What is the best free data recovery software for a formatted HDD.

hi_nige · Oct 13, 2016

So tonight I was being remotely "assisted" by a windows 10 technician who was trying to have my HDD recognised on the new installation of Windows 10. I could not believe my eyes when he renamed the drive and then clicked on format drive. It was all to quick right before my eyes. There it went. My main storage drive gone.

My question is, what is the best free (if any) recovery software for a formatted HDD.

D_Know_WD · Oct 13, 2016

Hi there,

How many physical drives do you have?

Check these out: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm

Was the drive just formatted or the OS is already installed on it? Keep in mind that if the data is overwritten, you may not be able to recover the data.
Also, it may be a good idea to save all the recovered data on another drive. That way you will avoid further data overwriting.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

hi_nige · Oct 13, 2016

It was my storage HDD for music work etc and had the backup to the OS. My other C drive had the OS on it which was untouched.
Noted about overwriting it. I currently have recuva scannin it now.
I am also quite shocked at how someone can unknowingly format a hard drive.
Thanks for the reply.

Saga Lout · Oct 13, 2016

Recuva is free and fairly efficient but in your circumstances, it may not be strong enough. Find it at www.piriform.com - the CCleaner people.

As D_Know_WD says, never put recovered data back in the same place you found it.

S Haran · Oct 14, 2016

If it was a quick format chances of recovery are good. Two suggestions...

Testdisk -- It is good at recovering lost partitions and free.

DMDE.com -- It can rebuild your file and folder tree using NTFS file system fragments. Free to try.

Nine Layer Nige · Dec 16, 2016

Recuva is the easiest option. If the drive is not damaged (bad sectors) then a full recovery might be possible onto a spare drive. If it has bad sectors, a deep scan might be required where it might find partial files, full files and un-recoverable files.
I have used DMDE and got a good result but it is more complex to use and not particularly user friendly.
Recuva may take days to complete its scan so be patient

Saga Lout · Dec 16, 2016

I think it's time to close this thread now. It's two months old and while I agree over Recuva, some other suggestions have been removed as Commercial Spam.

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What is the best free data recovery software for a formatted HDD.

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hi_nige

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