Is there a way to unformat a hard drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PJ
  • Start date Start date
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PJ

Is there a way to unformat a hard drive? Windows 2000
setup formatted both of my hard drives instead of the one
I indicated.

Thanks,

PJ
 
I guess W2k has a mind of its own, huh? :-)

There are some disk recovery tools that claim to be able to recover and
restore from a format, as long as the drive has remained untouched.
Google for disk recovery tools. I can't vouch for any such tool; never
tried one. (Try "unformat" as a search argument too.)
 
Famous last words, huh...

Did you use "quick format"? Supposedly, that clears the directory but
doesn't override the data-- a data recovery company, like OnTrack, might
recover most of your data, for most of your money.

If you did not use "quick format", forget about it-- a "real" format is
supposed to overwrite every sector on the disk and there's no recovery from
that.

Either way, if you have a backup you can restore, that's your best bet. Btw,
no matter how you look at it, it wasn't Windows, it was you not paying
attention. Accept that or it'll bite you again.

Mike D
 
Mike D wrote in
Famous last words, huh...

Did you use "quick format"? Supposedly, that clears the directory
but doesn't override the data-- a data recovery company, like
OnTrack, might recover most of your data, for most of your money.

If you did not use "quick format", forget about it-- a "real"
format is supposed to overwrite every sector on the disk and
there's no recovery from that.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Expensive forensic recovery _is_ possible. Like
FBI/CIA/NSF etc. And I'll wager a data recovery service might be
able to it as well...for tons of cash! A single overwrite leaves
lots of very faint data to be recovered (with time and money).

For nearly everone using a personal computer these solutions are out
of reach.
 
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