Goto command prompt and enter external drive letter (eg. G:)
and try these commands chkdsk/r and chkdsk/f
If they wont work use ur harddisk manufacturing tools to diagnose or troubleshoot the problem.
or go to
http://www.techyv.com/questions/how-recover-formated-harddisk-files-windows-xp
DO NOT DO THIS!!!
It may further destroy any data - or at least, it may end up getting "lost". Explaining why is beyond the scope of this thread at the moment.
RULE 1:
STOP USING THE HDD:
everytime you use it, every single seek/access/read/write activity may be taking you further and further away from recovoering your data. DO NOTHING TO TRY AND 'REPAIR' IT! you may end up destroying the very things you are trying to save.
RULE 2:
Use another Harddrive/Computer:
plug your HDD into a computer so that you are not running the Operating System From that drive.
RULE 3:
Install Recovery Software to another HDD:
Why? see Rule 1 above.
RULE 4:
Save your results to a different drive:
Once you have got your results from your Recovery Software, save the results to another HDD
See Rule 1
Recovery tools.
hopefully you only did a "quick format", else you may be pushing uphill.
I personally use this:
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/comparison.htm
notice the free version is limited to 1gb of data. but you can useit to do the scan, see what it will pull up, then save the results, buy the full version, and get your data.
It takes forever to do a scan, (it may take days on a 1tb hdd) but it recovers every file regardless of it's type. Many recovery programs only scan for certain file types, like music or videos.
It reads the pysical data on the disk, rather than just reading the file system. that is why it takes a long time. some recovery programs just read the file system, anything that says 'recover deleted files' is not going to help here.
In a perfect world, you want to
Run it with a UPS on a separate PC if you have any risk at all of a powercut, as if your PC goes off, or reboots, you start at the start again. Sleep is ok, Hybernate is OK (as long as you PC reliably resumes it's state, some do not) power off/reboot is not.
you could also look at this:
http://hddregenerator.net/
I use it, but I do not think that it is for you in this instance. What it can do though, is help speed the previous program up, as EaseUs DRWPro does not like bad sectors very much. That call is up to you. I usually do not use it first. I don't like doing anything that has the potential to touch/damage/lose data.
a list of reviewed tools is here:
top ten reviews
note: I do not endorse any of these products at 'top ten' as I have never used them. I know and trust Easeus. It has been good to me - 12/13 HDD = complete recovery. This list is provided simply for the benefit of the user, that he may have a look at some alternatives if he should so choose to.
