Windows 7: help to recover c:\ drive that became unallocated

Okay so I know a little about computers but not enough to figure this out so I thought I would try this forum out....so basically what happened to me was i wanted to do a system restore to a previous point and windows wouldnt let me until i performed disk check but everytime i tried to perform disk check after startup it wouldnt work so i thought i would go into recovery console with my windows cd but i didnt have my windows 7 cd on me so i used the hp disc that came with my laptop and once i put it in and started up my computer it started to put it back to factory condition by formatting the drive so when i saw it was formatting it was still at one percent so I freaked and popped open my drive and then everytime i tried to boot it would say missing boot manager files and i basically tried everything to fix that but it didnt work so i just ended up installing windows 7 again on my separate internal d drive and now my c drive that used to contain windows 7 is all unallocated space and i was wondering if there was any way i could possibly recover this drive back to its original state before it became unallocated since it was only the boot files that were deleted?

Thanks

Welcome!

I hate to say this, but it looks like your only option is trying data recovery software.

Here are some free programs you can try:

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

DiskDigger | The trusted data recovery solution

I have had good luck with Kernel Data Recovery, but alas, it costs $40. You can download the trial version and see what is recoverable, but you will have to pay to actually do it.

Wow, that's a very long sentence. LOL.

Did it actually start to format the drive ?

The data should still be there as it probably did a quick format.

Jonathan made some good suggestions. I might add TestDisk - CGSecurity to the mix.



World record, I do believe.

Follow Jonathan's advice and let us know the results.

I've used Recuva with good results before.

Everyone has some really good ideas and while it is certainly possible to recover most if not all the data you are going to be putting many hours into it, and it may not even be in a format that you can use.

If there isnt data on it that you CANT LIVE WITHOUT I would seriously consider it lost. I have been doing recovers for myself and my clients for more than a decade and the results vary but you never get it all back.

Good Luck Mate

Ken

thanks a lot guys ill try those sites