My mom just called me very upset because my fool of a father lost his patience and formatted the computer hard drive because "it wasnt working" This is a Win XP Home system
We lost all the pictures (thousands) and files we had saved on there of my now deceased cousin. Please tell me there is a way I can do a data recovery and get most of these pictuers back. In the past I sent away the drive and it cost me about 400 bucks.. Is there any software I could use myself that would get just as muhc back as if I sent it away and get these pictures back for my mother... Thank you for your help and advice
2007-07-05 13:28:11 · 8 answers · asked by J D 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Sorry.. This is just plain stupidity. It was a trojan on the family computer that I could have easily fixed.. but i have a job and im busy so i couldnt get over there right away.. he lost his patience and made a 2nd grade move
2007-07-05 13:36:37 · update #1
Check out information here.
http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoverydatarecovery/
If it were me, I would call in professional help -- which I have done twice already. Although I am experienced in using installed programs, I accept my limitations when it comes to setting up a network, etc.
In my area, we have a company called PC Housecalls. An extremely knowledgeable rep came to my home and had three computers working flawlessly in short order. It cost $69 per hour but was worth every penny in frustration prevention.
P.S. Don't be too hard on Dad. I'm sure he feels bad enough.
2007-07-05 13:42:55 · answer #1 · answered by TheHumbleOne 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Two points: send the hard drive away to see if professionals can recover your data; Windows XP SP2 is far superior to Windows 98 SE and currently better than Version 1 of Windows Vista. Send your father to get a computer training course so he doesn't screw things up again.
2007-07-05 20:35:05 · answer #2 · answered by TitoBob 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately I think you best option would be to send the drive out to a service that specializes in data recovery. They would have the best shot at recovering your data. I have seen programs that claim to be able to recover data from formatted drives but my experience has shown me that they do not perform as advertised plus they are quite expensive.
In the meantime, while you are trying to decide what to do, avoid using the computer for anything. You need to avoid writing anything to the disk and thus overwriting a potentially recoverable file.
Best of luck,
Captain Computer
2007-07-05 20:52:21 · answer #3 · answered by Captain Computer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
first and foremost - STOP USING THE COMPUTER COMPLETELY - don't turn it on, don't surf the net... don't do anythign with it or you take a chance of overwriting the very files you want to recover... as for recovering the data... I have to say, where is the back up? but after that, honestly, sending it away is the easiest and most likely way to get a significant portion of your files back
2007-07-05 20:32:42 · answer #4 · answered by EVOX 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
To recover the data you would need a professional to rewrite the software. If either you or your parents have tried to reformat it yet than you lost your chance because once you write over it it's gone.
2007-07-05 20:50:13 · answer #5 · answered by Belgariad 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't blame him - Windows XP is a nightmare! Sending the drive away is the best option as it gives you the best chances of getting the data back. You can try software such as Recuva, but you may just end up making things worse.
2007-07-05 20:31:10 · answer #6 · answered by Linux OS 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
try this site, it is a help for all microsoft products.
2007-07-05 20:42:30 · answer #7 · answered by twentyeight7 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sorry man i believe you cant
2007-07-05 20:36:49 · answer #8 · answered by MUERTE 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋