I recently reformatted my hard drive from NTFS to FAT32. I later realized that I did not backup the files. How do I get them back?

People usually reformat their drive when they want to move from FAT file system to NTFS  file system, or vice versa. After formatting, they realize, that some of their precious data is lost, and start trying many methods to recover data from the formatted hard drive.This sometimes leads to the user making careless mistakes, resulting in permanent loss of data.

What is the best solution for recovering data from a reformatted hard drive?

The answer to this question is, NTFS and FAT data recovery tools. They help in recovering data from damaged partitions, even after reformat.

Recovery of lost data from complex data-loss situation like drive re-partitioning and re-formatting is made possible with  REMO Recover (Windows) Pro Edition.Based on the file system present on your hard drive, you can use the FAT data recovery or NTFS data recovery options, to recover the lost data.

REMO Recover (Windows) Pro Edition lets you recover files from both FAT and NTFS file systems. REMO Recover (Windows) Pro Edition software, is both safe, and reliable. In addition, it’s distinctively designed recovery algorithms allow home and business users to recover lost data quickly. Try it now!

There are some precautions to be taken, before you start using the recovery software. They can be listed as follows,

• Remove the formatted hard drive from your PC and connect it to another healthy PC as a slave.
• Download and install REMO Recover (Windows) Pro Edition
  software on the PC to which your formatted hard drive has been connected.
• Do not install the software, or save any recovered files, on the drive, which contains the deleted / lost data. This may overwrite deleted / lost data and you will lose your data permanently.

Follow the steps given below, to recover data from the formatted hard drive

Step 1: Launch the application by double clicking the desktop shortcut, or by selecting the icon from the Programs list in the Start Menu. The Main window pops up as shown in Figure a.

Figure a: Main window

There are four options that are provided.Click on the Recover – Advanced button. A new window is displayed, as shown in Figure b.The new window lets you choose between the types of file system, from which you would like to recover data. Select the NTFS Partition Recovery option.

Figure b: Select file system for recovery

Step 2:As you click the NTFS Partition Recovery button, a new Wizard is displayed. Launch the wizard by clicking the Wizard button, present on the upper left hand corner of the screen.The wizard is now launched, as shown in Figure c.

Figure c: Wizard

Step 3:Select the Recover your data option, and click on the Next button to continue. As you click the Next button, a window is displayed as shown in Figure d. All the detected drives are listed in this window. Select the physical drive from which you wish to recover your data (See Figure d), and click the Next button.

Figure d: Select source disk

Note: There are two options listed at the bottom of this window, Display default partition(s) and Search for lost partition(s). By default, the processing mode is set to Display default partition(s). If the partition you are looking for is not listed, you can choose the Search for lost partition(s) option.  As you click on Next button, the application analyzes the drive, and lists all the found partitions in a table format, as shown in Figure e.

Figure e: Partition Table

Step 4:Select a partition you want to process, and click the Finish button. The application processes the partition, and displays the found files and folders in a tree structure as shown in Figure f.

Figure f: Found files and folders

Step 5: You can also preview the file before recovery. Double click the file displayed in the tree structure to view its preview (see Figure g).

Figure g: Preview

Step 6:The final step of the recovery process is to save the recovered data. If you want to recover all the listed files and folders, click on the Root folder, to mark the entire data and click on the Save All button. As soon as you click the Save all button, a window to select the destination drive is displayed as shown in Figure h.

Figure h: Select destination drive

Data can be saved to any destination drive on the local hard drive(s). Select a destination drive, and click on the OK button. As you click the OK button, the saving process is initiated. Once the saving process is complete, you will receive a pop up message intimating the same.

NOTE: Do not save the recovered data to the same location from where you are recovering the data, as this may lead to permanent data loss.

Tags: partition recovery, recover files from reformatted hard drive, recover lost data, reformatted hard drive recovery windows