HELP!!! Desperately seeking erased files

Hi,
I recently backed up and resorted my Sony Vaio laptop. Thing is, the backup didn't work properly and i'm missing a big chunk of data. Are there any tools out there I can use to root around the hdd, see if any of the info is still alive in there?

The restore cd only took 15 mins to reinstall windows and a bunch of other software so I'm thinking it didn't have time to format the disc, well i'm hoping anyway.....

Any ideas boys and girls?

cheers

Wacky

 

A good argument for verifying a backup before assuming it is good.

Resore might have done a quick format, which just empties the directory and file allocation tables.

You can use a sector browser to examine the HD and see what might be recovered. Something like Norton Utilities might be able to reassemble certain file types, assuming they are small or are in contiguous sectors.

 

Try this, it works fabulous.

 

this one's good as well, also free!!

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

 

Greetings,

You can really use Active@ undelete utility to restore erased data. This tool works really great and it never ever failed me before! Really recommended utility.
http://www.active-undelete.com/
For DOS restoration Uneraser plays it really cool.
http://www.uneraser.com/