recover data from twice formatted hard disk and installed ubuntu 9.04

Question

my machine had windows 7, windows vista loader, plus other partitions where i stored my files..

now i had problems installing ubuntu 9.04 on that machine together with above ones... then i installed somehow ubuntu 9.04, then i did not like it and installed the ubuntu 9.04 (again) on all available disk space, it means totally wiped out all the previous above files on the hard disk. now i am using ubuntu 9.04,

1) is it possible from inside the ubuntu to somehow restore above initial files such as windows loader, my data files, windows 7, etc...?

2) do you think that testdisk would help?

Answer 1

There is no way you're restoring a working OS from that. Runtime's GetDataBack has a mode for trying to recover files from sustained damage, such as an OS reinstall, but depending on the size of the drive, and how much data has been written, you'll have variable success. The software is Windows only, so I'd take the disk out and put it into a Windows machine.

To be honest, the chance of much surviving two reinstalls isn't that great, but you might get some files back. File carving should get you some results, but the problem there is that it's going to pick up the Linux stuff as well as the old Windows files. If there's anything you REALLY need on their, take it to a professional.