is it possible to retrieve data after format

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

hi ,


i had 3 partitions on my HD ,Due to some how i had to delete the partitions and made one partition from them.

Now i have not yet installed XP on the new partition. Just setup has only copied the files.

so should i install OS or not , before data recovery

Is it possible to get the old data back?

[senkei]

Don't kill me if i'm wrong, but apparently 'deleted' data is still there, it is only gone when other data is written over it. There are software out there to recover 'deleted' data, i've used it before and got a tiny bit back from what i lost. Other than that, there are professional services, but they are expensive.

In your case, i'm not quite sure. After i delete my partition, i format before i install windows, i'm not sure if this process overwrites the previous data or not.

[Fou-Lu]

I also do not have experience with this. My understanding is, so long as you do not do a full format (quick format is ok, which is what I believe partition pulling does) only the reference tables have been destroyed. This means that it allows the data to become overwritten but the original is still there - only the OS doesn't acknowledge it. There should be programs to do this for you, and I know someone else here has to have used one before so just sit tight and wait for them. Don't install a new OS if you need to get the data back, or you will likely lose a whole chunk of it.

Oops, Senkei mentioned the programs. I was going to mention the professional as well, but just noticed he mentioned that one too. And when he means expensive, he means very expensive. I heard of a company spending up to $250,000 to retrieve data from a single damaged hard-disk. And they paid, thats how critical data is, and why you should always have backups :)


Oh, if you have a cloning utility and another hard disk of at least the same size, you can always clone the disk so you can create a usable OS out of you're current hard disk

[oracleguy]

It is possible to recover the data assuming it was not securely deleted (which in this case it doesn't sound like it). However installing a new OS on there and using the drive is the last thing you want to do. You might be able to find some files but it'd be depend on how good the program is and how much you've written to those areas already.

[o0O0o.o0O0o]

My Hd was 500Gb with 4 partitions . Now i deleted all partions and made single partition using Fdisk. Then format that one using format c:

Then i put the window XP cd , it copies the setup files and when asks for restart , then i turned off the computer.

I think at the most if i had consumed 5-10Gb thats ok , there is 300GB of data i want to recover.

First i have to buy that HD rack to plug that HD into laptop and see how much i can recover. I had three SATA HD attached to computer . Instead of pulling out the empty HD , by mistake i took out the HD with data :D

If every thing goes right , it possible to get 300Gb data back?

[Fou-Lu]

If you chose to do a quick format on C, you may be able to retrieve some data. If you did a full format, it will likely need a professional lift to get even a few of the files back off of it.
Unfortunately, when you write to a hard disk it does not go in a sequential fashion. A defrag on the original disk probably arranged files for quicker access on each side of the platters, and likely in a way so that the actuator doesn't need to move a whole lot. If this has been done and even if a quick format was done, you've already overwritten a lot of you're data. I hope you have backup tape drives available for recovery.

[ramm19]

if you did a high level format you can still retrieve the data, just don't keep writing things on the HD... A low level formating is harder to recover from.

In the past I've used a program called recovermyfiles and was able to recover around 90% of my files.

[primefalcon]

http://lifehacker.com/393084/how-to-recover-deleted-files-with-free-software

this will tell you how to recover lost files with free software

[GoParrt]

Its pretty hard to recover data after format (not impossible) so if the lost data is not very important don't bother.

[primefalcon]

Frankly I lost a whole partition a while back, botched partition resizing...., recovered the whole partition and contents without issue using Testdisk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk).

So saying it's near impossible is very misleading, what is important is whether the data has been written over or not, the important thing if you have data you want to recover is, as soon as the data loss has occurred, Just stop and don't touch the computer (probably one of the very few situation I would recommend a hard shutdown). Though a format and reinstall would things... harder

Once shutdown boot using a usb or rom and you can use testdisk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk) to recover whole lost partitions or large amounts of files or you can use grep/recover to recover files on a more singular basis.

[oracleguy]

So saying it's near impossible is very misleading, what is important is whether the data has been written over or not

Agreed; especially since these days 99.9% of the time you would do a quick format on a hard drive since a full format on a 500+gb drive would take forever and is usually unnecessary. A quick format just blows away the master file table and creates a clean one with the entire partition marked as free, basically the same effect as deleting all the files.

[hitek]

Yes, it is possible to recover data after format. There (http://8help.osu.edu/1180.html) is an article about norton disk doctor.

[primefalcon]

I try not to be too verbal against a place.... but I am going to say this here..... stay the hell away from Norton, Norton causes far more trouble than it fixes

[onlinement]

Senkei mentioned the programs. I was activity to acknowledgment the able as well, but aloof noticed he mentioned that one too. And back he agency expensive, he agency actual expensive. I heard of a aggregation spending up to $250,000 to retrieve abstracts from a distinct damaged hard-disk. And they paid, thats how analytical abstracts is, and why you should consistently accept backups

[effpeetee]

Some useful programs here (http://www.freebyte.com/filediskutils/#diskmanagement).

and also here. (http://www.adrc.com/software/data_recovery_tools/)

Frank

[AirBender]

You can retrieve the last partition on your hard drive with the help of a third party data recovery software, try Kernel for FAT and NTFS, xp partition recovery software which instantly and efficiently recovers all the data from the partition.

[Sara Martin]

This is practical and i did it a year ago but now i forgot that software.

[jelo4]

I'm not sure if Recuva software will solve your problem, but you can give it a try. I used it on my memory card but I haven't tried on HDD.