Data Recovery Help Needed

How do you actually recover data from a formatted drive? Here’s the situation: someone went ahead and formatted their disk, messed around with partitions, and then hit format again. Now they're realizing all their important files are gone. I haven't personally tackled a job like this yet. I see plenty of software advertised online for this kind of thing, but has anyone here actually pulled this off? Is it even possible? This could be a decent way for me to make some extra cash if I can figure it out.

If you’ve gone through the whole ritual of formatting, then partitioning, and then hitting it with another format, you might as well just kiss those files goodbye because your chances of getting anything back are basically zero.

Gerald Allen31 said:Has anyone actually tried this, is it even doable?

Yeah, you can...
but don't go thinking you're gonna get every single scrap of data back...
some stuff is just gonna be gone forever
and whatever does come back might be totally corrupted or incomplete...

Honestly, if they actually pulled off what he’s claiming, don't hold your breath expecting to get anything back.

Joseph Peterson5 said:There’s no way he’s pulling anything useful off if they actually did what he described.

He’s looking for something
but I know how this goes from my own damn experience... 😬

Gerald Allen31 said:So, how do you actually rescue data from a drive that’s been formatted? Long story short—someone wiped their disk, messed around with partitions, then went ahead and formatted it all over again. Now they're staring at a blank screen realizing some pretty crucial files are gone. I haven't tackled this specific mess yet, but I see there are plenty of tools floating around online. Has anyone here actually pulled this off? Is it even doable? Because if it is, I'm looking at a decent little side hustle here.

It’s definitely possible—you just have to cycle through a few different programs until something sticks. If you want my take, try these:
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Stellar Phoenix FAT & NTFS
O&O Disk Recovery

Are you kidding me? How are you supposed to rescue anything from a drive that’s been completely formatted?? And twice, no less!!!😕 😕
Seriously, I had no clue that was even possible... sounds sketchy as hell, I honestly don't believe it.

It’s doable—I mean, standard formatting isn't exactly some massive hurdle here—but the real issue kicks in once you go and zero-fill the drive or hit it with a legitimate wiping tool.

Recuva pulls everything back.

Andrew Davis2 said:Recuva brings everything back.

About a month ago—I suppose I was being a bit too adventurous with my settings—I managed to permanently wipe about 9 GB of various files from one of my partitions. It was a mix of photos and music... precious stuff. In my frantic attempt to get those sentimental files back quickly, I tried some little utility, but it only recovered the images, and even then, only about 70% of them—and half of those looked like grayed-out ghosts. To make matters worse—and I admit, this was a lapse in judgment—I ran a system recovery, which, predictably, accomplished absolutely nothing except teaching me a hard lesson about messing with things you don't fully understand 😠 👎 .

I’ve seen some solid recommendations on various online forums regarding GDB, though I haven't had the chance to test it out yet. Thankfully, I haven't written any new data to that partition, which is mostly just empty space now. Is GDB truly a high-quality solution, and can it actually guarantee the "salvage" of all lost data?

I have downloaded the software, but since I don't have a license or a serial number, I am reaching out for some guidance on how to handle the installation and the actual operation of the tool.

Thanks! 🙂

Look, no software out there can magically reconstruct every single bit of data perfectly. If something else was written over that specific sector on the HD, you might be out of luck. Honestly, I don't think even GDB is going to pull this one back for you.

Andrew Davis2 said:I can't believe it

Blessed are those who believe without seeing.🙂 Maybe give this a shot: http://www.uneraser.com/quest12.htm I guess Natin is just joking around here.😲

rapidskipper13 said:Give this a shot http://www.uneraser.com/quest12.htm It’s basically just like 😲

Honestly, I wouldn't trust any of that. It's all pretty much nonsense. You might have better luck reaching out to your buddies over at the Pentagon. They actually have 😬 ...

Andrew Davis2 said:Don't trust any of that. It's all complete nonsense. Maybe your buddies over at the Pentagon can help you out—they probably have 😬 ...

👎
The guy is actually looking for real help and all you're doing is spamming some script kiddie named DeStRoYeRu
. I'm siding with what rapidskipper13 suggested.

Andrew Davis2 said:I wouldn't trust any of that. It all seems pretty unreliable to me. Maybe some folks over at the Pentagon could actually help you out. I think they have 😬 ...

...and my buddy from the forum.🎉

rapidskipper13 said:Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe... 🙂 Just give this a shot http://www.uneraser.com/quest12.htm 😲Natin is just messing around here.

It would be pretty great to get everything back 🙄—that's my hope, anyway. Only issue is, there's a price tag attached 😲. I think I'll tackle this properly sometime next year; in the meantime, I wish you all the very best with your endeavors. Thanks for the help.

Look, everyone here is just out here cracking software. We’re going to track your IP address and then you'll be in big trouble.
Let people try it if they want, but they shouldn't expect any luck.
Equi, go ahead and ban these spammers.

Andrew Davis2 said:So you're all out here cracking software? We'll track your IP and see how much you enjoy being cooked.
Let people try things, sure, but they shouldn't expect any mercy.
Equi, just ban these spammers already.

1. I don't crack programs.🙄
2. Your point about Equi is actually spot on.👍

The only thing you actually got right was saying people shouldn't get their hopes up too high. :cj

Oops, that smiley only works in my signature here on this forum. CJ—you've got your own little smiley to use.

Wait, which forum am I even on right now?