How do I restore my lost files on my external hard drive?

Question

Story is my husband was transferring all my files onto an external hard drive so he could WIPE clean the computer and start again.

What he forgot was to disconnect the external hard drive from the computer while he was in the progress of cleaning the entire system.

So all my work has vanished on the hard drive. It asked him to 'format' which he didn't do so that means we may have a chance of resurrecting the lost files.

The real question is HOW do we do that?
Any help is much appreicated.

Thanks

Colin M - no its not a silly question. People have got stuck on silly things like why the computer's not working?? Oh forgot to put the plug in!! ha ha

When my husband checked the external hard drive it requested 'formatting' but he didn't select format because he knew that if he did, chances of resurrecting the lost files would be lost forever!

Answer 1

Most of us have deleted the wrong files at one time or other. After all, it takes only a couple clicks. And there's no undo option once you empty the Recycle Bin.

Fortunately, it's often possible to undo accidental deletions. Deleted data stays on the hard drive until Windows uses the space for new files. But Windows won't let you browse these areas of the hard drive. To do that, you'll need a file recovery program.

Recuva is a free, no-frills file recovery program. Just choose a drive, if you have multiple hard drives. Then click the Scan button. Recuva lists any deleted data that can be recognized as files. It also rates the condition of each file. Some files may already be partially overwritten.

A checkbox accompanies each item in the list. Just select which you want to recover and click the Recover button. Recuva prompts you for a place to save the recovered files.

Recuva is still in its beta (testing) phase, so it's not perfect. For example, I noticed a few scrambled file names in the results list. Nevertheless, they and the other files I recovered were complete and undamaged.

Recuva works on Windows XP or 2000.

Cost: Free

http://www.recuva.com

Answer 2

What you describe is nearly impossible to do but it can be done. You can't really erase all drives with one click of the mouse so it took a lot of effort. You would have to really go to a lot of trouble to erase both drives. Be sure you haven't just failed to get the external drive to mount propely. Maybe your data is not relly erased?

If you are sure the external drive is mounted properly and it is erased, contact a computer store and ask them what they would charge to use a data recovery program that might find deleted files. If the price is outrageous, buy an application yourself that will do it for this instance and even the next time your mouse goes crazy and clicks on too many erase options. These types of applications cost 50-200 dollars on a bootable CD (may not have to boot to it if you want to scan just the external drive). It may find all of your data or less than half. Even after a format, data could still be found so don't think too many good or bad thoughts yet.

In the future, make 2 copies of all important data and 3 copies of all very important data. You should be able to buy another external drive for 50-100 bucks that can hold 2-30 Gb of data.

Answer 3

You would have to use a computer forensic tool to recovery the data.

If the drive was not formatted you have a great chance of recovery.
The way it works like a book the drive has an "index". When you erase using the recylce bin windows just erases the index entry and not the actual data until it has been overwritten by new data.

Try winhex.

Answer 4

I did this with my wife's laptop boy did I get it in the neck

if the files are om the external hard drive reconnect the drive and open the files then save as change location to the computer hdd and save
check the files are transfered
or select files and copy to computer hdd

Answer 5

Well, it looks like that you husband move your files from your computer to external drive he did not make a copy. Assuming that he transfer it alright then your files should be safe in your external drive and you can access it at anytime, once you have the computer running again.

It's very simple to access it or transfer back to your computer, all you have todo is plug it back in to the running computer, it is hot swappable meaning it's plug and play, assuming that it has a usb connector. Let me know if it help resolved your issue.

Answer 6

It may seem like a silly question, and if it is I apologise, but have you actually looked on your external drive? Hopefully, all your data will be on there & can be transferred back. It's quite difficult to accidentally erase two drives at once, unless you really work at it.

Failing this, try downloading PC Inspector - pretty good at finding "deleted" files.

Good luck.

Answer 7

Buy recovery software or send it out if it's that important to you. Some are better than others you can tell by the price tag, I have products that I use from $50 to $3500. But anyways even formatted its ok to get the info back just takes TIME TIME TIME.

Answer 8

You can download Recuva for free here http://j.mp/1pk9Asi

Recuva is a great tool to recover accidentally deleted files.

Answer 9

Try a deep scan with your utilitysoftware, and make sure Windows knows what to do with the files it finds... they may not be recognized as JPEG's. good luck

Answer 10

Maybe these will help:

http://www.diskinternals.com/

http://www.active-undelete.com/