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Old 02-05-2009, 03:55 PM
GDH GDH is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,649
Default Data Recovery

Hi,

There is a table at the start of your disk called the Master File Table. It is like a spreadsheet index tracking the location of all your files on the disk.

Because of what you have done, you have most likely permanently destroyed the old MFT. It is very unlikely that you can recover the original file and folder structure on this disk.

Your only option is to run a Complete File Search on the drive letter. Part of this search will look at the deleted area of the drive and search for the header and the footer of the file types that you specifically selected. Any files which have not been overwritten will be found, but the files will have names like "Recovered_JPEG_1" etc. You will be able to click on the files found in File Type View as the search is in progress, and preview their content.

This type of search is good for finding photos and documents, but it is not good for recovering installed programs - you are better off installing these from scratch.

I hope this helps.
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Graham Henley
GetData Support Staff
http://www.getdata.com
http://www.recovermyfiles.com
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