Created installation media on external hard drive, lost previous data

[NeoGunHero]

Hey guys.

I tried to do a clean install of Windows 10, and before I did that I made sure to backup all the files I wanted to keep on my external hard drive (there was only about 50GB of stuff that I wanted, so I did not do a full backup of my computer). I followed a guide online on how to download and install the installation media, and I did so on the external hard drive. After installation was finished, I checked My Computer to find that my 1TB external hard drive has been reformatted to about 30GB and only contains the installation media on it. I have lost all my files and have no idea on how to get it back. Is there any way I could get my files back?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: Found in another forum that the program states "the files on your USB drive will be deleted". Welp, I had no idea it said that, and it was so small it would be very easy for anyone to look over it. Are there any solutions to getting my data back?

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Try Data Recovery Wizard.
Even after a format, sometimes data recovery is possible as the data isn't really deleted.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there NeoGunHero,

That is really unpleasant.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do, except for using some partition/data recovery tools.

As PC-4LIFE said, the data could be still recoverable. Keep in mind that the part of it that was overwritten, is most probably lost.

It may be a good idea to save all the recovered data to another drive, so you can avoid any data being overwritten.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[NeoGunHero]

Try Data Recovery Wizard.
Even after a format, sometimes data recovery is possible as the data isn't really deleted.

Sorry for the late reply. After using Recuva and Data Recovery Wizard, I was unable to recover all of the data. Only minor things that I did not care for showed up. I realized that I should do another backup of whatever is still on my PC but like I previously stated, the external hard drive was changed to about 50GB capacity. How can I restore the hard drive to the original capacity? Do I simply need to create another partition? Thanks in advance.