How to Restore a Formatted Drive
Formatting a computer's hard drive refers to the process of deleting all existing information and rewriting the main file structure of the drive. Restoring information from a formatted drive can be necessary where you discover that you formatted by mistake, or where important files were left on the drive. This can potentially be accomplished with file recovery software, but there are no guarantees. Several file recovery software packages are available for free or on a trial basis.
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Instructions
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Recuva
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Click on the page in Resources and download the Recuva program.
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Select "Save" and save the file to your desktop. Double click on the file and follow the onscreen instructions to install the program to your computer.
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3
Open the program and select the letter of the formatted drive. A list of files that are recoverable will appear.
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Select the file to be recovered and select the "Recover" or "Restore" option, replacing them in their original location on the drive.
Undelete Plus
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Click on the page in Resources and download the Undelete Plus program.
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Select "Save" and save the file to your desktop. Double click on the file and follow the onscreen instructions to install the program to your computer.
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Open the program and select "Start Scan." The program will scan your drive for recoverable files.
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Click on the file(s) to be recovered from the drive and press "Start Undelete."
NTFS Recovery
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Click on the page in Resources and download the NTFS Recovery program.
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Select "Save" and save the file to your desktop. Double click on the file and follow the onscreen instructions to install the program to your computer.
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Open the program and click "Next." Select the drive to be scanned. The program will scan your drive for recoverable files.
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Click the option "Continue with recovered disk params (recommended)."
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Drag and drop files from the onscreen menu to another location of your hard drive to recover them.
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