How to recover files from a hard drive that was accidentally formatted?

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Archangel768

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Aug 27, 2012
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I got a new intel ssd today and plugged it into my desktop computer. I used the intel data migration software to clone my old ssd and transfer it onto the new intel ssd. All worked fine.
However, unfortunately the following occurred.

I decided I wanted to use my old ssd in my 2010 macbook pro. So, i plugged the macbook pro's hdd into my desktop and used the intel data migration software to clone the Macbook's hdd onto the old ssd. However, (even though I'm sure i double checked but anyway), it appears that the data migration software formatted my 3tb seagate hdd (this is the hdd of the files i need back), placed the clone of the macbook hdd onto the 3tb hdd, so now the 3tb hdd has a 1tb partition which has the macbook's cloned data on it (which the data only comes to 117gb, the total hdd was 1tb hence the 1tb partition), besides the 1tb partition, there is a 1.7tb unallocated part of the hdd.

TLDR:
By using the Intel Data Migration Software, accidentally, the 3tb hdd is now partitioned into the (1tb macbook partition, actual data only = 117gb) and has 1.7tb unallocated space. This is according to disk management on windows 8.1. I can't see the hard drive at all in 'my computer'.

Is it possible to recover any data that was formatted on the 3tb hdd?
 
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azaran

azaran

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Feb 17, 2010
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There is a chance some of your data hasn't been overwritten. Stop using the drive entirely until you can setup some sort of recovery option.

I've been using GetDataBack for years with a lot of success. https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
It takes a long time to chug through the data but it's usually worth it.

If a downloadable software solution doesn't work, you can look at paid services for the next step. Drive Savers, http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com, has been around for 30 years and seems to have a pretty good policy in place if they cant recover data.
 
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Archangel768

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Aug 27, 2012
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Thanks for the reply. I tried GetDataBack and it couldn't see the drive. The only way I can actually see the drive is through Disk Management.
 
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Archangel768

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Aug 27, 2012
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Thank for that. I used the software and it's found a lot of the photos. However, because of the cloning etc. the 3tb hdd is split into 2 parts. One is close to 1tb in size and the other is 1.8tb. From what I can tell Recover My Files only looked at the 1.8tb part. So If I format the 1tb part to ntfs so the Recover My Files can see it, would it increase the chance of losing any of the photos that might be there?
 
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azaran

azaran

Splendid
Feb 17, 2010
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There's always a chance. But if you do a quick format, it should only write to file management structures. So in theory it shouldn't touch most if any of the actual data written to the platters. This is all best case of course, but in the end there's really only one way tell if its going to work or not.
 
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