Accidently reformatted my external hard drive!! HELP!

[jzdesigns]

Accidently reformatted an external 500 gig hard drive, half was time machine, half was files. I'd prefer it all back but what I REALLY only need is one folder from it of my archived work. I contacted a few data recovery companies, they all charge quite a bit. Gillware seems reputable and the mostreasonable. I tried a demo of a recovery software named Phoenix, it found absolutely nothing.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing?!

 

[Eraserhead]

Try:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

Both are free.

If you haven't added any new content to the disk you should get everything back (as long as you only did a quick format).

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

did you zero out the disk (overwrite all data with zeros) or do a standard format?

If you zero'd it out, I think you're boned. If not, you might find luck with a reputable data recovery site but they're quite expensive... do you have to live in the southern California area? I know a few computer guys who could recover it, if it can still be recovered.

 

[THX1139]

On another note... I can never understand how something like this can happen. I can see how someone might accidentally delete a folder or file, but to accidentally erase a whole hard drive?

 

[Leareth]

File salvage http://subrosasoft.com/


also Access Data's Forensic Toolkit

 

[DoFoT9]

File salvage http://subrosasoft.com/


also Access Data's Forensic Toolkit

Data Rescue III also does a pretty good job OOTB

 

[Fishrrman]

First thing -- turn off the external drive and disconnect it, RIGHT NOW.

I would recommend either Data Rescue or Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery. I've only used Data Rescue, and can attest that it works well, but I have heard good reports about Stellar Phoenix as well.

Next thing -- you need to buy ANOTHER hard drive, because ALL data recovery software applications require a second "empty" drive to which they recover the data.

I would recommend that you buy a "bare" hard drive (I like Seagates, and I also like newegg.com). Then, get yourself one of these from amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Connecla...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1253062702&sr=1-22

Only $30 and it will become a very handy "tool" to have around.

What to do when you have this stuff:
- Connect the SATA dock to the Mac via the USB port
- Put the bare drive into the dock, turn the dock on
- The drive probably WILL NOT "mount up" yet, because it hasn't been initialized, so...
- Open Disk Utility and initialize the new drive. Set it up for ONE partition, in the GUID partition format (assuming you have an intel-based Mac).
- Now re-connect the problem drive. Let it mount on the desktop but DO NOT try to copy anything to it. The idea is to leave it "untouched"
- Launch Data Rescue (or whatever recovery software you have) and choose the problem drive as the source, and the new "dock drive" as the target.
- Be aware that it can take a L-O-N-G time for data recovery apps to do their thing. This is because they don't try to "repair" a bad drive. Instead, they "scavenge" it, block-by-block, and then try to re-assemble the chunks of data they find into meaningful files.
- Also be aware that it might take more than one try to "get the hang of it". In my case, it was the third attempt that finally worked for me.
- Be aware that you'll probably lose any "folder hierarchies" you previously had. This is because folder hierarchies are stored in a drive's directory, and you "wiped that out" when you re-initialized the drive by mistake.

DO NOT expect this to "go like a snap". It will take some time and some learning effort on your part. Why do you think the data recovery companies can command such high prices?

And again - if you are serious about getting those files back, you _MUST_ buy another drive to use as your recovery drive. And again I would recommend buying a SATA dock along with a bare drive - you will actually find the dock a useful piece of equipment for the future.