If I reformatted a drive any way to recover the lost data?
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If I reformatted a drive any way to recover the lost data?
This one says its 100% guaranteed ! But I doubt it. What if something else has been written in the place from where you are trying to recover ?
http://www.recoveryfix.com/recover-windows-data.html
Does it work on USB Flash Drives?
I was trying to put Linux on a flash drive and it failed, combined with the fact that I selected the wrong flash drive.
So there are no files on the drive, but Windows doesn't recognise the Linux file system.
I don't know if I understand your problem. But I do know that Windows can be made to read Ext2/3 file systems with the proper driver:
http://www.fs-driver.org/
Also, will the data recovery programs work on recovering data from a USB flash drive?
Data recovery programs are normally completely agnostic (that is "don't care") as to the type of device the filesystem is on.
However, I fear that you may struggle to recover ALL of your data. Recovering data from a device that has been formatted the same way as last time isn't very difficult, because all you really need to do is find the directory structure of the old filesystem. However, when the drive is formatted with a different filesystem (such as Ext2/3 of Linux), not only is the root directory overwritten, but it's highly likely that other portions of data get overwritten, and that can easily lead to the recovery program getting very confused.
Note that formatting a drive usually only overwrites the root directory and resets some other metadata that the filesystem relies on within the device.
--
Mats
So the program WILL work?
If it's a FAT filesystem, then it's likely all the data clusters are still there. The problem though is that the FAT itself got cleared, so all the cluster chains are gone, and you are left piecing the clusters together manually. This might not be so bad, if the drive wasn't incredibly fragmented. But it is manual labor.Quote:
Originally Posted by matsp
It was a FAT filesystem, but will the program work if used on an ext3 file system? Also, if I reformat the drive with FAT again will it work? And, if neither option will work, how would I manually retreive the data?
If you did a Quick Format, then it should be almost entirely recoverable, but if you did a Full Format, then you're doomed.
If you formatted it into another filesystem, it is generally more difficult to recover it and some files which were situated in the first sectors will probably be unrecoverable.
You can google for good recovery programs. For example SpinRite.
Yes, in the sense that a shredded document is theoretically recoverable ;) Quick format or not, formatting the disk wipes out the FAT. Your file data is still there but you have no way to piece it all together.Quote:
Originally Posted by maxorator
Hire a computer forensics expert?Quote:
Your file data is still there but you have no way to piece it all together.
You can hope that the files you want to recover are stored consecutively on disk. If the drive isn't fragmented badly, you might get lucky. You'd have to manually examine every block on the disk by eye and extract the pieces. I can see doing it with a text file or source file, where you can easily identify what you're looking for, but for something like an MP3 I think it's pretty hopeless.Quote:
Originally Posted by laserlight
There are some very good software out there that can piece together data from a formatted disk and even long ago deleted data.
GetDataBack for NTFS/FAT is one such application. If you are in need of getting data back, give it a whirl. Unfortunately, it isn't free, but at least you can see if it can get your data back before considering purchasing it.
Then there are free alternatives out there. Unfortunately, they aren't as easy to use or quite as good as the commerical ones.
It was formatted in Linux during a failed install, so I have no idea whether it was a full format or not. I also have no idea of how fragmented the disk was, but most of the files were complex .gba, .sav, .zip, .sgm, .z64, and .exe files.
No, maybe,, HDD recovery works because the magnetic domains arent completely overwritten. Flash drives dont erase teh data, they just amrk the sectors as empoty, they will only overwrite the oldest empty sector, so as logn as you dont write anythign to the flash drive, teh data is still there.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAlex
Uhhh...ok. Also, the install tried to write stuff to the drive but failed, would this make a difference? And, would reformatting the drive back to FAT make any difference?
Ummm, hello? Anyone here?
The answer is definately maybe. There is no guarantee the dat is there or erased unless you fill the drive with new data. The only way to tell for sure is to get or write a utility that will read the raw chip info.
Reformating to a new file system won't make a difference. Formating erases the information about files on the disk, so it doesn't "know" any files are there.
Use a recovery program as soon as possible and stop writing any data to the partition.
I haven't written anything to the partition yet, although the Linux installer tried to but failed. Would a failed attempt to write to a disk make a difference?
Any write done to the disk will lessen your chances to recover any data, so write as little to the disk as possible.
Actually, I just looked at the drive and it turns out that the install was sucsessful, therefore data was written to the drive. Any hope for me now?
Sure. Data written lessens the chance of recovery. It does not eliminate it.
Chances are much data is still intact (especially if it's a big partition).
But the only real way to know is to try. Run a recovery program and see if it can get your data back.
Just don't write anymore stuff there.
The programs mentioned in this thread only work on Windows-based drives, although I haven't used them after installing a program that enables Windows to read Linux-based formats. The partition was 1GB.
I don't know of any software that can recover EXT3 drives, though there are to be some.
I'm trying it again, and there seems to be some progress, thogh that might be because I deleted the Linux files.
SpinRite?Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAlex
Oh, I meant the first programs mentioned. I forgot that one.
You should google about it first. Since it is actually meant for recovering bad sectors and hard-drive failures and I've only seen recovering files on a formatted drive with SpinRite mentioned in 1-2 places, then I cannot be sure that SpinRite can do it.
Ok, the RecoveryFix program found most of it, but I can't save any of the recovered data. Is there a free program which recovers data consistantly and save the data?
You would be very lucky if you found one. This is a commercial area, where recovery programs cost a penny if you any recovery is to be made.
That's just the way it is. Sorry.
Crap. It's not fair.
There's a live disk based on Knoppix that is said to recover most files but I forgot the name. Here's another one that does roughly the same:
http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/
Some proficiency at the *nix CLI is a pre.
Is this another version of Linux, but with working recovery tools, or just the recovery tools?
Um... hello? I still need help.
Yes. See also:Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAlex
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery