Retrieving Files

dave_brent

Hi all, hope you can be of assistance... My problem , well actually my sisters.. her laptop was giving her bother (Dell btw)... She backed her work (Thesis etc. for college) on her pen drive prior to a factory reset but has since lost her pen drive... She's in a panic now..

I was hoping you guys could advise me to advise her if she be able to retrieve these file or maybe recommend some good people how can help her out...

I remember years ago my PC F**ked up but an technician from my old college got my work from it.. but thinkin beacuse this is a factory reset it may be different.. or maybe she finds her pen drive and alls well....

Cheers Guys...

gamer

did she do a system restore ,from the hardrive ,or just reinstall windows.was the drive formatted again, see ww.pcinspector.de 4 afree recovery program ,search boards forum here, restore files, undelete files ,theres companys that specialise in recovering files from hardrives.ITS not cheap.IF I HAD a thesis i,d have it backed up on 2 hds ,2 dvds and a usb drive.THERES various undelete programs out there ,look at previous threads here, lost files ,file recovery undelete files etc,try not to save new files on the dell pc 4 the moment.

NotMe

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/data-recovery-wizard-professional-v334/
^^Free today.

Adam

Wouldn't be much of a factory reset without a drive formatting imo. Even so, if I understand formatting correctly (and this is just guess work), then if it was a quick format the information that was on the drive is still technically there, just that the drive's allocation table was wiped so that the drive thinks it's empty and allows the sectors to be overwritten?

^^

Could be an off the wall idea though, I like to think it works that way in my head!

blackgold>>

then if it was a quick format the information that was on the drive is still technically there, just that the drive's allocation table was wiped so that the drive thinks it's empty and allows the sectors to be overwritten?

If you did a quick format or a normal format it doesn't matter no data is actually touched just the first few (mft's) master file tables.*allocation table like you said.

Anyway you should have no problems getting her files back but remember in the meantime don't add files to the drive as you might overwrite her files .

Goodluck

Adam

blackgold>> wrote: »

If you did a quick format or a normal format it doesn't matter no data is actually touched just the first few (mft's) master file tables.*allocation table like you said.

Anyway you should have no problems getting her files back but remember in the meantime don't add files to the drive as you might overwrite her files .

Goodluck

Ok, glad I was somewhat correct!

But then, why does a full format take so much longer than a quick format?

yoyo

Mirror wrote: »

Ok, glad I was somewhat correct!

But then, why does a full format take so much longer than a quick format?

Full format also checks drive for errors or bad sectors (i.e goes sector by sector), quick format just formats the drive

Nick

Capt'n Midnight

try photorec expecially if it's just one document or one type of file

do not install any programs or copy any data to the drive, the factor restore will overwrite the first part of the drive hopefully the document was later on

a thesis should be in at least three places and never more than two together so you always have one somewhere else