File Recovery - Format

[Tesla]

Hi guys,

I have a customer who ran the recovery CD's that came with her Compaq desktop PC.

She didn't realise they format the drive and do a clean install.

I am hoping to retrieve some of the photos for her. Problem is some software has been reinstalled and a different tech has already looked at the machine so unsure what fragments will be left, if anything.

Which software do you recommend for this task?

Thanks,

Chris

[Tesla]

I tried Recuva but it doesn't seem to work past a drive format.

Will look into the other software.

[iisjman07]

You could try using TestDisk to recover the lost partition - it might work. I don't think many (if any) free applications can do a format recovery.

[Tesla]

The recovery CD's reformat the drive and reinstall XP so there is not a lost partition as such.

It doesn't need to be free software, can purchase anything necessary.

[seedubya]

In this scenario, GDB is your best firstline bet. It will search for both current and previous partitions and has specific settings for searching for files after a format. The trial will show you and allow preview of any recoverable files. http://www.runtime.org/

[NickCat11]

+1 for Get Data Back. I believe on another recent thread a member just had good success with this when the computer had been reformatted with the OS reinstalled. Good Luck!

[Kenhelms]

getdataback might work for it. if it doesnt you can use on-track for raw recovery. or r-studio as well.

[Tesla]

Ontrack kept crashing so tried out this getdataback.

The scan took a couple of hours and I can see the old files but cannot open anything succesfully (using the full version of GDB).

I copied some images to USB drive and the jpg's are corrupt as cannot be opened.

Any further ideas?

[NYJimbo]

I think at this point you are looking at file descriptors and chunks of files but not much else. After a reformat, reload of OS, drivers, programs, etc, you really dont have much hope. Way too much has been overwritten. You can keep digging but as you can see you are likely just going to pick up fragments of images.

[NickCat11]

Unfortunately I don't think things are looking to good. At this point it I would probably stop and think about using a professional recovery service if the information is that valuable to her. Even thats not a guarantee...