I accidentally formatted the wrong drive but i turned the PC off straight away before format was complete- Need files Back!

Shaun98 · Apr 10, 2017

Hello i have literally just tried to format my USB Drive but formatted the wrong drive. As soon as i realized what i had done i turned off my PC (THE FORMAT HAD NOT FINISHED) so now i have just booted up my PC and the Drive is in Raw Format. I Really need the data back off the drive if that is possible.

Any ideas are great, Thanks, Shaun

captaincharisma · Apr 10, 2017

there are programs out there that can help recover files but because you cut the power right in the middle of formatting it may have corrupted everything. a program like recuva may be able to help recover some files:

http://www.piriform.com/download

rgd1101 · Apr 10, 2017

try some partition recovery software like
http://www.easeus.com/partition-recovery/index.htm

atljsf · Apr 10, 2017

any tool you use, be sure to stop using that hard disk, the less you use it, the more likely you will recover files from it

as mentioned, there is many tools to recover

there is tools like trinity rescue and other linux boot cds and usbs that will offer multiple tools as other tools with a windo style boot menu, whatever you ecover, be sure to put it on another hard disk

my prefered tool to recover files form situations like this is photorec

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_ES

the problem it has is that it recovers everything, and usually doesn't recover names, it puts a generic name

another option is recuva

the easiest way to do the process is connect this hard disk to another pc and on that pc try one of those tools, recuva or photorec

both are free

the task can take many hours

this process recovers the files, it will not repair the partition so it will boot again, only recover files, all files, so be patient, this includes temp folders, windows folders, all folders on hard disk

there could be a tool to repair or unformat the partition, but i never use those since is more common to have a damaged hard disk and save files with photorec than a accidentally formated unit so i never attempt to recover partition

USAFRet · Apr 10, 2017

Recuva or TestDisk.

And for future issues, read this:
www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3383768/backup-situation-home.html

RolandJS · Apr 11, 2017

If affordable and possible, clone this entire HD, as is, onto an external HD. After giving that ext HD a unique name, store that "copy" in a safe place, you might need that for future data recovery attempts. Meanwhile, going forward, give every hard-drive [internal & external], every good partition, every usb device, a unique name, so that you will always know what your utility is going to be "aimed at". A couple of tools you might need: MiniTool Partition Wizard version 9.1, MiniTool Power Data Recovery, or any similar utilities with power to get the job done. Recovering those files is going to much like going to a large junk yard, spreading out a tarp, gathering from all over the parts of desired cars, and placing said pieces unto the tarp -- depending upon the partition(s) that existed, depending upon the "MFTs" and data folders within said partitions that existed -- before the accidental format -- data reconstruction might be remotely possible.
One more thing -- that format, was that format a Quick Format, or, was that format a Full Format? If Full Format, anything, everything, file-wise, that was overwritten before you turned off the computer is forever gone.

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I accidentally formatted the wrong drive but i turned the PC off straight away before format was complete- Need files Back!

Shaun98

Honorable

captaincharisma

Glorious

rgd1101

Don't

atljsf

Honorable

USAFRet

Titan

RolandJS

Reputable

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