Data recovery with Folder Structure

[iborg]

Hi all and hello.
I have recently formatted an external drive as I was unable to connect to it for one reason or another.
I then purchased Icare data recovery software to recover the data.
I can happily say it located the data but with no folder structure or names of files, all files(which include MP3, JPegs and videos) are seemed to be renamed as numbers rather than there original name.
I have tried various scans using the software all with the same result.
Can anyone recommend an alternative product that will restore my lost data in its original folder structure.

Thanks You

[Nick_CT]

Try R-studio.

[loki]

If you have formatted the drive as you say then the MFT which stores this infomation has been over written & you have lost the folder structure & file names.
At leat you have managed to do a raw recovery & recover the files.

Loki

[jim]

Can you give more information about the external drive.

[iborg]

Its a 1TB Seagate go Flex - thats all i can remember as I am at work

[jim]

Its a ntfs file-system. I agree with loki by formatting you have been overwritten the MFT. There is a copy of the MFT. But I think that also has been overwritten by formatting.
you can try testdisk its free.

[loki]

This excert is taken from r-studios website about FAT & MFT:

http://www.unformat-unerase.com/

On a disk, there is a table that stores information about files, such as filenames, folder paths, creation and modification timestamps and, most importantly, where the actual file content is located on the disk and where it begins and ends. For Windows, there are two supported file systems: FAT and NTFS. The file tables for these systems are called the File Allocation Table (FAT) and Master File Table (MFT).

When you format a disk, one of two processes will unfold. When a quick format is performed, the system will create a new file table to replace the existing FAT or MFT. The previous file table will be partially or completely overwritten, destroying information such as filenames, folder structure and the physical location of the data, but the data will still be there. This data will remain untouched until it is overwritten by another application.