Windows Forum
Does anyone know of any FREE software that will recover lost data on a reinstallation of Win98 that possibly reformated the harddrive. In particular the files that are looking to be recovered are *.doc and *.mp3 files.
Thanks
by ann777
Do a search (Start --> Search --> Files and input *.mp3); If you can locate them this way, then the files are fine. You may have to reinstall whatever program you are using to play these files. Repeat the process with *.doc and reinstall MS Office.
If the hdd was reformatted, then there's no easy was to recover the files (short of a restore from backup). You can try "undelete" utilities:
http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=undelete&tg=dl-2001
Or you can get a hex editor and see if you can locate the files manually:
http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=hex+editor&tg=dl-2001
And reset the pointers, but the fact that you've written to the hdd means that the files you locate via this method, may not be complete. Some of the files you've worked with on this computer since the reinstall of Win98, may have overwritted the docs or mp3s that you're looking for.
by ann777
As always, please remove the embedded spaces in the above links (before or after the "dl" above) when pasting the link into your browser.
by solrak29
The file dont exist on the new install thus the Search will not work. Will the undelete utils help find these files like the doing the HEX ed method? And in using the HEX ed method how do I know I've found the files that I'm looking for? How do Ireset pointers? I know some of them may be in fragments but I want to see what I can save.
More help on the above questions will be greatly appreciated and awared the points.
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