I'm 99.9% certain the answer to this is 'no', but I'm gonna ask anyway.

I had to reformat my hard drive yesterday without being able to backup things like mp3s and photos etc first. Are they lost forever or is there a trace of them somewhere (even just the filenames or something would be a help so I know what exactly I've lost)?

It's not a problem really as I have other copies of anything important, it's just a pain in the backside ripping cds to my hard drive again (I have somewhere between 1000 and 2000 albums).

Help much appreciated.

Have you tried going to search and typing in then file name?

Haha. Yeah, I already did that. No luck. I know when you delete files they leave a trace and you can recover them. I'm not sure about reformatting though.

I think I could get the files back using recovery software (and I may have to connect the hd to another computer to do it, I'm not sure), but that means paying for software that might not work anyway. I want a free solution if there is one.

Edited at 12:53 Tue 7/08/07 (BST)

There are some file recovery software about if you google. although it might not recover all your files you still maybe able to recover some.

do a system file recovery when u turn ur comp on

I had to do the same thing a few weeks back and i lost everything including 5,000 songs everything was completely wiped off my computer so I'm pretty sure you won't able get them back.

Yeah quick_pot thats excatly what i was thinking i doubt you will ever get them back .. sorry mate
Talk to spinner..

if the files are completly knocked you pc you cant do nothing about it m8 u will just have to be anoyed for a couple of weeks and forget it and have a good time.

Recover My Files

Recover My Files data recovery software will easily recover deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, or lost due to the format or corruption of a hard drive, virus or Trojan infection, unexpected system shutdown or software failure.

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

try that

I'm always confused when people say they had to reformat!

Ok, as long as you didnt affect the partition information (usinf fdisk or similar) then your files will still be there.

If its your main hard drive, then some may have been overwritten as you reinstalled your OS.

However, try to do an absolute minimum with the computer until you run a recovery program.

I use filerecover on any machines i get with this kind of problem. Its biggest advantage is you can run it from a USB drive (or CD) so you dont have to install anything more on the HD (and potentially overwrite files).

You can download filerecover from pctools :

http://www.pctools.com/file-recover/

Always remember if you can to recover files to a different volume to that they were stored on if possible.

I highly reccomned partitioning a large hard disk so that if you ever really want to reformat, you can do so and reinstall your OS without affecting data files.

Edit - filerecover is excellent for retrieveing filenames even if the file itself is trashed, you can also filter so you only look for .mp3's etc..

Edited at 19:15 Tue 7/08/07 (BST)

spinners way is probli better and i am probably wildly off topic but my compuetr crashed and had a blue screen a couple of weeks back and evrything was gone when i restarted it.
i did a system restore to the week before and everything returned
dunno if that will hekp but it might help someone one day as i was distraught when my music disappeared
but if you rewhatevered cos of virus or trojan etc i imagine it would also restore that

Spinner is the best at computing on here i think and i highly advise you to use his method!

I was about to say a System Restore, i guess i'm wayy off target there!

I said that up top!

Oops.

Edited at 06:31 Wed 8/08/07 (BST)

A system Restore returns the computer to the point at which it was working correctly. I dont know why you reformatted but if it was working fine after your files had gone it would take it back after the files had gone.

Definately use spinners idea.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm gonna run that filerecover program spinner suggested. I probably didn't HAVE to reformat, but it wouldn't boot or anything and a reformat was the only way my limited knowlege could get it to work again (it just froze or restarted when I tried to do anything else).

Edited at 11:38 Wed 8/08/07 (BST)

Just a little advice in case this happens to you (or anyone) again.

If you dont know much about the "workings" of windows (you shouldnt have to! so dont worry) - and you cant get the computer to boot up at all, take your windows install disk and put it in the CD drive.

If the computer doesnt try to boot from the CD, then you will have to access the setup during bootup - anything from pressing DEL to one of the function keys - just watch the display as your computer boots up - then find the option to change boot device, and set the first one to CD ROM.

This will then start windows setup from the CD.

Go ahead and install windows over the top of your old corrupted install and you should get a useable system.

You will probably have lost the setup of any programs you had installed, but your files/docs/mp3's etc should all be safe.

Use this rough setup to back up your files, then you can reformat and install a clean version if you like.

This usually works for all versions of windows from 95 and on

You can yes 100 percent but not on windows theres a new Apple Imac Leopard or if you have a mac buy the Leopard cd but this is only for mac it is called the time machine sound crazy go on www.apple.com

Tansan stop bringing back old threads there useless.