Data Recovery Issue.

[gaDJet]

I'm going to try to recover data on a drive using a program called "Data Recovery" (or any suggested program by someone who knows better)

This is what happened, the user was trying to format a thumb drive and had inadvertently started to format his external 3TB drive instead! Then quickly realizing his mistake he cancelled operation.

Now when I try to read the drive using his machine, Windows 7 wants to format it. It will not read.

My query begins... do I format the drive so that I may recover the data?
Or is there a better approach before I format the drive?

 

[Martyn]

Funny you say that, ive just recovered data from an external hard drive that had a problem while the client was copying some music to it. When he inserted the drive into his computer afterwards it just wanted formatting. I used Getdataback NTFS to copy all the data off to my storage HD. Did a test on the drive, reformatted and replaced the data back onto the drive.

No idea about the program your using but GDB worked for me. I always keep the data for a month so they can make sure they have more than one copy of their data.

 

[iisjman07]

I'd recommend R-Studio. I would recommend GetDataBack but the file system previously used on the flash drive would have been FAT32, and there are two separate versions of GDB for NTFS & FAT32, whereas R-Studio has just the one version for everything.

 

[Martyn]

I'd recommend R-Studio. I would recommend GetDataBack but the file system previously used on the flash drive would have been FAT32, and there are two separate versions of GDB for NTFS & FAT32, whereas R-Studio has just the one version for everything.

It's the external drive that got formatted not the thumb drive

 

[citizensmith]

This is what happened, the user was trying to format a thumb drive and had inadvertently started to format his external 3TB drive instead! Then quickly realizing his mistake he cancelled operation.

Now when I try to read the drive using his machine, Windows 7 wants to format it. It will not read.

My query begins... do I format the drive so that I may recover the data?
Or is there a better approach before I format the drive?

So in easy to understand steps

1. User accidentally begins formats of incorect drive and then cancels it as doesnt want to lose all data.

2. now you want to format the drive to recover the data the user didnt want to lose by accidentally formatiing it.

3. A better approach before you format the drive is to give it back to the user as they obviously knew that formmating the drive is a good way to lose your data not recover it

TN membership rule wavers must come in cereal packs these days

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

TN membership rule wavers must come in cereal packs these days

lol

Check out http://www.cgsecurity.org/ - I highly recommend imaging the drive first, then run Testdisk on the new copy of the drive

 

[mnadon]

I've used Active Boot disk to recover from similar situations before with really good success.

I believe it retails for about $80 but it is a good tool to have in the bag.

 

[BDNTech]

dont format it.
get data back ntfs works great.
cgs security in rare cases but it takes forever and is a bit of a pain.

 

[Tepin]

Get Data Back, R-Studio, Partition Find and Mount will all work for recovering the data.

A quick format probably won't harm the data (it will write a new partition table but won't overwrite the drive) but it does nothing to help the recovery process. Yes, I've done this before due to my own ignorance since I wasn't born with a silicon spoon in my mouth and had to dig through CrackerJack boxes for certifications.

If only there was some place for me to ask advice from other experienced techs back then ..

 

[Fixedathome.com]

I use a program called File Scavenger 3 as my main data recovery software. It doesn't matter if the drive is formatted or partitioned as it scans the whole disk. I bought a tech license for the software when I first set up in 2006 and it is one of the best investments I have made.

 

[compnet]

At a loss for words.....

Recommend your client to go somewhere that knows the very basics of computers.. their data would be safer at geek squad.

Not trying to be harsh but this is customer data which is not replaceable.. guessing on data recovery, or doing data recovery when you have no clue is the most irresponsible thing a tech can do.

 

[ectta]

I'd recommend R-Studio. I would recommend GetDataBack but the file system previously used on the flash drive would have been FAT32, and there are two separate versions of GDB for NTFS & FAT32, whereas R-Studio has just the one version for everything.

finaldata is also ok to use.
easy recovery can also do.

pls note that keep a copy of client's data need to obey the privacy policy or got approval from the customers in advance!

 

[codegreen]

My query begins... do I format the drive so that I may recover the data?
Or is there a better approach before I format the drive?

Wait, what? You want to format the drive before attempting data recovery? Are you aware of what formating a drive does? If so, you should know that this will make recovery harder, not easier.

It sounds like you might want to have someone experienced with data recovery take on this job. I recommend you look at partnering with one of the major recovery companies, or find a local company in your area experienced with logical data recovery.

 

[iisjman07]

Wait, what? You want to format the drive before attempting data recovery?

I believe this is a situation where partition corruption has occurred, but Disk Management still assigns a drive letter to the drive, and when you try to access the drive you Windows Explorer, it'll ask you to format it.

 

[Majestic]

At a loss for words.....

Recommend your client to go somewhere that knows the very basics of computers.. their data would be safer at geek squad.

Not trying to be harsh but this is customer data which is not replaceable.. guessing on data recovery, or doing data recovery when you have no clue is the most irresponsible thing a tech can do.

No need to be rude. We all have started somewhere and some of us had to learn the hard way. I'm sure the OP recognizes how important his clients data is.

Majestic

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Due to write delay your drive is corrupted and now if you use any data recovery program, first you can format the drive and second to recover your data, scan it using a data recovery software for the files and data on the drive.
i will suggest you to use Kernel for windows data recovery software for the recovery of your files.

Huh?

Are you a spammer getting your post count up ready to use urls?

 

[300DDR]

FORMATTING a drive is NEVER the correct approach for data recovery. In fact, this is the first time I've ever heard such a thing mentioned.

 

[crashtech]

The first principle of data recovery is to do no more harm to whatever data is left on the drive. That means as few write operations should be allowed as possible.

Formatting involves purposely writing to the drive, and is precisely what should not be done.

 

[gaDJet]

Update

For those who are able to comprehend what the first post reads and also for those who were of actual help, a quick update.

getbackdata was run in NTFS mode and the result was it could not detect an NTFS.

ran it in FAT for the hell of it, same result, could not detect an FAT drive.

 

[300DDR]

Since you said the beginning of the drive was formatted, the partition information and MFT were likely overwritten, so the drive isn't going to be identified as being FAT or NFTS or anything else (it will show up just as a disk with no partition) and no folder structure will be recovered (just raw files). In my experience, R-Studio is the best for recovering raw files in these cases, and I may do a second recovery with File Scavenger (as previously mentioned). However, GDB can do this also if you tweak the settings correctly.