Can I reformat a hard drive without losing my data

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Tomb1

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Mar 15, 2014
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My western digital hard drive does not open on my computer. I have followed instructions on this web site and it recommends I reformat my hard drive but advises I will lose my data!
Can I reformat without losing this data?
 
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StubbleyBeard

StubbleyBeard

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Mar 7, 2014
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Reformatting is basicly destroying the data that's currently stored on your HDD, so reformatting without losing data is not an option. You can try to recover files though -->

How do I recover the files from formatted hard drives?
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/recover-formatted-partition.htm
How to Scan a Reformatted Hard Drive to Recover Files
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-scan-reformatted-hard-drive-to-recover-files/
How to recover files and folders from formatted or reformatted hard drive?
http://www.uneraser.com/quest12.htm
 
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Silver Wolf

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Jan 29, 2014
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The purpose of reformatting is to destroy the data, so no it is not possible. If however you do not use those tool that permanently destroy the data, you should be able to recover some if not all of it through free software to perform recovery of lost data.
 
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BillyDataGuy

BillyDataGuy

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Jan 29, 2014
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You will delete the partitions and it will write over areas on the platter where data might be stored in order to write a new MFT. If you format the drive you will have to use recovery software to recover the data, and hopefully running it from another computer as a slave. This is a gamble and not recommended if your data is important. If the data is valuable it is advised to seek out professional help.
 
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