#%^&!!! Reformatted Memory Stick w/ my life on it

variant

I accidentally formatted my 8gb memory stick that holds EVERYTHING digital that's important to me. This was my sole backup as I was reformatting my HD...

Is there any way to get back the documents, pictures, music, etc?

Organichu

Was it a "quick" or "soft" format, or a thorough delousing? There are software programs out there (I haven't used any, just use Google) that claim to work magic with the 'quick format' option offered on some digi cams. If it's a full deletion and format of your card, though, I don't think there's any (consumer grade) solution available to you.

variant

i didnt actually format it technically, I did the "Delete partition" @ the blue screen but didnt actually go through with the format.

Is there any way to recover this? I'm so fucked, it has all my notes for the semester and a bunch of other really important shit

Organichu

variant wrote: »

i didnt actually format it technically, I did the "Delete partition" @ the blue screen but didnt actually go through with the format.

Is there any way to recover this? I'm so fucked, it has all my notes for the semester and a bunch of other really important shit

I'm admittedly no expert on this but just Google "recover partition memory stick", or "deleted flash memory recovery", etc.

I haven't used any but I think your best bet (unless someone posts here with an excellent program) is to scour on Google, looking for programs that got good reviews.

ecco the dolphin

Hmmm... as another suggestion, try Googling:

deleted partition table recovery

Hmm...

Try this. It looks promising.

Edit: It also has step by step instructions here!

theclam

Also, some memory card/flash drive manufacturers have utilities that will recover data on their cards.

MurphysParadox

There are different types of "deleting everything".

One is just resetting the file that contains the indexes of each piece of data for each file on the device. Once this is reset, then the system will just copy over data as new stuff is added - thus, if nothing new is added, all of your data is still there but not easily accessible. In this case, there are plenty of programs that should be able to pull it back out for you.

Then there is actual wiping which is like the first step + overwriting every piece of data with zeros/ones/random junk. I doubt this happened because it is considered beyond the normal requirements and so it requires special software.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

There are businesses that specialize in data recovery, also. The same place that you would go if your hard drive failed is where you should be going now. But I don't know the name of that place, so i can't be more specific.

And Murphy's is right. Just formatting something doesn't actually delete anything. (I think. It's been a long time since school) What it actually does is authorize everything to be rewritten. So the data is actually still there.

In order to fully clean a hard drive, you need a special program. This program writes all ones on the drive, and writes all zeros. My dad deals with this because he has to oversee disposal of disks containing sensitive customer and account data at his job.

Also, I think they have to overwrite the drive something like six times for the data to be unrecoverable.

Edit: Fixed for spelling. I hate typing on a laptop. Stupid touchpad always moves my cursor somewhere else.

HorizonXP

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

I've used that software on my USB sticks, and it has worked wonders. Go, download it, and use it NOW.

MushroomStick

This software has saved my life when usb hard drives have been accidentally deleted/reformatted/corrupted. So maybe it'll work for you.

Treeloot

DirtyDirtyVagrant wrote: »

There are businesses that specialize in data recovery, also. The same place that you would go if your hard drive failed is where you should be going now. But I don't know the name of that place, so i can't be more specific.

And Murphy's is right. Just formatting something doesn't actually delete anything. (I think. It's been a long time since school) What it actually does is authorize everything to be rewritten. So the data is actually still there.

In order to fully clean a hard drive, you need a special program. This program writes all ones on the drive, and writes all zeros. My dad deals with this because he has to oversee disposal of disks containing sensitive customer and account data at his job.

Also, I think they have to overwrite the drive something like six times for the data to be unrecoverable.

Edit: Fixed for spelling. I hate typing on a laptop. Stupid touchpad always moves my cursor somewhere else.

No they don't. http://16systems.com/zero/

PeregrineFalcon

Treeloot wrote: »

DirtyDirtyVagrant wrote: »

Also, I think they have to overwrite the drive something like six times for the data to be unrecoverable.

No they don't. http://16systems.com/zero/

Should someone win, they get to keep the drive. They also will receive $500.00 USD and the title "King (or Queen) of Data Recovery".

Add another zero before the decimal and you might get some interest in this, but as it is I'd laugh someone out of the building if they asked me to recover a drive for $500.

Echo

DirtyDirtyVagrant wrote: »

Also, I think they have to overwrite the drive something like six times for the data to be unrecoverable.

I can't speak for ultra-secret spook agency techniques, but overwriting once is more than sufficient to make recovery impossible unless you possess gear for a couple of million bucks.

Simply defragging the drive is usually enough to completely cover stuff up.

I do a one-pass pseudorandom rewrite on emptying the trashcan on my system.

thej3w

I forget the application, might of been "GetDataBack" but they have an "un-delete" which will work if you just did the delete partition in Windows.

variant

Okay, phew, I was able to use Active@ Partition Recovery, set it to Fat 32, scanned and hit recover, and it recovered every single file. Such a relief...I'd recommend this program to anyone but keep in mind I had only deleted my partition, not formatted or deleted anything, and for that purpose it was perfect.