Restored files don't open

Hello (once again, unfortunately),

I finally found a great program that i can find and restore an old file that would make my life better if i could ever use again. I would like to ask two things for all that restore and overwriting situation. Basically i installed windows on the hard drive that has the file that i want to restore. Can i still restore the files after a install all however called? (sorry for noob question). Second, i was able to restore a few others files i need so much, but as i was in a rush i installed the restore program in the same hard drive as the files i wanted to restore. So i restored the files but i get error when i try to open. Those files are some .avi and some other are autodesk 3ds max design (.max) files that i have putted more than 100 hours working on these models..So basically why don't they open properly and what can i do about it..

Thanks a lot (once again),
Alex

well never mind about that. I am saying that i reinstalled the OS on the drive i want to recover a few files. I have a recover software but it didn't find that file..is that because it is overwritten after the format? is there any other way to recover that file?

Thanks i will try that...

Try Data Rescue PC 3 - prosoft eng. it's a bit pricey but it does well what the others can't (recovering raw partition, deep scan, boot cd).

When you reinstall Windows and in the event knock down or reformat you can still recover your old files. Where you will run into problems is if you use a wipe utility, or wait too long to recover your files. The more disk activity the higher the chance you will overwrite and segment desired files.

EaseUS makes a recovery utility that runs a close second, free up to 1 gb. Happy hunting.