Reformat Retrieval

[Random Hero]

my friend recently reformatted, he had to due to a problem that was irreversable. i told him to quick format it, that way you can retrieve data back as it just overwrites whats on it rather than deleting and writing. well he has, and its working again, but now i need a program to help me do this, any ideas? thanks

[ACtheTROLL]

Oh dear .... I think you misunderstood what a format does ....

When you choose to run a full format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged

Ontrack software is very good - but quite expensive
https://eu-store.ontrack.com/ontrack/ShopFrame/uk.asp

but there is no guarantee that the data hasn't been overwritten by the re-install ... and thus is gone for ever

You may get better value by buying a partition manager and creating a data partition seperate to the Operating system
(my documents can then be moved onto that partition.

.... that way a rebuild only affects the os and your data remains safe (if the partition is exclusively data backups are easier also - consider backup software too).

Download one of the many CD based linux distrobutions (knoppix is good) .... that way you can boot from the CD and recover your data BEFORE you reinstall.

Your best plan now is to take your chum out get them drunk and then explain that their data has gone to that great recycle bin in the sky.

[pauln90]

You could try something like this

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/wel come.htm

No guarantees however that your files are recoverable - but worth a try

[rojash]

Yes, sadly I agree with ACtheTROLLS, suggestion (last paragraph).