Recovering data from formatted disc

[CNE]

HELP!!!! I accidentally formated a superdisc with some important data. Can I recover the data?

[mjc]

A utility like FORMAT doesn't actually deatroy the data but clears the file names and locations from the FAT (file allocation table), so you need to use UNFORMAT (or another file recovery program)


Type: External (5.0 and later)
Syntax:UNFORMAT d: [/J][/L][/test][/partn][/P][/U]

Purpose: Used to undo the effects of formatting a disk.

The UNFORMAT command is used to recover files on a disk that have been erased by using the FORMAT command.

NOTE:
The UNFORMAT command cannot always recover all the files that were on a disk that was accidentally formatted. To assure a better recovery of files on a formatted disk, use the MIRROR command.

Options

drive Specifies the drive containing the disk to unformat.
/J - Checks the disk to determine if the MIRROR command has been used to place file-recovery information on it. (In DOS Version 6, this program is stored on the DOS supplemental disk.)
/L - Used with the /partn parameter to tell DOS that there is no MIRROR file on the disk.
/P - Used to tell DOS to send any UNFORMAT messages to the printer.
/U - Used to tell DOS to recover files from a formatted disk without using the MIRROR file information (starting with DOS Version 6, this option is no longer available).
/partn - Used to restore a corrupted partition table of a hard disk drive. This option requires a PARTNSAV.FIL file created by using the MIRROR command with the /PARTN option (starting with DOS Version 6, this option is no longer available).


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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

468th Rule of Aquistion: Debugging of software is foolish, there is much profit in updates and upgrades.

[tjaymadison]

If you mean SuperDisk, as in LS-120, I don't think DOS commands will work. You would probably need a byte-by-byte and or hex editor, or possibly Norton Disk Doctor, although I doubt even they will work on what is basically a proprietary format like this. You might try a google (http://www.google.com) search for "superdisk unformat" or "ls120 recover" or some combination like that. Good Luck! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
(Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[mjc]

tjay, you may be right, so I did a little more searching,
Ontrack (http://www.ontrack.com/) has a data recovery tool that supposedly will recover the data on a ZIP disk but it costs $179, the free version will show the files that could be recovered. Also some later versions of DOS don't have the unformat command (not sure which exactly versions, it is good up until at least 6.22, maybe later...sometimes I get stuck in DOS mode and can't keep straight what is included in which version).

CNE, so if the DOS stuff won't work and you don't think the data is worth $179 then it is pretty much toast, oh did you do anything like put a file on the disk after reformatting it? If you did then it is toast anyway, because the data will have been partially overwritten making recovery a near impossiblity.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

468th Rule of Aquistion: Debugging of software is foolish, there is much profit in updates and upgrades.