A stab in the Dark - Recovering Data

[alan-d]

This is for my home PC

I had to reformat my C: drive - long story but basically the registry was currupt.

Anyhow - I lost all my emails, favourites etc (Yes I know but the backup was currupt too! )

Do any of you know of a way to recover data from a reformatted drive? Preferably free

Most of my programs are on a different drive and I'm trying to save time by not having to reinstall all the ones that used a link to the C: drive.

A shot in the dark I know - but I thought I'd ask

[projector1]

Are you at work or off?
Your best is attaching the drive to another pc
do you have the Ultimate boot cd UBCD (free downlaod bootble cd)
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
you should have a copy of it as part of your pc first aid kit
this contains several pieces of software that can recover formatted drives

this site has a good read up on recovering data (i have a print out for reference) http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1139

also try testdisk
i have util at home if you need it

[projector1]

when i first started here i could not boot up a laptop so i got the restore cd and restored it (without backing up nay files!!!)
what saved my life this

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

even after a few reformats!!

[alan-d]

Thanks I'll have a look - I've got to be careful I don't restore the original problem which was a borked registry. Somehow refused to open any .exe files and changed shortcuts etc to a .lnk . I couldn't edit the registry even after finding a way to open regedit

Very difficult to restore something when no .exe files open

It's my home PC, so I'll have a play when I get a chance

[projector1]

i was very lucky with the incident above, had i been in commerce i would not be on their books anymore.

Did you goto BETT?

are you off for the week?

[Norphy]

Not free but GetDataBack from http://www.runtime.org is brilliant, has never failed me so far.