I accidentally erased my hard drive in my 2010 MacBook Pro that had all of my information, photos, contacts, you name it… is there any way I can recover my data that was on my MacBook before I erased anything? I'm in desperate need of help to recover all my files.
MacOS – Data Recovery for Accidentally Erased Hard Drive
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Which iPhone OS and model do you have? The newer ones encrypt the data and the erase deletes the key. The chances of DIY recovery are slim. If you pull it off, you probably can get hired for iPhone forensics and make some serious salary doing that professionally.
Older devices are more amenable to typical recovery efforts. Either way you will need a forensic tool like PhoneView to access the filesystem. Once mounted you could try something like Data Rescue. Neither tool was designed for this, so you should try the free versions first before spending money on them.
The professional data recovery houses will likely charge an arm and a leg to get your data back - but at least you can get a quote if you really need them back at all cost.
Be sure to double check your camera roll isn't backed up to iTunes or on Time Machine. It would be far simpler to restore the device to an old backup and get the photos off intact. You would lose any photos taken after the backup time, though.
If you have enabled data security (iOS 4.3 and iPhone 4 are one combination that enables this security), you're likely deep in the hurt locker. See iOS 4: Understanding data protection to tell if you enabled data protection. In a nutshell, that means the filesystem was encrypted and the erase destroyed the key to the encrypted files. You will need industrial grade forensics to get things back if the phone was powered off immediately after the erase. Using it after the erase will rapidly overwrite the scrambled data irreversably.
Okay, so I think I've solved the problem and thought I'd post this up just in case anyone runs into similar issues...
I've downloaded a program Data Rescue 3, and I'm scanning the drive for deleted files. The program seems easy to use although I found that if you want to scan your internal drive (as in my case), you'll need to have another external drive plugged in as the software won't let you restore to the same drive you're recovering from.
When you run the software, select your internal drive to scan off then select the deleted files scan. When prompted, select your external drive to work off.
I'll post my results, success or failure, in the comments soon.
Screenshot of results:
Best Answer
There is a product called DiskDrill that I have used with good success. You can use the product for free to see what it can find. To actually recover your files, you will need to purchase a license.
The key to a successful recovery is to immediately stop modifying the drive. You either need to get a new drive and connect your original drive via USB, or boot from external (USB) drive and run the recovery utility. The more you modify your drive, the less chance of recovery.
My suggestion is now is a good time to get a new SSD and convert that older drive into an external USB so you can create an image (through DiskDrill) of the drive for recovery and then when you are done, set it up as a time machine back up. A USB to SATA adapter can be had for less than $15 so this is a very cheap option.