Retrieve data from hard drive after re-formatting?

Question

Because I deleted Cox Security Suite (which had embedded itself in my programs) and because I had downloaded IE 7 which did not download correctly, and after spending over 17 hours on the phone with Microsoft over the past week, I had to re-format.  I used Nero Express and burned 4 disks of data.  The program verified that the burn was successful and verified that the data was there. After the re-format, I inserted the disks and found that there was data on only one of the disks.  So, all of my data on the other disks is gone.  Some of it is a project I have worked on for five years and I am terribly distressed.  I have heard several times that info you think is gone, is still on your hard drive.  Do any of you know how to check this out? Thank you for any help you can give me! klakh Dell Dimension 8100 Windows XP SP-2

fireberd · Answer

Did you use CD-R or CD-RW media? Unfortunately CD-RW media is known to lose data and/or format and once that happens there's no way that I've ever seen to recover that.

Data on the hard drive MAY still be there as when you format only a "flag" is set that says that sector is avaiable to be written to. If nothing has been written to that/those sectors the data will still be there. There are some recovery programs around (I don't have anything to suggest but do a google search). There are also companies that will retrieve data from a hard drive and may even be able to retrieve data from a failed hard drive but they are expensive. Depending on the project you have been working on, the cost may not be an issue.

klakh · Answer

I reinstalled Nero the first thing after trying to read the disks, but no help.  I went through all of the burn process and received verification that the burn was successful and the data was there.  But, it wasn't. Thanks for responding. k.

klakh · Answer

I used CD-R and I am really disappointed in the program, Nero. I took its word that since it verified the burn and data, it was there. That was a hard lesson. In the future I will always try to read the disk after every burn, no matter what.

I will search for a program that might help. Thanks for your response.

Kanuk001 · Answer

You may have forgotten to 'finalize' the CDs. Make sure Nero has been reinstalled on your machine and use it to access the CDs. Windows would not be able to read unfinalized disks. Message Edited by Kanuk001 on 09-14-200611:05 AM

rwm32 · Answer

@klakh wrote:

I used CD-R and I am really disappointed in the program, Nero. I took its word that since it verified the burn and data, it was there. That was a hard lesson. In the future I will always try to read the disk after every burn, no matter what.

I will search for a program that might help. Thanks for your response.

Do bear in mind that it is generally risky to rely on CD-R / CD-RW / DVD-R (etc) for critical backups, even if you read the data after making the backup. An external USB hard drive is significantly less risky and much faster.

klakh · Answer

Please excuse my ignorance, but what would an external USB hard drive be?

fudgieguys · Answer

It is a hard drive that uses a USB connection to your computer. There are many models available. Google the net with USB external drives and read about these devices.  FYI.

klakh · Answer

Thank you.

jmwills · Answer

Not to beat this horse to death, but data that is not backed up at least twice in different locations is data not worth keeping.  How many people (home users) do you know actually test the validity of their backups?  I will guarantee you that it is less than 1%.   This subject came up at work yesterday about archiving data and I suggested double layer DVD so we cold cut down on the number of disks (I hate tape).  Someone asked how long we could guarantee the data for and I said no one knows the answer to that yet becasue of the technology of burning optical disks.  So, that's why I say you need at least two copies of your data.   Anyone who has lost sensitive data has learned this lesson the hard way, including yours truly.   So how many copies do I now keep, you ask?  Four.

klakh · Answer

It appears that my OE that I thought was on the one disk that did burn data was not there.  The Microsoft person that was helping me try to reinstall it told me that because we searched for the dbx files on C drive and did not find them, that even a recovery program would not find them.  She said the files are gone.  Do you think this is true or should I spend money to try them as well as the data for my five-year project?  Please, anyone have any information or ideas on this?

jmwills · Answer

There are professioanl data recovery firms that specialize in this work especially after Katrina last year.  Unless you formatted that disk with a special program such as BC Wipe that data is still there. Get ready to spend about $1000 to have tha data recovered.

Jim Hardin · Answer

Lets' not give up on the backup discs. – I don't use Nero, but I suspect you used their Backup program?

In that case, as with most backup programs, the data cannot be viewed or recovered unless you use the Retrieve program from that software.

I would talk to Nero about this.

klakh · Answer

Excellent idea.  I will contact them. Thank you for your perseverance!  k.

Windows General

Was this post helpful?