Computer Man Wiped Me Out

I have a real problem now. I took My computer to the shop because I could not get the high speed Internet to work and they told Me they would have to re-load it. They did re-load it and did lots of extra work and programs but the problem is they did not back up My information and I lost years worth of work. When I asked why We can't get it from the hard drive they said they re-formatted the hard drive and everything was lost forever. does anyone have any ideas to restore My info??

Well, thats not entirely true. You can recover lost data. In fact there are many applications in which you can accomplish this. Now, I cant gaurantee that ALL data is/can be recoverable but its not gone for ever.

Personally, I like SpinRite. But just google for "data recovery" applications and stay with a mainstream, namebrand product.

Thank-You for Your fast answer. I have to admit what I had in My computer was a bunch of junk but it was My junk. It was My whole computer world. After talking with the Techs at Microsoft they felt any attempt to recover information from a reformatted hard drive would be a time taking money wasting venture. I did talk to My computer Guy Who was not available at the time and He thinks also it would need to go to a lab. I have resigned to starting over. I did want to warn You that the place that did this to Me is Nevada Telephone in Las Vegas and the two morons are Shane and Carlos Who now tell Me they were to busy and forgot to back up My info as We talked about before any work was done and of course the are not responsible for data in computers they wreck.I paid $100.00 dollars and a $40.00 tip to be wiped out. Your Friend, John M.

I'm not sure how things like that are handled in Nevada, but if I was responsible for data loss to one of my customer's computers due to my own action/inaction and I didn't follow industry standard procedure and the customer's specific directions, or if I negligently or "hurriedly" caused the damage……… I would hate to have to defend myself in civil court, but I would fully expect to be sued…. big time. It doesn't matter that your material was "junk" by your own description. It could just as easily been valuable tax records, irreplaceable business documentation, heirloom family information, or business, college or literary work in progress. And if these creeps are not held accountable this time, they could easily cause serious damage next time. Format junkies should not be allowed to be employed in repair shops. Have a talk with the Better Business Bureau and with the owner/boss of the company. You should receive a full refund of your moneys paid, and the tip, and probably other considerations if you let them off without suing them. Best Regards

Here's some tool recommendations:

Data Recovery Tools

Restoration from SnapTools (recommended by Woody Leonhard, of Brian Livingstons Windows Secrets NewsLetter)
Restoration
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html (free)

“Restoration” is a good utility, and free, but only allows for restoring one file at a time and has a somewhat awkward user-interface.

Of the Paid Products, Brian Livingston recommends:

Recover My Files Data Recovery from GetData Software clearly takes the top spot on the undelete heap. With a full-fledged user interface, including previews, Recover My Files even lets you burn recovered files directly to CD or DVD. The full Recover My Files runs $69.95

If a software recovery solution doesn’t work for you, then the “lab” alternative might, but “will” cost you tons of money, so it might not be cost effective.

If you decide to run a Software Restoration solution, please remember to do so from a separate Disk.

You only want the restoration program to “read” from the drive that has your lost data.
You do not want it to be installed over or over-writing the very information that you are trying to recover. The more times your data gets over-written, the less likely you can recover it.

I respect SpinRite, per Crow’s recommendation, but I believe its primary purpose is to rehabilitate a failing Disk system, not recover data that has been deleted or formatted on a working Disk.

Try a Restoration solution, before resorting to SpinRite.

****Sorry Crow, please correct me if I’m missing the point regarding SpinRite****
By the way, I am a big fan of GRC and his SpinRite product, and have been for many years.

Here's what GetData has to say about their own product, at http://www.getdata.com/

GetData is a leading provider of data recovery, computer security and Windows system tools. Our lead product, Recover My Files, has passed 100,000 registered users and sells retail in 8 countries across the world.
With our diverse range of products we can provide the solution to your needs. We stand behind all of our product with a full 30 day money back guarantee.
What would you like to do?
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· Erase hard drive data
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Whether it is data recovery, computer security, or Windows productivity applications for your home, small business or company network we have a solution for you.
Our software products are designed to enable an evaluation version to be run prior to your purchase. Please download our software and try it now free.

Best Regards