My C drive had Windows installed and all of my important files. I know there is a way to try to recover it using testdisk. But I wanted to know if there are anythings that change since the dive I want to recover had Windows installed on it. Please help!!!
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How did you format it (which tool, a 'quick' format or a 'slow' format)? If you have not yet turned off or rebooted the computer, please keep it running, and read the accepted (green dot with tick) answer in this link: Accidentally did dd /dev/sda, otherwise (if you have already turned off or rebooted the computer) read the other answers. – sudodus Apr 10 '18 at 13:18
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the format happened by going to "disks" and clicking "format". And I have turned my pc off multiple times @sudodus – Mike O. Apr 10 '18 at 18:52
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If your data are very valuable, I would recommend that you create a cloned copy of your drive and do the repair work on the cloned copy. That way you can test things without risk to damage the original drive. If a quick format, you have a fair chance to find things, or if you interrupted the format when you discovered that you were formatting the wrong partition. Anyway, try TestDisk, and if no luck resort to PhotoRec, which can recover files from what is left on the 'disk surface' or memory cells even without a partition and without a file system. See link in my first comment. – sudodus Apr 10 '18 at 19:21
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How I have successfully recovered lost files in the past
I've used Recuva successfully many times to recover files from dying/non-booting hard drives. I've never used it after a format, but apparently they support that use case https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/features/recovery-from-damaged-or-formatted-disks
Assumptions
I assume that because you are an Ubuntu user, you are sufficiently knowledgeable to follow the Recuva tutorial in the link above. It's an easy to use tool.
Important !!!
File recovery tools like Recuva work best when you haven't tried to change/write anything to the disk after the failure.
If the failed disk has an active OS on it, do not boot from that disk. Boot from another disk. The OS on the failed disk may write to it's own disk and permanently destroy recoverable files.
When recovering, save the files to a different disk than the one you are recovering.
Walter Stabosz
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1I recommend to [edit] this answer to expand it with specific details about how to do this. (See also How do I write a good answer? for general advice about what sorts of answers are considered most valuable on Ask Ubuntu.) – David Foerster Apr 24 '18 at 09:09