Hi,
My sister asked me to do a fresh install of her computer, she didnt tell me that she had her data on there so is there any data recovery metherds you would suggest?
Thanks in advance
Seywar

Once you format the hard drive I am afraid there is not much you can do to recover data.

"... a fresh install ..."

Of 98 or ME?

I'd like to keep the thread in the appropriate forum. Not both.

98 & Me
i did a fresh install from 98 to me

Did you boot the PC up from a Windows ME installation CD and tell it to format the hard drive during the installation? Or did you boot it from the PC but tell it to leave the file system intact (not sure if that was an option on Millennium).

Or did you just start up Windows 98, put the Millennium CD in and tell it to update a few of the components from Windows 98 to Windows Millennium level? I know that you said you did a 'fresh install' but saying that you did it from 98 to ME suggests that it was an upgrade, rather than a 'wipe it all off and start again'.

Originally Posted by DJNafey

Did you boot the PC up from a Windows ME installation CD and tell it to format the hard drive during the installation? Or did you boot it from the PC but tell it to leave the file system intact (not sure if that was an option on Millennium).

Or did you just start up Windows 98, put the Millennium CD in and tell it to update a few of the components from Windows 98 to Windows Millennium level? I know that you said you did a 'fresh install' but saying that you did it from 98 to ME suggests that it was an upgrade, rather than a 'wipe it all off and start again'.

no it was a fresh install not an upgrade
this is info off site that ive viewed but hav found no free sofware to recover the files:

In FAT, formatting a volume clears both file allocation tables and deletes the root directory. All data is still there, but you have lost:

All entries in the root directory. Files can only be recovered as "lost files". Sub directories of the first level will have only numbers instead of their original name. Sub directories of deeper levels show their original name.
The file allocation tables. This will cause the "fragmentation problem"

Majin is right to a certain extent. As far as Microsoft are concerned, you're stuffed.

However, there are two options available to you, neither of which will have guaranteed results and neither of which will be able to put your hard drive back to exactly how it was before. When you do a quick format on a hard drive, all that it does is marks every sector of the hard disk as free to be overwritten, although the data is actually there but it is hidden from the user. This is because the File Allocation Table (or the NTFS equivalent in Windows 2000/XP) is removed or re-written with an 'empty' version. Now, to be honest, I'm not sure whether the Windows ME install actually does a 'quick format' as we know it in Windows 2000/XP or whether it does a 'full format'. I know that the Windows 98 format process takes MUCH longer and I think that Windows ME is the same. Therefore, I assume that this is actually doing a 'full format', whereby it writes zeros into every data sector.

If anybody knows that the above is incorrect, please do correct me as I'm not entirely sure.

Now, if you've got a hard disk with all the data still there but the file allocation table wiped, then you have two options:

1. Get some data recovery software.
2. Send the hard disk off to a data recovery specialist.

The second option will always have better results but expect to pay £500 or more. If your sister is like most users, then she probably won't consider her data to be worth spending £500 and would probably prefer that you try to run some data recovery software on it.

BEAR IN MIND that, if you run data recovery software on the disk, then it is far less likely that a data recovery specialist would be able to recover more data from it. This is because the recovery software will change the contents of the disk during its recovery tasks and will probably render it unuseable after it has finished. If it gets most of your data back, great. If it says that it can't, then the disk is as good as in the bin.

If your sister considers her data to be worth enough to pay a data recovery specialist to try to get it back, then do NOT run any software on it yourself.

Other things to bear in mind are that you have actually installed more new files onto the hard disk after formatting it. This means that some of the data that was previously on the disk but just hidden could now have been overwritten permanently by the Windows ME installation.

Also, data recovery results are never guaranteed.

If you want to go down the software route, here's some of what I found on a Google search:

http://pcperformancetools.com/recovermyfiles.htm (This is a link to a comprehensive article about data recovery, with a link to RecoverMyFiles, one of the most well-known recovery programs)

http://www.active-undelete.com/ (This is another relatively well-known - or at least well-advertised - program)

http://www.file-saver.com/undelete/?pu=false&srec=true

http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/?gc...FRcGEgod4Ad_og

PLEASE NOTE that the above links and information are NOT recommendations by myself or by D-A-L.com or its owners. The comments above are merely my own views and opinions, which we hope will assist you in making your own decision.

Despite all the disclaimers, I hope all that helps! ;-)

Originally Posted by DJNafey

Majin is right to a certain extent. As far as Microsoft are concerned, you're stuffed.

However, there are two options available to you, neither of which will have guaranteed results and neither of which will be able to put your hard drive back to exactly how it was before. When you do a quick format on a hard drive, all that it does is marks every sector of the hard disk as free to be overwritten, although the data is actually there but it is hidden from the user. This is because the File Allocation Table (or the NTFS equivalent in Windows 2000/XP) is removed or re-written with an 'empty' version. Now, to be honest, I'm not sure whether the Windows ME install actually does a 'quick format' as we know it in Windows 2000/XP or whether it does a 'full format'. I know that the Windows 98 format process takes MUCH longer and I think that Windows ME is the same. Therefore, I assume that this is actually doing a 'full format', whereby it writes zeros into every data sector.

If anybody knows that the above is incorrect, please do correct me as I'm not entirely sure.

Now, if you've got a hard disk with all the data still there but the file allocation table wiped, then you have two options:

1. Get some data recovery software.
2. Send the hard disk off to a data recovery specialist.

The second option will always have better results but expect to pay £500 or more. If your sister is like most users, then she probably won't consider her data to be worth spending £500 and would probably prefer that you try to run some data recovery software on it.

BEAR IN MIND that, if you run data recovery software on the disk, then it is far less likely that a data recovery specialist would be able to recover more data from it. This is because the recovery software will change the contents of the disk during its recovery tasks and will probably render it unuseable after it has finished. If it gets most of your data back, great. If it says that it can't, then the disk is as good as in the bin.

If your sister considers her data to be worth enough to pay a data recovery specialist to try to get it back, then do NOT run any software on it yourself.

Other things to bear in mind are that you have actually installed more new files onto the hard disk after formatting it. This means that some of the data that was previously on the disk but just hidden could now have been overwritten permanently by the Windows ME installation.

Also, data recovery results are never guaranteed.

If you want to go down the software route, here's some of what I found on a Google search:

http://pcperformancetools.com/recovermyfiles.htm (This is a link to a comprehensive article about data recovery, with a link to RecoverMyFiles, one of the most well-known recovery programs)

http://www.active-undelete.com/ (This is another relatively well-known - or at least well-advertised - program)

http://www.file-saver.com/undelete/?pu=false&srec=true

http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/?gc...FRcGEgod4Ad_og

PLEASE NOTE that the above links and information are NOT recommendations by myself or by D-A-L.com or its owners. The comments above are merely my own views and opinions, which we hope will assist you in making your own decision.

Despite all the disclaimers, I hope all that helps! ;-)

thanks for the links, very helfull
seywar