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Recovering Data After Format.


AlconH

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Hi guys, I did one of my friends at work a favour as his parents pc was running really slow. I tried every fix i could possibly think of, clearing caches, cleaning the registry running AV scans. I tried everything but the stubborn thing would not speed up.

I then decided that I would format the drive and reinstall windows. I asked them if there was anything important on the drive such as documents that would need to be backed up otherwise they would be lost and they said no. I then went ahead and formatted the drive and reinstalled windows, all is good.

I get a call 6 months later (yesterday) to hear that my mates sister had her CV and a load of important documents stored on the PC which had been deleted, obviously.

I'm going round tomorrow to see if there is anything I can do, but was wondering if you guys had any good, free tools I could use to recover as much as I can.

Cheers,

Tom

Edited by Tom H
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Well, you can find some good free trial software on the web but some of those will only show you some deleted data and you won't be able to use the recoverd data unless you purchase the full version. I would recommend "Easy recovery pro", "Getdataback" or "File Scavenger". Those will probably be able to recover some data although I wouldn't put your hopes up since you reinstalled windows as well but it's wort a shot i guess.

I would advise you to read this topic:http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/51446-14-recover-data-format. That will probably help you out.

Edited by kjel0112

"Dura lex, sed lex"

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As far as I'm aware, the only way to fully recover deleted HDD Data is to use the things the police use over here in the UK..

You can completely wipe something from your HDD, but you can bet your arse they'll get it back.

My knowledge is limited however, so I could be wrong

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As far as I'm aware, the only way to fully recover deleted HDD Data is to use the things the police use over here in the UK..

You can completely wipe something from your HDD, but you can bet your arse they'll get it back.

My knowledge is limited however, so I could be wrong

I'm in the UK too...... :D

Anyway, I'll just have to try my best using my also limited knowledge of data recovery.

Thanks for your replies,

Tom

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Formatting is sadly one of the most efficient ways to get rid of data. I doubt there will be much you can do.

Well that all depends, if you did a quick format all the data will still be there, its just marked as free space so it can be over written. A full format will gets rid of some data, but still the old stuff can be retrieved. You will only be able to recover any data that has not be over written by anything saved since the format. Its kind of like when you delete a file, the data is still on the hard drive, its just marked as free space. It wont truly be gone until it get over written by new data. Thats one reason why if you get rid of an old computer, you want to wipe the drive vs just formatting it. For those that don't know what happens when you wipe a drive, what the software is doing is filling up the hard drive with 0s.

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There are data recovery services that can be performed for you either at local retail electronics store, or an independent technician. In any case, data is never truly deleted from a hard drive. Formatting only puts a layer of random 1's and 0's on top of it. The only way to truly get rid of information is to actually smash the platter. If you want the information badly enough, you can get it.

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A normal format only deletes the references, the actual data will still be on the drive, UNLESS any form of software writes on the drive, then the data will be nigh on impossible to restore.

Let this be a lesson in backing up their important data, any important data of any form should be kept in two copies, preferably not at the same location in case of burglars and/or fires.

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