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"Formatted Hard Drive - Can I recover files?"

Is it possible to recover any information from a formatted hard drive?

My friend sent her PC back to Time Computers this week to be upraded & for some unknown reason, when she got it back yesterday, they had formatted the existing hard drive, despite the fact it was only to be tranferred from the existing case to the new one. No new software was due to be added to this machine only hardware. She was also told that they would not be touching the hard drive apart from to transfer it.

She was & still is using Windows 98. Which she had to reinstall last night.

Can anything be done to recover any of the deleted files?

That's unique data, it's worth thousands of pounds at least. I had a chat with my solicitor when our last computer was stolen, y'see. I suggest you have a word with yours'.

didn't i say..... they are pants!

So in compensation for losing all her data Time have offered a resource hungry OS to install on an old machine, and a modem that no doubt costs £10 in the shops? What a bunch of bandits.

Thanks everyone for answering.

I didn't think there would be much that could be done to recover the old files.

I can assure you all that she has had a few carefully chosen words with Time about this.

They have now offered her some new software including an upgrade to Windows XP, & a new modem (as the managed to break that aswell) as compensation.

Thanks all.

Wow, do you feel that? That's the knowledge glowing from Sniper's words, damn that's impressive, and to think we were blessed with that piece of wisdom for the brain of Sniper..

time r crap.

If they said that they were not going to touch the drive and then they wipped it she should call them up for compensation.

Well, formatting shreds the data then write a brand new filesystem ON TOP of that. Plus, you've written Windows 98 over it. I doubt even Gandalf could get that data back for you.

Is it certain that that is the same hard drive that was sent off? Or have they replaced it with a dodgy one? I think there are ways of getting back the date, but they are very expensive, not the sort of thing you would usually want to pay out for.

I hope you will complain vociferously, nothing short of a couple of hundred quid will do, I'm sure.

Is it possible to recover any information from a formatted hard drive?

My friend sent her PC back to Time Computers this week to be upraded & for some unknown reason, when she got it back yesterday, they had formatted the existing hard drive, despite the fact it was only to be tranferred from the existing case to the new one. No new software was due to be added to this machine only hardware. She was also told that they would not be touching the hard drive apart from to transfer it.

She was & still is using Windows 98. Which she had to reinstall last night.

Can anything be done to recover any of the deleted files?