repairing accidental format

[scott snider]

I have a quick question, probably an easy one. I accidentally quick-formatted a hard drive. I used a recovery program to analyze the disk and list all of the files, which can be undeleted. But all of the files names are changed, and the directory folders/subfolders are not available. Is there a way to recover the boot information so that things can be put back the way they originally were (ie. original files names, folders, etc.)?

Thanks for your help!

- Scott

[rchadwick]

It depends on the software you're using. Some are better than others, and some are better in certain situations.

Is your drive formatted FAT32?

[sigitharjono]

If your drive formatted FAT32, You can use tiramizu desktop bundle, hard drive mechanic for DOS

[pcimage]

I would suggest "GetDataBack" by runtime software

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Sir ,
You Need To Tell Us what Version was the initial format and what was the current format fat32 or ntfs or something else

[coolmac]

I would suggest "GetDataBack" by runtime software

yes ,GetDataBack is my favorite.but you should note what kind of format do you want to deal with?that means "for NT"?or for "fat"?

[dick]

You have not mentioned if after the 'accidental format' a new operating system was installed? Is that why you can't see the folder tree and original file names?

The cheapest software out there to get the data back is Zeroassumption Recovery.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/zeroassumption.html

Try out the evaluation version and see how you get on.

[dick]

Just to add there is a special weekend price on the authors site.
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/register.htm
single user license $29.95(US) ..........normally it costs $49.95(US)

It seems like a bargain to me!!!

[Shortscurcuits]

Even better is PCinspector file recovery, it's free and should be able to get it back. Version 3.0 is better than the newer one.