Hi all, I've not much experience in these kind of things but I'm skint add would like to be able to do something like this myself.
So my HP laptop had a virus and asked for a recovery disk as windows have failed etc.
I've removed the hard drive, bought a case for it and hooked it up to a mate's pc.
But when clicking on the drive to try and open, it just says drive not formatted.
What r my options? I've heard that I can format it and then download a recovery program, but I'm worried I'll lose some of my info.
Anyway hope that's enough info, its a seagate hard drive if that helps!
Thanks

where did you hear that you should format it and recover the data? I bet it either wasn't off someone with a sane mind or someone who thinks they know it all but actually know very little.

Why would you want to format it? Think about things logically, it will enable you to get through life much easier.

First thing to do it to clone the drive if possible.

Then run you data recovery software on the clone.

Dont format it as this would over write the MFT & you would lose the folder directory & file names when doing the recovery.
Could do a quick check with FTKImager which is a free download & might give you access to your files.
http://accessdata.com/support/adownloads#FTKImager

If the above fails then the next step would be to image the drive so you can work on that or have it as a backup.


Remember you accept the risks when trying DIY.

Loki

Hey guys thanks. I didn't think I should format it hence posting here haha!
I'll give those options a go cheers

I found this particularly funny as a computer place near me convinced a customer they had to do the exact same on a "clicking" Samsung.



To the original question R-studio should do the trick on the cheap if u wanna risk it

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