The Unthinkable Happened

It is with great sadness that I announce I lost all of my data on my external hard drive today. I have a 320 GB external hard drive, filled with EVERYTHING! One of my employees some how formatted the drive by mistake. I lost everything!

I have made some phone calls, and am going to hire a data recovery specialist to recover all of the files on this drive. I have about 5 years of my life on that drive, and need it back. So I guess it all comes down to this...does anyone know a good company that can get my data back?

Oh No!!!!!! What a nightmare - your employee must be feeling terrible also. I'm sure amongst this wonderful Webforumz community, someone will know someone who can help. Good luck.

Yeah, I would imagine he is feeling pretty bad, as he was not there when I returned from the meeting. He just left a note on the hard drive saying he was so, so sorry.

But not as sorry as me. I have flash edit files for stuff that I have done for Yahoo, AOL, and wait...every flash project EVER! I really need that data back!

But really, have you made sure the guy's alright? He would have known how important all that stuff was to you, and if he couldn't even face you to tell you in person...

Sorry, I'm not meaning to take this thread off in a different direction, I know you need to get that data back - this might be a really annoying question that makes you want to hit me, but...was it not backed-up anywhere else?

Haha...that was my backup copy. The original copy was on my desktop computer which I recently formatted and never moved the data back. I would assume the guy is alright...it's me that is about to die of a heart attack.

I guess I should call him, but probably better wait till morning, cause it is 4AM here now, and maybe by then I will be able to talk to him without yelling...lol.

Yes, calling him at 4am whilst you're feeling how you're feeling about it, might not be the best plan!

Anyway, I really really do hope you can get all the data back.

if he did a formate using windows the files are still there. You Pc says the is 320gb of space when there really is not.

When you add a file to it it will over ride one you delete. So dont add any files.

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there is this software called getdataback maybe you should contact them asking them if they can help you. If they made the software im sure they have a very good idea about such things. I only know about the software I dont know about them. I have ever used if and got some data back

Soo sorry. I think I should do a backup on mine too coz I haven't

Give Pete a PM, I believe he had a similar problem. One of his hard drives died a couple of weeks ago and he got it recovered.

Well from what I was able to find out when I called him. He was formatting an operating system for one of the clients, he used my external hard drive to back up there stuff. Then in the format window, by habit formatted everything...my external hard drive was plugged in. So this means he also created a partition over the external hard drive. So I am going to need a good data recovery expert.

I am thinking about hiring this company.
http://www.dtidata.com/hard_drive_recovery.htm

I love the last paragraph.

I am afraid to ask how much they charge though, as it is not listed on there website.

Maybe they don't cost as much as the five years in your HDD

Haha...well I don't want to pay $5000 - $20,000 to get my data back.

Well that sucks. That company looks to be pretty good, I would be afraid to ask for a price too.

I looked up the price on a similar company...
So i guess it's not too bad. Hope you get it all back.

I had a similar problem recently. I lost about 500gb worth of files from two separate hard drives. I got the data recovered by a local specialist, I needed the data within 48 hours and I payed for data recovery and reconstruction. I'll warn you, Jacob, it cost me a small fortune but I couldn't do without that data; I didn't have a choice. I was billed for just under £1100 and apparently I got a discount!

I do now have all of the data backed up twice (I did this myself, it wasn't part of the service) and it's all as good as new (as far as I can tell). My hard drives actually just died but this corrupted the data so a full recovery and reconstruction was necessary. You may get off a bit more lightly but I'm not sure. Prepare yourself for the worst.

Pete.

Which is why I have two external HD back ups of my laptop HD. One is with me and one sits at home and gets rebacked up once a week. I lost a HD with ALL my client data on it with no backup (luckily I had printed it all off, but spent 3 weeks putting back)....never again.....

Are they out of NY Jacob? My brother lost all his data last year for his business and that name seems familiar. He paid around $1500 to have his data recovered but it took about 8 weeks for it to be done.

I am sure you can hire people to back up your data and take it off site for you.. At least in the UK you can.. As my dad gets it done for his company. Heres the link: Clicky!

Oh... and good luck with the recovery!

Yes, you can and I will do that in the future, but as for now I am hiring someone to get that data back!

I done a similar thing to my memory stick last year and used a piece of software to recover it all. I can't remember what it was called at the moment, but I will check when I get home. It got back 90% of my stuff.

DAMN.
all i can add to this is the suggestion that you make sure you are confident with whomever you are hiring..... whatever it is they do when they start, you need to be sure its in the right direction, because when they start........they are doing stuff on the HD! and you need to be sure its right....does the company provide you with many client satisfaction quotes, and can you contact the satisfied ones?.....how long have they been doing this......if they gaurantee 100% success rate (which sounds great) ...... ask yourself how much of this could be marketing speak........can they gaurantee it......or are they taking a risk to get the business and just risking not charging you if they dont succeed??? be careful (and slightly wary). Your machine is not getting any worse whilst it sits there is it, so take your time and take a breath, and consider carefully what your next step is.......in terms of cost, it depends on what your options are in comparison..........work it all again......work the most recent or used parts......pay someone to get you back to where you are..........only you know what its worth to you..............sorry i cant suggest anyone, but i think we're all behind you on this and want you to get it back. good luck.
coincidentally I know someone whos MAC crashed a few days ago. If you want I can ask what they did. PM me if you need to.
cheers and good luck.