Recover Data From Formatted Hard Drive

[sobershea]

I know there are businesses that will attempt to recover data from a damaged or formatted HD. That being said:

A friend did "something" and her PC responded by asking her if she wanted to back up her data before backing up and reinstalling windows. When all was said and done, she had all her documents and pictures but none of her videos. She lives in another state so I can only troubleshoot over the phone.

I found programs online like EaseUS® Data Recovery, which claims it will find data http://www.easeus.com/ad/format-recover ... Mgodh0sAgA

Has anyone used a program like this? Do they work? Does anyone know of a reputable service in the Raleigh, NC area that she could take the laptop to, in an effort to recover the videos?

TIA

[StuartR]

If you have reinstalled windows on this laptop then you are likely to have over-written many of the files. I fear that you have little chance of recovering these videos.

[stuck]

If the files still exist then Recuva will find them and it's free!! NB use the PORTABLE version from here:
https://www.piriform.com/recuva/builds
i.e. download it direct to a USB stick, install it on the stick and then run it from the stick (to avoid overwriting anything else on the HDD) but don't expect it to find much for the reasons given by Stuart.

Ken

[HansV]

When a file is deleted, a flag in the disk directory is toggled to indicate that the file has been deleted and that the space it occupied is available. But until it's overwritten by new files, both the directory entry and the data remain. Utilities such as Recuva use this to try and recover deleted files.
But if the disk has been formatted, chances are that the disk directory has been overwritten, making it much harder to recover files...

[viking33]

But if the disk has been formatted, chances are that the disk directory has been overwritten, making it much harder to recover files...

And also very expensive, along with the disclaimer, that no guarantee is made to recover any data.

[sobershea]

I passed your messages along to my friend. Thank you everyone for the suggestions and the reality check.