I accidentally formatted my friend's hard drive to create a recovery drive instead of transferring my own data. Now, my friend's important data is gone and the drive only shows 32GB of space. I'm using DiskGenius to try and recover the files, but I'm really worried since my internal laptop drive is almost full too. We're both interns, and his hard drive contained crucial information like textbooks and research from the past six years. I really need advice on how to attempt recovery and what my next steps should be!
3 Answers
First things first, stop using that hard drive altogether! Don't try to format it or write any new files on it. It sounds like the recovery process might have messed up the partition, but there’s a chance the data is still there. Be sure to run DiskGenius in read-only mode and save any recovered files to another drive, not back onto the one in question. If the space is an issue, you may need to get another external drive just for the recovery. If things don't look good, consider a professional recovery service. Take it slow and be careful!
You’ve got a few options to try and recover the lost files. Software like Recuva is often recommended, but keep in mind recovery isn’t guaranteed, especially if any part of the drive was overwritten. HDDs generally have better recovery success rates than SSDs, but this doesn't mean your friend's files are safe. If any sections were overwritten during the formatting process, those files might be gone for good. So it’s a tricky situation!
The formatting changed the partition structure, which is why you see that reduced size. There’s a chance you can scan the drive and recover some information, but you might want to inform your friend as a precaution. A professional data recovery service would be the best bet for a better outcome. Other tools like GetDataBack might help, but be prepared for some potential costs if the data is really important to your friend.
I'm so stressed out about this, I’d pay anything to get his stuff back! It feels so awful.
I read in a tech support group that it's better to let a professional handle it to avoid overwriting any more data. I’m really worried about waiting until Monday to get help!