I need help in recovering deleted files from hard drive

Please help me with this.I really regret this now.. I was having a problem with my computer and the tech said to reformat the hd using the discs from hd which are better than doing via the computer as they give a more clean install. and another tech said I would need a new hd after the first hd had a problem with the boot manager missing after the format. Turns out the discs need to be specifically for that motherboard since mine was recently replaced. I put the new hd in and used the disc to format and install the new os. To my horror when I got the desktop screen I found it had formatted and installed on MY SECONDARY DRIVE (FOR EXTRA SPACE) AND NOT THE HP COMPUTER DRIVE! I told hp and they said that my drive wasn't supposed to be in during the process, but I told them I was made aware of this before the process began at all by their techs or in the info I was sent. Had I known I would have disconnected my drive, but I was formatted my drive several times before and this NEVER HAPPENED. I WAS FURIOUS. I am using Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Professional 4.2 and EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional 4.3.6 for recovery. So far I have tried two recoveries, but have failed to get to my files and am more getting at the other hp related files on the disc. With Phoenix I used Formatted/Lost File & Folder Recovery and with Eaesus I used complete recovery. Do you guys think I should format my drive again and just try to recover it in hopes of that it will recover the data that was on there before the drive was formatted and the os put on? I'm not sure want to do and want to recover all of my files! If you don't know how to help can you recommend a forum that does? I need to get these files back and want to be careful. Please don't give me the wrong advice like HP did. I can't afford to lose my files. Also does anyone have advice on how to restore my files should I be successful? I heard that you need to know how to restore the files to your hard drive and know things like disk structure and such. I am not technical at all and simply don't know how to begin to learn these things. What should I do to make sure I get my files back properly? I saw some stuff recovered, but didn't even know what it was. Please give me your advice. Thanks

to be honest (just my opinion.) if you haven't found them after using 2 types of recovery software, then i'd say they were overwritten by the install of the os and are gone for good, this is one reason why i always say you need at least 2 separate backups of your important data.



i always use photorec for recovering any lost/deleted files.:- http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
step by step guide :- http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step

if i was you i'd detach the removable hard drive first, then install the os and get everything working on your pc, install the photorec recovery program then attach the external hard drive and try a last search for the files using it.

That's the horrible thing terry. My backup hard drive crashed and I was just about to buy a new one when this happened. My secondary drive is an internal drive not an external. The computer hard drive is working now as I speak to you on the internet. Thanks for your recommendation of Photorec. But I didn't see avi in the list. I'm guessing It can't recover Avi's? I have some of those and want those recovered. What should I do about the avi's I want recovered? Do I have to use a similar program? Please give your advice on this. I am still having trouble though… 1. Since I have used the easeus software and did find a little that I could recognize, do you think I should try to delete the operating system files off of the drive and try to rescan again? Or do you think that would just confuse the software and make it only recover what was last deleted which was the os files and not my files? I don't want to lose MY DATA. 2. Or should I just reformat the drive of the os and try a new recovery with a fresh drive? Or will that further confuse the drive and make it think of just finding the newly formatted os files instead of my previously formatted files? Please help me decide what to do and make the right choice. I want to see if I have another option. Thanks again.

first of all if you've been searching the same drive as the os and saving the files onto it as well, then all your really doing is over writing more of the lost files you've been trying to find. you always need to search a drive and save the results on a separate drive. once those files have been over written then there is nothing you can really do to get them back, so no i don't think deleting the os and doing another scan will find more of your lost files, and i don't think putting the os on a new clean drive and then scanning the original drive will find more of your lost files either, but this second option is definitely the only one that will give you some chance of finding them. don't forget put the os on the new drive and the recovery software, search the old drive but save any found files on the new drive with the os on, at least this way you won't overwrite any files that may still remain on your old drive.

Thanks for your help terry I didn't see where photorec could find avi files. Can it find them? I don't see that in the list. I have many of those so will I need a different similar software to recover those? Please let me know. Thanks again..

yes it'll find avi files.

here's a list of all the file types it can recover. :- http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/File_Format…red_By_PhotoRec

i think the choice you need to make in photo rec to find avi files is to search for RIFF files.

Thanks for your reply terry. I've been told that the data needs be recovered professionally since the software couldn't find what I need. Thanks again for trying. leader2

even professionally there's going to be no guarantees on recovering it now, so think carefully about if the data is worth it before spending out a lot of money for a professional recover service.

I suggest you to try Kernel for Windows Data Recovery software, It can recover all kinds of files. There are three scanning modes in this software, First one is called Quick Scan mode which is fastest method for recovering deleted files and is used for recently deleted file. Second one is Extensive Scan mode which is used when you are not able to recover deleted files with Quick Scan mode, this mode is slow as compared to Quick Scan mode and chances for recovering data is much higher in this mode. Third one is called File Trace mode which is slowest of all but guarantees recovery of files. I suggest you to use file File trace mode to recover your data it will take time based on the corruption level. I have used this mode while recovering my 130 GB of data after scanning the drive for about 12 Hrs continuously.

They said they will examine it and let me know before charging me anything. They said it's possible they could recover up to 95%. I'm not going to pay unless the recovery is up to my standards. Thanks again for the help. Thanks Alex for your suggestion, but according to them it's going to require a professional recovery because the files were overwritten by the operating system.