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I was using my Macbook perfectly and suddenly when I restarted it, it went off forever and I had no choice but to re-install via DVD which came with it. I lost my data

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Did you keep a backup? – Wuffers Jun 18 '11 at 17:26
No I couldn't. I was about to do that. – Umair Ashraf Jun 18 '11 at 17:27
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If you had tried to get the data off before installing over it, you had a good chance if the drive was accessible. Now, it is impossible from a practical standpoint. Maybe a forensic lab could, but it would cost a fortune to recover overwritten data. – KCotreau Jun 18 '11 at 17:30
When you are unable to access your data due to a broken operating system, do not do anything if you want to have a chance to ever get your database. Go on the forensic tour by either trying yourself with recovery tools or walking to a computer store and hear what it would cost you, if it goes to a forensic lab they should first create you a report of how much it would cost... – Tom Wijsman Jun 18 '11 at 17:34
Forensic data recovery was unlikely to be necessary in this case, if a simple DVD reinstall fixed the problem. At this point in time, Apple considers hard-drives to be user-replaceable, which means that you are within your rights to pull off the back of the laptop, whip the hard-drive out, and attach it to a different computer. Your local nerd will be happy to do this for a small fee. – Lukasa Jun 18 '11 at 19:27
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closed as not a real question by Hello71, slhck, Wuffers, Sathya♦ Jun 19 '11 at 11:41

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1 Answer

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If you didn't keep a backup, then no. Your data is gone. Forever. Especially assuming you've used your MacBook after restoring it. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to restore using special disk restoration tools.

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OK any tools to recover XCode data? – Umair Ashraf Jun 18 '11 at 17:30
@UmairAshraf: No, you can't! What part of this answer doesn't make that clear? – Wuffers Jun 18 '11 at 17:31
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Also, clearly you're the one at fault for not keeping a backup. Apple can't do anything to fix carelessness ;) – Wuffers Jun 18 '11 at 17:34
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@UmairAshraf: Apple already did something about it – RedGrittyBrick Jun 18 '11 at 17:38
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Did you do an "Erase and install?" because that would be the only way you could have lost that data from a simple system recovery... the OS X installer defaults to "Archive and install" which would have preserved your data. – Dustin G. Jun 18 '11 at 21:10
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