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File/Partition Recovery

BlueBlueBlueBlue Registered User regular
edited February 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
So! A friend got a new computer from her brother but it was infested with viruses and does not work.
Could I use this windows sp2 disk and make it work?
Well sure I can - just wipe everything and start over?
Yep!

Ok here goes....and reformatting...and installing...and done!

"Where are all the files?"
D:

So I have been trying out a bunch of file recovery-types software but they aren't very good - what does PA recommend? Additionally, any suggestions on a professional recovery service?

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Posts

  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Your chances of recovering are slim. Had the hard drive just failed, maybe. But you've overwritten a bunch of stuff on the disk by reinstalling Windows. Professional services are expensive, thousands of dollars expensive, with no guarantee of ever working.. So unless what got deleted was very, very important, it's not going to be worth it to try.

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  • BlueBlueBlueBlue Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    My fears confirmed!

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  • SatsumomoSatsumomo Rated PG! Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    I used a freeware program called FileStalker32, I was able to recover some files, but most files were broken. Also, anything above 10mb is surely destroyed.

    The other bad thing is that it seemingly recovered a ton of files, but trying to open them yielded in CRC errors.

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  • shadydentistshadydentist Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    BlueBlue wrote: »
    So! A friend got a new computer from her brother but it was infested with viruses and does not work.
    Could I use this windows sp2 disk and make it work?
    Well sure I can - just wipe everything and start over?
    Yep!

    Ok here goes....and reformatting...and installing...and done!

    "Where are all the files?"
    D:

    So I have been trying out a bunch of file recovery-types software but they aren't very good - what does PA recommend? Additionally, any suggestions on a professional recovery service?

    Try this. I haven't used it, but Lifehacker is usually a pretty good source.

    http://lifehacker.com/5157818/diskdigger-recovers-deleted-files

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  • L*2*G*XL*2*G*X Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

    thorough!

    L*2*G*X on
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