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metalingus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2009
11
0
Hey guys, i am in desperate need of a solution to my problem, here it is:

I own an HD that had the NTFS storage format, after moving to a macbook, i learnt that the only way i could use this HD on the mac was to convert it to FAT32 storage format, so being the idiot that i am, i deleted ALL the files i had (thinking i could later use my trusty 'GetDataBack' data recovery program to get it all back) and reformatted it to FAT32, now i have found out that 'GetDataBack' can't help, so was wondering if i convert it back to NTFS and run the data recovery program on it would it recover the old files i had from before i converted it to FAT32?

If that is not possible, is any other way i can get back the stuff i had before my stupid mistake?
 

nanofrog

macrumors G4
May 6, 2008
11,719
3
The format only cleared the partition data, so the actual information is still there, assuming you've not done anything else.

You can use a software utility to do the recovery, and might be easier to do it from a Windows installation.

Utility example.

Good luck. :)
 

metalingus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2009
11
0
I tried recovering after i converted to FAT32 but it didn't do anything.

If i now convert back to NTFS and run the recovery would i be able to get back what i had originally?
 

nanofrog

macrumors G4
May 6, 2008
11,719
3
I tried recovering after i converted to FAT32 but it didn't do anything.
How? With what?

If i now convert back to NTFS and run the recovery would i be able to get back what i had originally?
Maybe, assuming the data's not been wiped (rather than just the Partition Table data). I'm just not sure what's happened, as a decent drive util used on a drive condition you described, should have worked (no need to change the format).
 

metalingus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2009
11
0
Ok i had files on my HD that was NTFS, when i plugged it into my mac and tried adding another file from the comp to the HD, it wouldn't let me, i googled it and found that the mac OS doesn't like NTFS formats and only works with FAT32, so i reformatted my HD (losing all the files i had) into FAT32, when i came to recover all the files that i lost in the reformation process, using 'GetDataBack' (http://www.runtime.org/) nothing was recovered.

So now my question is, when i reformatted the NTFS HD into FAT32, would all the files have been erased permanently? or is there a way of getting them back? perhaps by formatting back to NTFS and using GetDataBack?
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,247
12,390
"So now my question is, when i reformatted the NTFS HD into FAT32, would all the files have been erased permanently? or is there a way of getting them back? perhaps by formatting back to NTFS and using GetDataBack?"

Here's what I'd try, if I had your drive in my hands:
1. Get DataRescue3 for the Mac
2. Try to access the drive on the Mac using DR3 with the drive currently formatted as it is.

If that didn't work, next I'd do this:
1. Re-initialize the drive in _MACINTOSH_ format.
2. Try again to access the data on the drive using DR3.

Not specifically recommending this as a sure-fire solution to you, but that's what I'd TRY to do. No guarantee of success.

BTW, you MUST have a SECOND drive available to you for using DR3. It does not muck with the problem drive, just tries to scavenge it for data. The "rescued" data itself must be saved to a second drive somewhere.
 
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