Need advice on recovering data from a HDD...

[IgoByte]

Hi folks,

I have a problem here, and I'll get right into it...

I have an older Sony laptop, which was running Windows 98 and had not been maintained since being purchased. The damned thing was crawling, so I figured I'd do a fresh WIndows 2000 Pro installation on it. I backed up much of the files that were on it, but some remained. I'm wondering if there is any way to recover these files that I had not backed up.

Here is the procedure I went through:
- back up files
- update bios
- start up windows 2000 installation
- delete the two existing partitions (c: ~7.5GB & d: ~3.5GB, both FAT32)
- create single large partition
- format single large partition as NTFS
- install windows to c:
- install SP3 & patches
- install other apps: office & patches, etc.
- discover there were files I didn't back up

The lost data is nothing horrible; it's merely an inconvenience, but I would nonetheless like to try and recover it if at all possible.
I'm sure plenty of you have been in my shoes and have come up with a solution, so I'm just wondering if you could help me out. Firstly, would it be at all possible to recover any old data from this HDD and secondly, how should I go about doing it?


So much for now...Thanks in advance.

 

[redbeard1]

I'm pretty sure, that short of wanting to spend lots of money for a specialized program or service, that there is no way to get anything recovered after a format, repartitioning and install. There are some tools for unformatting a drive, but those only work if you have stopped there and have not installed anything to the drive. Once you write to the drive basic recovery tools are not going to work.

 

[sinisterDei]

There's a piece of software called GetDataBack and its a great piece of software to own. There is also a free version, but I'm not sure what its limitations are. It will probably be able to recover some (if not all) of what you want. It may not be worth it to buy the thing (its $60-70) for this one instance, but I bought it as a general tool to have around.

 

[IgoByte]

Thanks, guys. I don't mind buying that piece of software, if it works well for me. I guess I'll try the free version just to see if the interface is suitable and then go from there.

Thanks again...

 

[redbeard1]

A quote from getdataback:

Please note: Installing HDHost or any other programs on the drive you
want to recover from, can cause data on that drive to be overwritten.
If at all possible we always recommend to attach the drive as a second
drive to a working computer and run the data recovery software from
there.

You have written to that drive by installing windows on it. If you stop using that drive now, there is a slim possibilty you could recover something. The other thing, is they talk about a version for fat and for ntfs, you have gone over fat with ntfs, which version do you need? You might try contacting them to see what they say about your chances of any recovery.

 

[IgoByte]

Originally posted by: redbeard1
A quote from getdataback:

Please note: Installing HDHost or any other programs on the drive you
want to recover from, can cause data on that drive to be overwritten.
If at all possible we always recommend to attach the drive as a second
drive to a working computer and run the data recovery software from
there.

You have written to that drive by installing windows on it. If you stop using that drive now, there is a slim possibilty you could recover something. The other thing, is they talk about a version for fat and for ntfs, you have gone over fat with ntfs, which version do you need? You might try contacting them to see what they say about your chances of any recovery.

Precisely my thoughts.

Do you know of any other recovery software by any chance? I've been doing searches, downloading stuff, etc...

 

[wondersteve]

Originally posted by: sinisterDei
There's a piece of software called GetDataBack and its a great piece of software to own. There is also a free version, but I'm not sure what its limitations are. It will probably be able to recover some (if not all) of what you want. It may not be worth it to buy the thing (its $60-70) for this one instance, but I bought it as a general tool to have around.

playing on the internet again sinister? shouldn't you be WORKING ??

about the program GetDataBack ... I myself have used it to recover and drive that lost its formatting and mbr .. i was able to recover 99% of the data .... great program

 

[MattM350]

I have used PC Inspector File Recovery on my NTFS formatted hard drives to recover stuff that was deleted, aslong as you just did a normal format and not a secure format (there are programs to preform 35+ pass formats which if you use you should not be able to recover anything). PC Inspector File Recovery (http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/download.htm) works great although it takes a while to list all of the data that was erased. Try to not use the hard drive that you formatted because once the parts that had the old data get re-written you are outta luck recovering what was there...

 

[IgoByte]

Thanks.

I don't know how to use GetDataBack. I get it to scan the drive and all and then it lists things in explorer-like fashion (which should be simple), but I have no idea where to go from there or even how to look for the lost files.