can I unformat a harddrive I just formatted?

davohiltsdavohilts
edited September 2011 in Hardware
I have a 300 GB SATA harddrive which runs on a MS K8N NeoPlatinum MB using Windows XP Pro w/ one GB memory. I had the hard drive partititioned into two volumes, C and D. I installed a new hard drive and reinstalled windows on the new drive and then before:banghead: I moved the data to the new drive I formatted the old drive. I formatted the C volume of the old harddrive and not the D. I am desparate to recover the data from the old drive, can I undo the format? Is there any way to recover the data??:banghead: :banghead:
thanks for any help.
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Comments

  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    I had a user with a corrupt partition table on his ONLY hard drive and THIS program worked REALLY well. I wasn't able to get the system drive to boot but all the data was recovered!!!

    Check it out and if you need help, I'll try to help you. BTW... DON"T DO ANYTHING with the drive though. Don't want to start writing over your data!!!
  • davohiltsdavohilts
    edited January 2006
    QCH2002 wrote:
    I had a user with a corrupt partition table on his ONLY hard drive and THIS program worked REALLY well. I wasn't able to get the system drive to boot but all the data was recovered!!!

    Check it out and if you need help, I'll try to help you. BTW... DON"T DO ANYTHING with the drive though. Don't want to start writing over your data!!!

    thanks, I'll check it out.
  • davohiltsdavohilts
    edited January 2006
    tried the program you recommended but no help. what is possible in trying to recover data files with extensions like .doc, .dwg, .flac, jpg, ect? Is there any way to unformat the drive to allow file windows explorer to read data and copy to new hard drive?
    thanks
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    davohilts wrote:
    tried the program you recommended but no help. what is possible in trying to recover data files with extensions like .doc, .dwg, .flac, jpg, ect? Is there any way to unformat the drive to allow file windows explorer to read data and copy to new hard drive?
    thanks

    Not usually, when you format it's like getting rid of the table of contents in a book and having no way of knowing where you're going after that. The rest of the book goes blank. The info still exists, but the ground it was/is stored is open for writing on again. Thus why it was mentioned not to do a THING with that drive due to information being written over and making it impossible to recover.

    QCH is better at this than myself, but it's never a guarantee that you'll get any information back.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited January 2006
    If you did not do a long format but a quick one you can recover the data if its has not been over written. Thats why you should NOT do anything at this point that writes to the drive. Unplug it right now and email or PM me.

    Tex
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2006
    To add to what Tex has just posted, he is a data recovery specialist (among a number of hats he wears) who has helped many of our members in the past. You can trust him to do right by you. :)
  • davohiltsdavohilts
    edited February 2006
    Tex wrote:
    If you did not do a long format but a quick one you can recover the data if its has not been over written. Thats why you should NOT do anything at this point that writes to the drive. Unplug it right now and email or PM me.

    Tex
    thanks Tex, I'm going to deliver my drive to a local shop and have them attempt to recover my data. thanks for the offer, i'll keep you posted on the result:eek3:
  • HBBOWLHBBOWL
    edited July 2006
    Help! I Went To Dell Support To Try To Recover From A Missing File At Startup. He Walk Me Through The Long Format And I Have To Start From The Gitgo. Is It Possible To Undo This Type Of Format?
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited July 2006
    You can't undo formats. All you can do is recover the data that's on them. But you need to plug the drives into another pc, that boots with it's own hard drive, so that you can access the drive without writing over anything.

    Formatting is like erasing the table of contents in a book and the page numbers. The chapters are still there somewhere, but you need to use a recovery software to copy them over to a new drive.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2006
    Try using TestDisk and see what it finds.
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited July 2006
    I also usually use Get back Data for NTFS to recover lost data on my ntfs hard drives. It has always worked so far. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/getbacknt.html
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited July 2006
    skankinred wrote:
    I also usually use Get back Data for NTFS to recover lost data on my ntfs hard drives. It has always worked so far. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/getbacknt.html

    I used to use that app at work, works very well :thumbup
  • cissacissa
    edited July 2006
    I am one of a whole nest of spammers. I have been kindly banned by an admin. Not only that, after the admin investigated, I have gotten my entire class B subnet banned, because everybody who has ever posted from my class B has spammed this site. Yay for us!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2006
    cissa wrote:
    I am one of a whole nest of spammers. I have been kindly banned by an admin. Not only that, after the admin investigated, I have gotten my entire class B subnet banned, because everybody who has ever posted from my class B has spammed this site. Yay for us!
    I bet yer mum is proud. :cheers:
  • mncowboy969mncowboy969
    edited March 2007
    Tex wrote:
    If you did not do a long format but a quick one you can recover the data if its has not been over written. Thats why you should NOT do anything at this point that writes to the drive. Unplug it right now and email or PM me.

    Tex


    Hi Tex,

    I have a similar problem that I put a message in Short-Media > Hardware > Storage area. I definitely need some help with this one, as I have over 200 Gig of pictures that I've lost!

    Thanks in advance!

    Ron
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited September 2011
    The advice is in the thread basically. You just need data recovery software to recover any files not written over. A quick format does not destroy the data on the disk surface itself that long a full format would.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    Like a shadow from the night. Tex rides again
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    Is this real life?
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    Heh... 4 years later, I think the format is probably the least of the problems at this point.
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    Can't you just go into command and un-deltree C: ? :tongue::tongue::tongue::tongue::tongue::tongue::tongue:
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    ardichoke wrote:
    Heh... 4 years later, I think the format is probably the least of the problems at this point.

    cats_bat_country.jpg
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited September 2011
    ardichoke wrote:
    Heh... 4 years later, I think the format is probably the least of the problems at this point.

    lol and actually I got an email from icrontic YESTERDAY saying this thread had a new reply., so I checked in for fun just to see who if anyone I knew was still hanging around. Uhhh Hi Prime! (grin)
    Hi Tex,

    wqmichelle has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to on Icrontic.

    Title: can I unformat a harddrive I just formatted?
    Area: Hardware .
    I just logged in and replied to the last post I didnt see it was from 2007. (rolls eyes...)

    Tex
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    A spammer posted in the thread, thus sending you the email because you are subscribed.
    Deleted before you got here
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    primesuspect wrote:
    Like a shadow from the night. Tex rides again

    ...but did he clean the dust from behind his ears? :p



    Mark, where the hell you been? check your pm's
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    I used Recuva to save a bunch of files from a hard drive that somehow lost its file table. It worked good, then I reformatted the drive and wrote most of the stuff back onto it. Only thing is, it took about 5 hours to save out the files because it showed EVERYTHING, including lots of stuff I'd forgotten about and didn't want but had to sort through.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited September 2011
    primesuspect wrote:
    GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

    your avatar would like awesome with black sunglasses and a blues brothers hat actually prime. (wink)

    Tex
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    primesuspect wrote:
    GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

    Kwitko_body_electrix.jpg
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    Kwitko wrote:
    /Kwitko_body_electrix.jpg

    ..and I loled.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited September 2011
    And this is why Icrontic is so awesome!!
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