Hard Drive Data Recovery Software?

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 10:33 am

About a year and a half ago I ended up with some very nasty malware. Nothing we did helped. We tried numerous AV applications (including Norton Pro), antispyware, various online removal tools etc. etc. Nothing worked. Out of sheer desperation, I ended up buying a new C Drive, and transferring the data I wanted to keep from my original C Drive onto my F drive.
When my computer was up and running again....the F Drive showed up completely empty... *sigh*
Note, I have still not reformatted or reactivated that particular drive.

I lost a lot of valuable material, and I had thought it lost for good. But, after reading various articles on the net, I am left wondering if there is any chance I could actually recover the stuff I lost???

Does anyone know if this is possible, and if so, could you recommend good data recovery software? Ideally, I'd be looking for either freeware or fully functional shareware.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 10:43 am

I'm not entirely sure as I don't know much about this kind of thing, but I think the chances of recovering lost data reduces the longer the time period so you may not be able to recover it all but I'd imagine you should be able to recover at least some of it.

Malta Soron · Post by **Malta Soron** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:44 pm

AFAIK that's only the case when you're still using the drive. Then the lost data will be written over with new data. But since you're not using it, it should still be there.
You can try searching Google or Download.com.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:34 pm

OKay thanks,
I had run some Google and Download.com searches myself. But, since I'm not really very knowledgeable about such products I was looking for some personal recommendations.
I mean.. It's bad enough I lost the data on one drive, I would rather not do so with the drive that is actually working (which, I've read, can be easy enough to do with either a bad product or one that is not explained in user-friendly terms)

slade · Post by **slade** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:51 am

uh what about the old drive you have, does it still have the information you need, it might be easier to remove that malware.

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:58 am

Actually, it is possible to recover lost data from hard drive, even after a bit longer time and use. The negative side is, that I don't know any public program that can do that, but you have to send your hard drive to some specialists, and that costs honey.

So basically, if you don't want to pay yourself sick, I would suggest to try the option Slade already gave to you...