Lost/Corrupt Data

I have been given my girlfriends sisters laptop that needs some data recovering, 2 folders containing pictures had been deleted and emptied from the recycle bin. I tried a data recovery with "recover my files" and "GetDataBack". The software was installed on my own laptop running Vista with her drive connected via USB.

Since I have ran this software nearly ALL the files on the HDD have become corrupt. The hard drive which was previously ok (besides 2 deleted folders) now contain the following files:

Directory of F:\

01/01/1980 00:00 0 Sô¸OF¬¸O.
01/01/1601 01:00 1,447,116,590 [email protected]@@
01/01/1601 01:00 1,430,339,374 CComModu.le@
09/02/2021 10:42 1,920,234,345 IUnknown.@@
03/02/2021 10:50 1,701,470,799 arBase@@.
09/02/2014 10:42 1,668,571,504 ct@ATL@@.
04/11/2038 13:58 16,448 h@@
12/03/2036 12:42 <DIR> 3u_guid@.@b$
14/09/2011 00:00 1,397,302,335 TL@@@ATL.@@
20/11/2038 12:42 1,081,109,605 lp@@3U_G.UID
14/09/2011 00:00 1,128,473,663 [email protected]@
01/01/1601 01:00 1,430,339,374 odel@ATL.@@@
01/01/1601 01:00 1,430,339,374 tory@ATL.@@@
14/09/2011 00:00 1,145,644,095 ISetupHe.lp@
01/01/1601 01:00 1,598,310,729 ispatchI.mpl
31/01/2018 06:09 1,147,094,089 ISetupHe.lp@
01/01/1601 01:00 0 InfoHold.er@
01/01/1601 01:00 1,341,595,616 @
17 File(s) 20,727,806,742 bytes
1 Dir(s) 112,607,232 bytes free


Clearly the hard drive is corrupt and no longer boots. My main priority is to get her pictures back, the data recovery software says it has managed to recover some of them, but none of it is readable.

Can anyone help me?

Data recovery's always a crapshoot. You sure that harddrive is good?
I'd run "chkdsk /r f:" from cmd line to make sure it's physically OK. If
your girlfriend's sister used the laptop for any amount of time after emptying
the Recycle bin, you're not likely to recover all the pics anyway (sectors
get overwritten).

I use SpinRite and Disk Commander (ERD 2005) for data recovery. I'm
not as familiar with some here are with the apps you used, but I think
sometimes existing data can get wiped out to recover what's underneath.
Any "undo" options in those apps?

Hi Mark,

Sorry mate, but that does not look good......... like where is C:\ ?

I would try the unstoppable copier by roadkil

http://www.roadkil.net/

It is my weapon of last resort ;)

It takes a long time, but will attempt to reconstruct all files.