How to restore formated partitions ?

[kaos42]

I got a MacMini that was formatted and the EFI password came up after that.

I seen some threads where it was mentioned that after formatting the Mac will set a new password on the EFI to protect itself.

What software can I use on PC to bring back the older Mac partitions and files that were on the hard drive before the formatting (NTFS now) took place ?

I am using EaseUS Data Recovery, but it is telling me that it is going to take 300+ hours to recover the partitions.

Is there better solutions for doing this ?

 

[maflynn]

I believe the only other option is use a service that specializes in such recoveries.

Generally speaking once you format the drive any data on it is gone, even at 300 hours I'd be skeptical if this would work

 

[kaos42]

I believe the only other option is use a service that specializes in such recoveries.

Generally speaking once you format the drive any data on it is gone, even at 300 hours I'd be skeptical if this would work

I am able to recover files that i can not see on the drive .... i canceled and it gave me 16gb worth of data to restore that took ~ 10 hours

i would like to know if there is a better/faster program than EaseUS Data Recovery

 

[Fishrrman]

maflynn wrote above:
[[ Generally speaking once you format the drive any data on it is gone, even at 300 hours I'd be skeptical if this would work ]]

That is 100% wrong.

Re-initializing a drive DOES NOT remove or destroy the actual data that is out on the platters of a drive, UNLESS the "zero out" data option has been chosen.

Re-initializing a drive will "wipe clean" the old DIRECTORY, and replace it with a new empty one. The drive will now "look empty", but THE DATA IS STILL THERE.

A good data recovery utility such as DataRescue3 can recover it by "going around" the [empty] directory, scavenging the actual sectors of the drive one-at-a-time, then re-assembling the pieces of data that it finds there.

I've used EXACTLY this process (re-initialize, then use file recovery software on the "empty" drive) to successfully recover hundreds of mp3 files from a drive partition that could no longer be recognized in or mounted by the finder.

It works. I don't do professional data recovery, but I'll bet that in many cases involving drives that have not experienced "physical failures", that's pretty much what the data recovery folks do, as well.

The OP was referring to a drive that was -encrypted-, not a drive with a bad directory. That presents different problems, for it will be much more difficult (perhaps impossible) to obtain data from an encrypted but working drive...

 

[kaos42]

it works 100% .... i got 16gb worth of files off this empty drive, but can i recover the partitions and drive structure that was on it before ? right now it it giving me the option to SAVE AS the files ( but i did not get to the end of the process to see if it can restore the partitions too )

 

[Fishrrman]

kaos42 wrote above:
[[ it works 100% .... i got 16gb worth of files off this empty drive, but can i recover the partitions and drive structure that was on it before ? ]]

My advice:
If you were able to RECOVER THE DATA from the bad drive, just re-initalize the bad drive, repartition if necessary, test thoroughly, and recopy the data back to the drive, IF you are ready to "trust it".

Once you have the data off of a drive that has had directory or partition damage, best to "start all over again" with it.