Restoring Partition after QuickFormat

Hello,

I am just wondering if there's any way to restore the partition
without restoring/recovering the files.

No. The only thing that makes sense is indeed 'move' all data you want
recovered to another drive. 'Clasic' unformat tools (like the 'Norton
Utilities Unformat' tool) will have the same trouble 'naming' folders and
the same trouble allocating clusters. It will not recover files/folders that
can not be recovered by software that 'moves' files/folders to another disk.

Added to this, by using a unformat tool you pick the way of 'NO return'. If
the recovery fails you can not undo your actions and it will make the job
harder to recover data after that. By using a read-only tool that moves the
data instead you leave the 'bad' disk in it's current state so other
attempts to recover the data can be made.

The only situation where unformat tools may work (although I'd still advise
against them) is when you have used accompanying tools to create a 'mirror'
of the FAT and directory structure.

One note: If you'd first 'clone' the bad disk then an 'unformat' can be
attempted on the clone. While working on the clone DISCONNECT the source
disk to prevent mistakes.

members have files in directories all over the place, and the software
have nameless directories (I guess because the FAT is gone).

Unformat tools will have the same problem and you'll also end up with
nameless directories.

other user made folders. If I could be sure that all files in those
directories are in there, I would have no problem recovering those
files and not worry about the rest.

There's NO guarantees that files can be recovered. There is the guarantee
that 'fragmented files' will be corrupt due to loss of the FAT.


Kind regards,
Joep

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"Moba" wrote in message
om...
I have a 4 GB Hard-Drive running WinME in FAT32 format. I was using
Ranish Partition to split the existing partition over the whole 4 gig
into more parts to install XP. I do not have backups. To make a
long-story short, I accidentally quick-formatted the whole thing.

I am just wondering if there's any way to restore the partition
without restoring/recovering the files. I've used some third-party
softwares to look at what can be recovered, and I can see my old
directories here and there. And they give me option of moving those
files to a different location. This was able to accomplish by hooking
this up at my other computer. But, my concern is, other family
members have files in directories all over the place, and the software
have nameless directories (I guess because the FAT is gone). And I'm
just wondering if there's an easier way to have the disk in its old
self rather than looking for files that need to be recovered. I don't
care about the OS, but I care about stuff in My Documents and some
other user made folders. If I could be sure that all files in those
directories are in there, I would have no problem recovering those
files and not worry about the rest.

Please let me know if I left anything out that would help you
understand my situation better.

Thank You, Moba