gone.

 

[Larry Samuels]

Only through 3rd party software or by using a data recovery
company(expensive)
There is a very high likelihood the data was destroyed by the windows
install

A good freeware utility you can try is Restoration
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Steven L.]

I am running WindowsXP and have an Iomega external drive. I thought I would
reformat and reinstall WindowsXP and backed everything up to my external
drive. Unfortunately I left the drive plugged in when reformatting and it
has reformatted and installed WindowsXP on my external drive, overwriting
all my backups! I have since successfully reinstalled WindowsXP on my
computer but is there any chance of recovering the data overwritten on my
external drive. Many thanks in advance.

There may be enough residual magnetism from the original data so that
even after reformatting and overwriting it, that it may be recoverable.
A professional data recovery company may be able to recover the data.
Look in your local Yellow Pages for a data recovery specialist.

I disagree with experimenting with third-party applications on your own.
If you futz around with the drive yourself, you may further affect the
delicate information on the disk and make it impossible for a
professional data recovery company to recover the data. Disconnect the
drive immediately, put it in a safe place away from all magnetic fields,
and start looking for a data recovery company.

 

[LineOne]

Thanks to Larry and Steven for advice. I enquired about data recovery,
probably about four to five hundred pounds! I might try a third party
software but not sure whether to use a FAT or NTFS one. The original drive
was in FAT but I have reformatted it in NTFS. Not my day is it!

 

[LineOne]

Eureka, I bought a program called Getbackdata (fat version) and after four
hours it looks like I have most, if not all, my data back. Brilliant.

 

[RonK]

You are Lucky !

Eureka, I bought a program called Getbackdata (fat version) and after four
hours it looks like I have most, if not all, my data back. Brilliant.