I am trying to retreive deleted data from a 200gb storage hd I formatted over by mistake. I ran PC Inspector and it found several thousand "lost" files on this non o/s storage hd I have. I saved all the lost data from the storage drive onto my main system hd. Now, however, all the lost files are saved into several hundred 1472kb clusters - of various file types (app, xls, jpeg, mp3, wordpad)- in a folder on my desktop. MY QUESTION: I am not really sure how to convert these clusters back to my regular files ....if this is even possible to do. I ran chkdsk on the drive but it didn't do it. Any links that I could read up on this subject would be great. Thanks

You are going at it the wrong way. You didn't mention if it was a full format or quick, NTFS or FAT32... but what you need is an undelete/unformat program... lots a free ones for the download... google for it. It sounds like a quick format and if this is the case, it's not too hard. The actual files don't get erased just there locations. Undelete programs rebuild the directory that tells what clusters are for which files. In the mean time DO NOT USE THE HD. Every time you use it a part of it become written over and that part becomes unrecoverable.

It was, and is again, NTFS I haven't touched the hd other then to view the files currently on it. There is a top directory "windows" folder but no other folders whatsoever. I think this is from the 6 boot disks I ran. I will try the programs you suggested and get back to this thread. Thanks

There is a good fix-it disk called ULTIMATE BOOT DISK which contains a lot of troubleshooting programs... one of them is an undelete program for NTFS systems. Last time I checked it was free... google for it.... download the ISO and burn it.

It is very unlikely that even with the ULTIMATE BOOT DISK, which blackbill has apparently never tried to retrieve data with, that you will ever totally recover your data. There is software that will cost you hundreds of dollars and services that will cost $200+ if you really need the data that bad. If you knew how to read and edit allocation tables you could do it after many, many hours. Rule #1: Good Computers don't go down. Rule #2: There is no such thing as a good computer.

RICK: What are you talking about??? I have recovered data with UBD... both on FAT and NTFS. And how much it takes to recover data depends on scrambled it is... if of course you bothered to read my above post. Deleting and even quick formatting DOES NOT scramble the entire disk just the directories... recovery is not only easy... it's also free. Learn to read the posts before you jump there, boy.

Got a copy of GETDATABACK and I got full recovery of all my important data!! I tried about six recovery programs and most of them were confusing, jumbled, and just plain crap. This one was simple and awesome! Sorry Rick, Blackbill was right!