recover data after restoring hard drive

[earthmom]

Is it at all possible to recovery any data after restoring computer to manufacturer settings

 

[Bryce W]

Yes, nothing is ever deleted off a hard drive until something else takes it place. You wont get everything back, but you'll get some. Try something like Restoration:
http://www.technibble.com/repair-tool-of-the-week-restoration/

 

[WilliamThacker]

When data is deleted or system is formatted then only entires in the file system gets deleted. Data still reside. To restore the data one need to use data recovery software. Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software is one such recovery utility which provides recovery of deleted data from formatted hard drive or data lost occur due to software malfunction, viruses, or even sabotage.

 

[gunslinger]

If you just restored the manufacturers disk image, you should be able to get some data back. How much will depend on how you restored the drive. If like me you use boot and nuke, then do a clean install, that data is pretty much gone for good.