Reformatted, lost data. Can I get it back?

[Guest]

Hi all,

I was clearing out some old files, and accidentally deleted something
crucial. I don't know exactly what it was, but when I rebooted, I could not
get XP to work. So, on advice of my new ex-best friend, I reinstalled XP. Now
I am in trouble...

My data (a folder on my desktop) is seemingly gone, but is it GONE? Is there
some program that I can run on the current XP that can search all nooks and
crannies of the drive for a deleted file?

Help me!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Mike;
Something here may help:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/datrec.htm

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

If you indeed reformatted your hard drive, all files
have been permanently erased and are non-recoverable.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| Hi all,
|
| I was clearing out some old files, and accidentally deleted something
| crucial. I don't know exactly what it was, but when I rebooted, I could not
| get XP to work. So, on advice of my new ex-best friend, I reinstalled XP. Now
| I am in trouble...
|
| My data (a folder on my desktop) is seemingly gone, but is it GONE? Is there
| some program that I can run on the current XP that can search all nooks and
| crannies of the drive for a deleted file?
|
| Help me!

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

If you indeed reformatted your hard drive, all files
have been permanently erased and are non-recoverable.

Not quite true. The sectors are "hard formatted" (or "low level
formatted"). Reformatting just rewrites master boot record, the sector
map (different for different file systems), renumbers the sectors and
marks them as available, and so on.

During re-install of XP, many sectors are overwritten.

However, overwriting the data does not change 100% of the magnetic
particles in the surface of the HD: a few remain the same. Only repeated
overwriting will delete all traces of the previous data - so-called
"wiping utilities" do just this. The NSA standard requires at least
seven overwrites, IIRC.

Because traces of previous data remain, it's possible to recover the
data, but it takes technology and expertise that are not easily
available. OP could take the drive to a company that specialises in data
recovery. If (s)he has done little or no work on the reformatted
machine, most of the data should be fairly easy to recover, ie,
relatively cheap.

OP will have to decide whether lost data is worth the cost of recovery.

OP's tale of woe is a common one, and illustrates the fact that
computers still require knowledge and skill to operate safely and
reliably, no matter how pretty and user interface looks.

 

[Pat Coghlan]

If you re-installed XP and used the existing file system, your old
desktop and folders might still exist in C:\Documents and Settings\<old
account name>

For example, if you kept the old file system, there will be both an
\Administrator\ and \Administrator.Windows\ folder under \Documents and
Settings\, with the .Windows one being the new one just created. If the
desktop folder was associated with the Administrator account, you can
probably still find it in \Administrator\.

Hope this helps.

-Pat

 

[anno_triangle]

Hello,

Indeed, the data might not be definately gone. I'm pretty sure some
powerful data recovery utility can help in this case. The one I prefer
myself is Undelete, it is relable and powerful. I give you a word that
will bring your data back if not a long time has passed.
http://www.active-undelete.com/

 

[Malke]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

A word from a spammer is worse than useless.

Malke