Comments for I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

Comment from maggie on 2009-07-25

2009-07-25T15:14:58Z

I bought a win vista lappy. I had no idea that reformatting would lose all my original programs installed when i bought the pc. Since xp put them back i thought vista would too...Is there a website to help me find a list of all programs originally installed on my PC when i bought it?

Not really. You need to get in touch with the manufacturer of that computer, since each will pre-load their machines with different collections of stuff.

- Leo
26-Jul-2009

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Jack on 2009-03-16

2009-03-16T17:09:05Z

I also had formatted ( not quick format) my hard disk partition.

I recovered all the data ( 40 gb) using a software called GetData Back for NTFS

Hope it helps

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from pat harte on 2009-03-11

2009-03-12T00:43:28Z

HI . I HAVE A COMMENT TO ADD. I HAD AN 8GIG FLASH DRIVE THAT TURNED TO RAW AND WAS UNABLE TO READ ANTHING FROM IT AS WINDOWS DID NOT FIND IT
AFTER SEARCHING THE WEB FOR AN ANSWER I COULD NOT FIND ANY AND DECIDED TO FORMAT IT UNDER DISKMANAGMENT
AFTER I WAS ABLE TO RUN RECOVERY SOFTWARE AND RECOVER 96% OF ALL THE DATA.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO RECOVER FROM A RAW DRIVE
MANY THANKS

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Comment from Vector on 2009-03-11

2009-03-11T18:28:52Z

Hi Leo. My operating system (Windows XP Pro is installed on partition C of my hard drive. If and when the time will come to reformat - can I reformat just this (c) partition, so that personal data on other partitions will not be lost? Thanks.

Yes.

- Leo
12-Mar-2009

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Margaret Louk on 2009-03-10

2009-03-11T03:18:48Z

Hi: for those who are computer challenged, I suggest a card box. While I save a lot of things to my external hard drive, I have some downloaded programs. I make out a 3 x 5 card, put the name, date, purchase price (or free), web site, any numbers. I make sure I keep a copy of the key. When I reinstalled my operating system I was able to reinstall the games and other things I really wanted using this method. Easy. I had a problem with opening my old windows word programs, so I downloaded an open office program that opens them. Again easy. Sincerely Margaret

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from jackson mccurdy on 2009-03-10

2009-03-11T02:07:40Z

I had to format and reinstall xp on my buddy's computer, after a motherboard replacement I ran some file recovery software and told his wife to go through it and pick out what she needs and she got back all her pictures,and could have got back a lot more stuff. She was so happy and she quit crying and everything. and said I was amazing. Now I'm pretty good with computers, but we are definitely not data recovery experts. And still got back a lot of data. So I don't know if telling them that there is not much hope for recovering their data is totally accurate. I suspect Windows gets reinstalled in roughly the same place on the hard drive as it was on the original install, leaving the rest of the data mostly intact. This was pretty easy to do just a little tedious.

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Alex Howe on 2009-03-10

2009-03-10T18:51:39Z

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard allowed me to recover over 400GB of music files I had on a second hard drive in my PC after I accidentally formatted it! (I got the drive letters transposed and thought I was formatting a new hd!!) As long as you DO NOT "write" any new data to the drive, it is possible!

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Chris Robertson on 2009-03-10

2009-03-10T17:39:03Z

Fromatting only Destroys the FAT (index) but re-installing windows overwrites much of your data. I regularly recover a formatted drive (Files, not programs) using file Scavenger or undelete pro. Funny this is that computers that are fragmented do the best in recovery.

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Gigi on 2009-03-10

2009-03-10T17:32:32Z

Sorry to tell you Leo but you got it wrong: actually quick formatting doesn't erase the data just performs the process of setting up an empty file system on the disk, and installing a boot sector and the full formatting just adds scans to the disk at low level for broken sectors.
Imagine the hdd as a book: quick format just erases the content pages and the pages numbers, full format also checks for missing pages and tears or smudges on the page's paper.
Absolutely all the data is left untouched and this is why modern malware survives formatting.
Recovering data is dead easy - there are a lot of good freebies for it - and it's best done with the hdd in another pc.

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from BR Smith on 2009-03-10

2009-03-10T16:50:30Z

Leo, if "Formatting erases everything on a hard disk" then how could it be unformatted? I know many people mistakenly think if they format their drive someone else would not be able to retrieve that data, which is a terrible mistake.

Because most people do a "quick format" which essentially only erases the top level directory. Things can still be recovered from that. A full or unconditional format is more thorough.

- Leo
11-Mar-2009

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Jay Gieber on 2009-03-06

2009-03-06T17:26:47Z

Leo, a question for you. Let's say I partitioned my hard drive. (I do) Now let's say one partition becomes corrupted. (It did) Can I reformat just the corrupted partition and just replace those things that I had on it? Thanks, Jay

Yes. I glossed this over for simplicity, since most people run 1 partition on one disk. Formatting actually happens at the partition level.

- Leo
07-Mar-2009

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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Comment from Velocity Wave on 2009-03-04

2009-03-05T07:12:33Z

For the more technically inclined, it is definately hard not to shake one's head at such a question as:

"I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?"

That question is just one step away from:

"Hey Leo, I accidentally dropped coffee on my computer that contained valuable data. And then as luck would have it, I was conducting an experiment for class later that day, and pure hydrochloric acid spilled onto my computer. As if that were not enough, wouldn't you know it, but I hiking on a volcano a few hours later, when I tripped and fell. My already coffee stained, acide-damaged computer the rolled out of my backpack, and fell into a pool of lava, where it melted completely, and turned liquid-molten. Can I get my data back?"

Or:

"Hey Leo, I accidentally dropped my hard-drive into a distorted region of the space-time-continuum, known as a black-hole. I had some pretty important stuff on that hard-drive, like my pictures from last year's vacation. Anyways... I heard that information entering a black-hole is never really completely lost, and that over time, through hawking radiation, the black hole will "evaporate" and emit information about objects that have fallen within it. Do you know of a program that could analyze the hawking radiation and try to reassemble and unscramble my JPEGS?"

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A comment on: I formatted my machine and now all my programs and data are gone, how do I get them back?

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