Recovering files after FORMATTED DISK

[Lennart]

I have an issue at work that our IT department formatted a disk on one of the iMacs and installed the latest OS X Maverick on it. There was important data on the disk and so far we here only able to recover the data without names or file structure.

Is there a program that can recover the data with original name and if possible also the original file structure?

 

[honestone]

Can you let us know how they formatted the disk. Typically, one erases the disk first, then formats it. Seems strange that the "data" is still there, with no names nor structure.

 

[Lennart]

They upgraded the System and the disk was formatted during the process. The disk was not erased prior to that.
What we could recover to far is just folders with the different file formats collected inside but no name or folder structure could have been recovered so far. So the files now read like this (see image attached)

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

Unfortunately, all of the data recovery software that I know of will produce the same results as you have gotten so far. it will recover any files that haven't been totally overwritten, albeit in the folder and naming format shown in your screen capture. Most data recovery services will also return your data in the same way.

It is my understanding that this happens because the volume index was erased and overwritten, which is the "database" for the file hierarchy and names. It not only keeps track of the file names, but because of disk fragmentation, files are stored in "pieces" in various places on the drive and the index of where all those pieces are is not available. So, the data recovery software can find all the pieces and identify the file types, but not the original file name and creation/modification dates.

You could always stop the data recovery process where it is now and send the drive out to a data recovery company, but that can be VERY expensive - hundreds or thousands of dollars. And, you will probably get close to the same results you are getting currently.

Sorry for the bad news, but at least you have been able to recovery some of the files. I strongly recommend investing in some form of data backup system going forward, especially if you have important and mission critical data.

C

 

[Lennart]

Thats unfortunate. Thanks for the help anyhow, much appreciated

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...sorry we couldn't help more.

Good luck,

C

 

[tompatrick]

I have an issue at work that our IT department formatted a disk on one of the iMacs and installed the latest OS X Maverick on it. There was important data on the disk and so far we here only able to recover the data without names or file structure.

Is there a program that can recover the data with original name and if possible also the original file structure?

You can give a shot with Stellar Phoenix Mac data recovery V7.0 since it gives a free to preview approach. It also claims that it can recover file with original filenames. Well that could be checked only by installing and running the demo version of the software. So, go ahead and give a shot to this and let us know.