Sata Drive - Accidental Formatting

Channel Hopper

Channel Hopper

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A customer has pressed format on their PC when attempting to clear down an SD card, but appears to have got the lettering wrong and deleted the data on their E drive (which was a second internal SATA unit, with about 50GB of data including their family and holiday snaps )

They are running Win 10, is there a recovery programme in MS that could possibly reverse what they have done , or is a third party programe the way to go ?

Her other half is half not happy with her, I said I might be able to assist but the connector on the back of their drives have additional ridges between data /supply pins meaning I cannot connect to my Sisun docking unit, unless there is a cable available that does the deed.

Thanks in advance
 
Assuming your customer hasn’t attempted to do any further writing to the formatted drive follow this link. Linux will recover nearly anything assuming no further work has been carried out on the drive in question SystemRescue - System Rescue Homepage

I highly recommend anyone who does use Windows to have this utility on standby for obvious reasons.
 
Firstly, has anyone checked the Recycle Bin - but that almost certainly won't work.

At that point, I would ask if the (default) Quick Format was used, which would mean that just the FAT would have been cleared and if so then some of the readily available data recovery Apps would be worth trying.

In that case, it could be worth trying:
- Recuva - free and apparently works quite well
- RescueProDeluxe - not free, but often available as a free download with the larger (64GB+) and more expensive Sandisk USB dongles, and does work as I have used it

Both of these take a lo.....ng time to work and result in a load of files with abbreviated or scrambled file names, which means that they have to be individually examined to see what's in them, and then be individually renamed.

I think I can probably add a couple more Apps, but need to wait until a backup of my Outlook data file has finished.

Edited: another one which is said to work "quite well" is DiskDrill Disk Drill Data Recovery Software | Free Download | CleverFiles

OTOH, if the Full Format option was chosen, then it would probably need a paid-for data recovery service!

Needless to say, I think the "other half" will need to institute a comprehensive backing up regime for the future, maybe using MS OneDrive, Google Photos &/or an external USB drive of some sort (all my 1GB+ photos from 2008 onwards are backed up to one of the latter, to at least 2 separate USB HDDs attached to one of my Synology NAS boxes, & to another USB HDD attached to the other NAS!)
 
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Recuva is excellent
 
Thanks and yes, I did look everywhere for a sniff of the folders/files including the two bins.

I will pop back and let them choose to install recuva / or SystemRescue (any other recommendations on which is the best ?), then let it do its stuff.

Btw this is the SATA connector block against my Docking station socket.
 

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Channel Hopper said:
....Btw this is the SATA connector block against my Docking station socket.
Click to expand...
You need something like this to connect to a USB (preferably USB3/3.1/C for power & speed reasons) Type A socket (I used one of these to connect a 2.5" SATA3 drive to the PC I upgraded for a friend last year) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0027FFRP4/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1,

However, if you use that particular one then you'll also need to provide a 5V supply to the Molex connector (I connected "mine" to the +5V rail from the PC PSU)
 
Channel Hopper said:
Thanks and yes, I did look everywhere for a sniff of the folders/files including the two bins.

I will pop back and let them choose to install recuva / or SystemRescue (any other recommendations on which is the best ?), then let it do its stuff.

Btw this is the SATA connector block against my Docking station socket.
Click to expand...
I’m assuming your customer has isolated the formatted drive from the main system while he’s deciding what route to take. The danger now is the longer that drive stays attached the greater the likelihood is that something new gets written to it which will make recovery a lot more difficult to achieve.

Data recovery is big business. A simple google search will bear that out displaying a phenomenal amount of paid ads.
 
Satspot said:
I’m assuming your customer has isolated the formatted drive from the main system while he’s deciding what route to take. The danger now is the longer that drive stays attached the greater the likelihood is that something new gets written to it which will make recovery a lot more difficult to achieve.

Data recovery is big business. A simple google search will bear that out displaying a phenomenal amount of paid ads.
Click to expand...
I know, I got bitten big time a few years back.

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jeallen01 said:
You need something like this to connect to a USB (preferably USB3/3.1/C for power & speed reasons) Type A socket (I used one of these to connect a 2.5" SATA3 drive to the PC I upgraded for a friend last year) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0027FFRP4/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1,

However, if you use that particular one then you'll also need to provide a 5V supply to the Molex connector (I connected "mine" to the +5V rail from the PC PSU)
Click to expand...
I actually fitted 2 Sata drives to that PC, and this is what I used for the other one, and which might be more suitable for what you need:
www.ebay.co.uk

USB 3.0 To SATA 22 Pin 2.5 Inch Hard Disk Drive SSD Adapter Connector Cable Lead | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for USB 3.0 To SATA 22 Pin 2.5 Inch Hard Disk Drive SSD Adapter Connector Cable Lead at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!
www.ebay.co.uk
 
Thanks but no.

I would prefer SATA to SATA as a direct link and am leaving it with the client. If they have trouble I will look in my box of modern computer bits this weekend
 
So, the client has had no luck with their contacts, so I will be 'having a go' over the weekend.
I will carve up some old SATA cables to suit since the suppliers they tried turned out to be drop sellers (plus the remainder look no better).

Getting a signed disclaimer from them beforehand.
 
Here is a site that has some very nice tools included on a bootable DVD/USB drive, use them in my work on some hard to fix cases.

Code: 
https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

I would boot to this drive, then insert the USB stick that was formatted an see what you can do with it.
 
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