Please help me recover my data!

My laptop (W3j) crashed and it won't start in any modes. So i decided to reboot it from the recovery disc that came with the laptop. After that, window starts normally but i realized my laptop now went back to manufacturer's state with two partitions (I previously merged them to make one) completely clean and a recovery partition. Is there any hope for getting my data back and how?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

 

Buy/Download a data recovery program, and you'll get some of the data back.

 

Thank you Lithus for your reply.

I forgot to mention that my hard drive was converted into NFTS from Fat32 and now, after reinstallation, its back to Fat32. Would that affect the recovery of my data? And which recovery software do you recommend?

 

Stop using the hard drive, stop booting windows, stop using the laptop. Get that disc put in an enclosure and plugged into another computer to use a program as suggested by Lithus.

Each time you use the PC more of your data is going to be lost. If it isn't lost already.

 

Greg, u mean take out the hard drive and using another computer to access it? How do i do that? And besides, it's now complete blank except for the new system files. So does accessing it from a different PC help?

 

recovery program : recuva - free.

 

I believe that your data is never actually erased after formatting (because it does not truly destroy the data) and it still exists on the hard drive, although its not visible. Try using some of the programs people mentioned above.

Good luck recovering your data.

 

Greg is correct. When you have a problem like that, stop using the drive immediately.

buy an external usb enclosure (2.5" for laptop drives) so you can put the drive in that and access it from another computer.

here is an example

you wont magically be able to access your data (unless its just a windows corruption keeping you from booting). you'll need to install a data recovery program on the other computer, then search for files on the bad drive.

Here are some programs I have used in the past:

http://www.recovermyfiles.com
http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/file-recovery-software

data restoration sucks, is tedious, and can take a while. Be patient and take your time with it. In the future, make sure to back your stuff up to another drive or DVD!

 

Thank you very much for all of your inputs. I tried the recommended programs and was able to get my data back. Phewwww!!! I guess my lession is learnt, back up regularly