How do I recover files from an external hard drive that has been re-formatted?

Question

My mom’s external hard drive got formatted and now I’m trying to recover her files. I used various data recovery software suggested in another forum such as

Recuva
Asoftech
iCare Data Recovery
Pandora Data Recovery

It took my around three hours just to scan it and the results showed me that they have recovered files that are up to 17gb but these files are not the files of the hard drive. I got different file extensions such as

txt files
blf files
system files
zip files that I can’t open
shockwave flash files
bitmap
dfs

It’s very frustrating already and I’ve been trying to recover the files for over a week. What more can I do? It's important for her to recover it because the files that she uses for her PhD are there. Her external hard drive is a WD and it has not been used right after it has been formatted.

Answer 1

I've been working in professional data recovery for over 20 years. I am not very familiar with any of the software titles you are trying. A good data recovery program should get your files back as long as you didn't do a full format using Windows 7 or 8 or a non-default MAC format. If you are using Windows I would recommend you try GetDataBack. If its MAC, try Data Rescue. Both these programs should have free demo versions for you to try. I have NO affiliation with either program other than I have used them both successfully many many times.



If the file system is badly overwritten you may not get back the original file names, dates, or folder locations. If that is the case, make sure you you select "recover raw files" in GetDataBack options. Data Rescue will automatically create a folder called CBR which contains all the raw files and folders. Then you will need to search through the recovered folders or files for some phrase that your mother knows is in the missing documents to identify them. To this you will need more then a demo version. Cost might be cheap compared to us pros ... ~ $70. versus $300-500



If all fails send it to the pros, like us, Memofix and we will get it if its still there .. guaranteed . Best of luck to you.

Answer 2

You may try this solution

http://www.asoftech.com/articles/External-Drive-Data-Recovery.html



hope this helps.

Answer 3

Does she know the name and the original extension and or folder location. Thats what it does they may be different file extensions you need to know what your looking for, these must be the files its impossible for them to not be.