File Recovery

yabis · 11-03-2009, 09:28 AM

Not sure which forum to post this in... Please redirect me if necessary.

My computer using Windows XP was reformatted a few days ago. I lost all of my files. I used Piriform's Recuva to recover about 60 gigs of files; however, I am unable to open up any of the files on any computer (I've tried two). I have double checked the extensions, and have even tried re-saving/renaming copies of files. I don't know what to do. It's almost like my files are in a cage and I don't have the key! Please help!

-Yabis

**raptor_pa** · 11-03-2009, 02:16 PM

You did recover them to a different drive correct? or did you try to recover them to the failed drive?

yabis · 11-04-2009, 12:31 AM

I guess I saved them to the failed hard drive. I only have one hard drive. I don't have an external hard drive. I didn't really think about that at the time of.

I do have two computers that are connected through a network though. If I rerun the file recovery program (Recuva) and save the files to the drive that didn't fail, will the program still be able to recover my files to the new drive, even though I already ran the scan once and saved them to the failed hard drive?

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 05:12 AM

When you reformatted the disk, all the blocks were avaialable to the OS to wite data. When you identified the files with recuva, the program knew where the files were, but the OS didn't. so when you had the program write the files to the disk the OS would not know to overwrite the blocks occupied by the other files, and probably overwrote the data for the files you wanted to recover. They are probably unrecoverable at this point. You could try running it again, however the files in the directory will be output as they are - corrupted. If it can find any remnants of other files, it may recover them. Since you only had one disk, I assume you had also re-installed windows after you formatted? If so, then that also could well have overwritten the data of the files you wanted to recover.

11-03-2009, 09:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
yabis Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 OS: XP S3	File Recovery Not sure which forum to post this in... Please redirect me if necessary. My computer using Windows XP was reformatted a few days ago. I lost all of my files. I used Piriform's Recuva to recover about 60 gigs of files; however, I am unable to open up any of the files on any computer (I've tried two). I have double checked the extensions, and have even tried re-saving/renaming copies of files. I don't know what to do. It's almost like my files are in a cage and I don't have the key! Please help! -Yabis

11-03-2009, 02:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,936 OS: XP	Re: File Recovery You did recover them to a different drive correct? or did you try to recover them to the failed drive? __________________

11-04-2009, 12:31 AM	#3 (permalink)
yabis Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 OS: XP S3	Re: File Recovery I guess I saved them to the failed hard drive. I only have one hard drive. I don't have an external hard drive. I didn't really think about that at the time of. I do have two computers that are connected through a network though. If I rerun the file recovery program (Recuva) and save the files to the drive that didn't fail, will the program still be able to recover my files to the new drive, even though I already ran the scan once and saved them to the failed hard drive? Last edited by yabis; 11-04-2009 at 12:33 AM.

11-04-2009, 05:12 AM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,936 OS: XP	Re: File Recovery When you reformatted the disk, all the blocks were avaialable to the OS to wite data. When you identified the files with recuva, the program knew where the files were, but the OS didn't. so when you had the program write the files to the disk the OS would not know to overwrite the blocks occupied by the other files, and probably overwrote the data for the files you wanted to recover. They are probably unrecoverable at this point. You could try running it again, however the files in the directory will be output as they are - corrupted. If it can find any remnants of other files, it may recover them. Since you only had one disk, I assume you had also re-installed windows after you formatted? If so, then that also could well have overwritten the data of the files you wanted to recover. __________________