Mark

Rich,

Either you didn't bother reading the posts, or you are simply arrogant.
I guess you spent too much on those other companies recovering a file.
I only spent $40 and got all my files back from my drive.
And, yes... it was formatted and re-partitioned.
(Exactly what the vendor stated their software could do.)

As I stated in my prior post, the corrupted file is useless.
My point was the original data may be recovered from a different version of
the same file that is in an "erased" state.

I didn't state all files could be recovered. I stated I had good success.
(In my case, I recovered ALL my pictures and documents.)
I thought I was clear stating that to recover from the "corrupt" file:
1. The files had to be modified or re-saved... meaning written to the disk
more than once, or
2. The area written to originally was not written over.

This allows "restoring" the "other" version of the same file.

Most drives when formatted do not use the full format option leaving the
data area untouched.
Re-partitioning does not wipe the drive.
With these two simple tidbits, most files can be recovered from formatted or
re-partitioned drives by a program that looks at the drive in raw format,
finds all the allocation tables and rebuilds them. Comparing file storage
indexes creates the percentage of success of any one file being recovered
and minimizes the effort of sorting through a lot of garbage files.

The more expensive restoration:
While wiping a file if extremely effective, wiping a file almost never
touches the File Allocation Table. So, even though the data is "gone," the
exact location of a file can still be determined, and yes, with the right
software, it can be recovered. (Unless you use a multiple wipe with random
data. Seven times recommended.)

The impossible:
If the surface of the hard drive is corrupt, you cannot recover the file.
Degauss the hard drive.
If there is only one original of the file and it is recovered corrupt, then
it typically cannot be repaired.


"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23wwoV821HHA.5160@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hell. If that were the case, all files would be recoverable.
>
> Drive Savers and Ontrack can not even do that. These are the folks that
> corporations send their hard drives to for recovery. I have a fellow who
> was charged over $1800 for recovery and he only got back about 40% of his
> files. The others were reported to be - guess what - too corrupted to
> recover.
>
> If you don't backup you have no one to blame but yourself!
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> "Mark" <jmhonzell.nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
> news:e$Uwg121HHA.6128@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Not exactly. The file you are attempting to use is corrupted. But the
>> original data may still be present.
>>
>> It depends on the corruption, number of times the file has been modified
>> (re-saved), method of loss, encryption, etc.
>> "Corrupted" files are recovered by the feds all the time.
>>
>>
>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:eKvuDz21HHA.1124@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Corrupted files are just that. Data has gone missing from the file. It
>>> is unreadable and pretty much useless. There is no way to restore a
>>> "corrupted" file, other than via your backup. You DID create a backup,
>>> right?
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Richard Urban
>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>>
>>> "I'ecus" <iecus@rcn.com> wrote in message
>>> news:er%23UH%2311HHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>> guys do you know of any good programs that will recover corrupted files
>>>> on a formatted/corrupted HD. I have a HD that just crashed, I formatted
>>>> it and I was able to use getdatarecovery ntfs and some other programs
>>>> that recovered my formatted data. I got everything but when I open my
>>>> .docs or pics they're still corrupted. I tried d/ling free and demo
>>>> software to see if they can fix the corrupted docs and pics I found but
>>>> so far none have worked. Can anyone think of any software that worked
>>>> for them or something that may work for me. even if I can find a demo
>>>> that will show me it really does work. I don't mind having to pay for
>>>> it. This has my wifes and I wedding pics and some of her art work that
>>>> I would really love to get back for the both of us....
>>>>
>>>> thanks for ANY help I can get.
>>>
>>
>