URGENT (My Thesis!) Recovery assistance request after bootable CD HD formatting

[jcsalazaro \(removethis\)]

Dear Sirs,

2 weeks ago I had a problem with the Office installation
CD, so I
decided to erase temporal files. After restarting the PC I
receive a
NON SYSTEM DISK MESSAGE. As I did not have more tools, I
load the
ACER BOOTABLE CD which came with my Acer Travel Mate 630
laptop. This
CD automatically formatted the C disk without asking me!

After the incident, I decided to reinstall Windows XP (I
know I
should have not make it). The CD launched the ghost
software and
then, after almost 1 hour, Windows was ready.

My question is if I still can recover the files which was
on my hard
disk, specially the thesis. I have contacted ACER but,
besides a very
bad online support, they repllied that the only solution
would be
contacting you or one of your representatives in Toulouse,
France
(where I am living) since they did not have a support
network around
here but only in Paris (Incredible!).

I know there are ways to recover this info, like tools
like Norton
Utilities or Ontrack. I am afraid I will have to buy an
external disk
(very expensive in France) to recover my old files to it.
I just want
to make sure that it is still possible to recover at least
60-70% of
my thesis. If yes, I think is worth enough for buying a
extenal hard
disk and making it myself, without the very bad an almost
"inexistent" acer support. Is there any other way, I mean,
within the
same disk without having to buy another one and putting it
as a
slave?

I was told that it is impossible to recover after a Hard
disk format
under XP. I do not remember if I had NTFS or FAT32. I know
you have
the real answer. Please help me, please help me!

 

[Jim Macklin]

When you format the disk, a new data structure is created,
but the old data is there, there just isn't a map for it.
There are unformat tools and there are data recovery tools
and professional services companies.
Before you do any more with the drive, contact a company
such as DriverSavers for their advice. Any data written to
the drive will make recovery more difficult and expensive.

Do a search on Google for "unformat" and "data recovery" to
get a better understanding.

Your thesis may cost several thousand dollars to recover,
next time back your data up to a CD-R(RW) or even a floppy
before you start. If you partition the hard drive, you can
have operating system and program files on C: and have a D:
drive for data. Then your thesis will not be lost if you
must reinstall with a format on C:


"jcsalazaro (removethis) @hotmail.com"
| Dear Sirs,
|
| 2 weeks ago I had a problem with the Office installation
| CD, so I
| decided to erase temporal files. After restarting the PC I
| receive a
| NON SYSTEM DISK MESSAGE. As I did not have more tools, I
| load the
| ACER BOOTABLE CD which came with my Acer Travel Mate 630
| laptop. This
| CD automatically formatted the C disk without asking me!
|
| After the incident, I decided to reinstall Windows XP (I
| know I
| should have not make it). The CD launched the ghost
| software and
| then, after almost 1 hour, Windows was ready.
|
| My question is if I still can recover the files which was
| on my hard
| disk, specially the thesis. I have contacted ACER but,
| besides a very
| bad online support, they repllied that the only solution
| would be
| contacting you or one of your representatives in Toulouse,
| France
| (where I am living) since they did not have a support
| network around
| here but only in Paris (Incredible!).
|
| I know there are ways to recover this info, like tools
| like Norton
| Utilities or Ontrack. I am afraid I will have to buy an
| external disk
| (very expensive in France) to recover my old files to it.
| I just want
| to make sure that it is still possible to recover at least
| 60-70% of
| my thesis. If yes, I think is worth enough for buying a
| extenal hard
| disk and making it myself, without the very bad an almost
| "inexistent" acer support. Is there any other way, I mean,
| within the
| same disk without having to buy another one and putting it
| as a
| slave?
|
| I was told that it is impossible to recover after a Hard
| disk format
| under XP. I do not remember if I had NTFS or FAT32. I know
| you have
| the real answer. Please help me, please help me!

 

[Bill James]

If you have done a format and reinstall, the chances of recovering files is very slim. There are specialty firms that can retrieve whatever might be left, but it is going to be very expensive. The more you use the PC, the lower the chance of recovering information. The situation is very grim for you, sorry to say.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Win9x VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/

 

[Bloke at the pennine puddle (Replace n.a.v.d with]

Oh dear. You ran the system recovery CD through the notebook which
also copied all the original applications back to the hard drive.

Unless your thesis was stored right near the end of the notebook's
hard disk then, basically, your thesis is screwed. If it is right at
end of the hard disk, as someone mentioned, you've got a new file
allocation table map, and you also reinstalled XP over the factory
install!

Honestly? Time to see how good your memory is and te-rype the entire
thesis. If you've got a very fat wallet, get a data recovery company
on the job.

"jcsalazaro \(removethis\) @hotmail.com"

Dear Sirs,

2 weeks ago I had a problem with the Office installation
CD, so I
decided to erase temporal files. After restarting the PC I
receive a
NON SYSTEM DISK MESSAGE. As I did not have more tools, I
load the
ACER BOOTABLE CD which came with my Acer Travel Mate 630
laptop. This
CD automatically formatted the C disk without asking me!

<<--CUT-->>

 

[Reg Hamilton]

I suggest you run the trial version from www.RecoverMyFiles.com and see what
you can find. It will be a matter of luck as to whether or not your thesis
has been written over.

Good luck