+ Explain exactly how you did the system restore - if the method performed a full drive format, you're more than likely toast. There maybe a slight chance of recovery, slight.
+ Type of hard drive - are you using an old fashioned disk-and-platter or a newer SSD - SSD drives tend to not led themselves to data recovery because they tend to "TRIM" their sectors very quickly which not only de-allocates the space, it actually frees that data - so the data is actually lost, whereas with the platters they just removed the pointer in the catalog to where the information is located so the data was still sitting there on the drive waiting for something to cause physical access to that sector.
+ Explain exactly what you have already tried to recover your "lost" files. Programs, methods, exact error numbers/codes/descriptions. Help us to help you - details matter!
+ \>> TRY NOT TO USE THE PC <</
The more you use it the greater the chance of losing the files!
+ There are some somewhat decent freeware recovery programs (I have a couple in hand; however, they are quite dated now and ran on the older file structures) however, you have to be careful about where you download them from as quite often scammers will hijack the installer to download malware. There are some paid versions that the company offers a "free" version to home users - I am hesitant to mention these by name because of the "paid" nature of the sites; however, try searching for "Best Free File Recovery Software" this should turn up some review articles from the online tech magazines - NB: review the source, some of these "tech E-zines" are nothing more that front-end sales for the product(s) they mention so do your homework. Here again I hesitate to mention names due to the "paid" nature of some of these magazines; however, PCMag and CNet are two of the more popular - be wary of downloading anything directly from their sites - instead go directly to the software vender's site and download from their file server, sometimes the installers on the E-Zine site will have "AdWare" that you have to "uncheck" IMHO such complications are best avoided during a drive recovery.
+ More than likely , you're going to end up at your local shop where they can mirror image your drive and attempt multiple recovery methods. Get an up-front quote for the cost so that you can decide if it is worth the cost - these can be very, very expensive!
+ Take Away Here
Keep backup copies of important files!
- There are a lot of online options for this
- External hard drives are becoming fairly cheap - keep in mind that these can fail - my seagate x-HD just died a week ago so I need to get a new one
- Extremely important files should be kept using more than one method, cloud, xHD, thumbDrive, burn a DVD (re-writable DVD disks and drives are available I use one - use good quality disks! I keep a ton of photographs on these! My laptop and my Desktop are networked and I use a sync program to keep several of my files updated between the two (actually, I was syncing between the xHD, Desktop, and laptop; thus, losing the xHD isn't a major loss of important data, lost some of my music files, hopefully I can re-D/L from the service since I've paid for them once - we'll see!)
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