Windows 7: formatted c drive data recovery

Hi all,
I formatted my C:\ (win 7 64 bit os), bt on d way realized that my most imp data was kept hidden under C:\Users\Prashant , but couldn't help stopping the format.

Now, since the C:\ drive is formatted , I can't access C:\Users\Prashant , so is there any way to recover back my "mostttt imp data"...((

plzzzz help asap...its very important for me....:|

Oh joy! Another one who scrubbed C!

You need to spend some time looking over a number of data and partition recovery programs for sure! That's the facts right up front! If it was simple accidental file deletion a small program like Recusa would be a fast help.

Most of the better programs are the paid for type and run upwards of $70US! Don't bother with the free to try and buy versions since those never work it seems. One better rated freeware program for accidental format of partitions you can look over would be the DiskInternals Partition Recovery program found at Data Recovery Review - secrets of DiskInternals Partition Recovery 2.5

A free tool called Recuva might be able to help. It has a good reputation among other file recovery programs.

Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

The problem is not knowing if the formatted disk has had other data written to it since the format and if that new data has overwritten your old data. Here's a list of other recovery software.

16 Free File Recovery Software Programs (Free Undelete Software)

In fact you may try as has been suggested, but recovering files from a formatted drive that has been overwritten on is a very, very difficult proposition, specially for amateurs like we are. Don't have much hope to get your data back.

However professionals are almost invariably able to recover the deleted data from formatted and overwritten drives but they are extremely pricey. If you are from the NCR, then Nehru Place is the location to get hold of some of these professionals.

I installed iCare data recovery s/w v 4.6.4 , nd recovered my file using it. It was a zip file , bt while opening it, it says, "cannot open file: it does not appear to be a valid archive"

This is often the case after doing a deleted file recovery. Just a corrupted version gets recovered. I wonder if the program that you used was a free one or shareware.

Hi-

You can try the Data Rescue PC3 demo and scan your formatted drive to see if you can find your files with it.

This link has the demo installer and steps on how to get started.
Windows Data Rescue PC3, Windows Disk Recovery, Windows File Recovery - Prosofteng.com

If you haven't written any data to that drive you should be able to recover a good amount files.

Here is the Data Rescue PC3 product page:Emergency Hard Drive Recovery, File Recovery Software, Data Recovery Software | Features | Data Rescue PC3

Feel free to contact us @ 925-426-6306 or email: support@prosofteng.com

Regards,

Prosoft Support

Recuva only works when deleting individual files not when you wipe a drive. That one would be too limited for this.

As for most share ware versions of programs they never seem to be able to do much of anything! This is why the Dr. Freeware was a last resort option. I believe that boots live from cd if I remember how that went.

It found everyhing without any option to be selective as far as what was recovered! But the real annoyance was seeing everything recovered placed in numerous temp folder all jumbled up. You then have to go by the 3 digit file extension to sort through the files later! System files mixed with photos mixed with...

Minitool Partition Wizard Bootable cd has Partition Recovery capabilities, seems to work pretty well. I've known people be able to get the partition back without any damage.

As others have said, if you don't write anything onto the drive you'll have a better chance of getting back the data without it being lost or corrupted.

If all you've done is accidentally format it this works every time on healthy drives:

TestDisk Download - CGSecurity