Is there a way to recover files?

[Radon3k]

I don't know what happened but I ended up having to format my computer today and I lost all of my work emails and files. I did a quick format using the Windows XP installer. I understand that once you format you lose all of your files but I just thought I might ask anyway. I appreciate any help you can give.

[filburt1]

If the drive was untouched after the quick format, then it may be possible. However, having written those GBs of Windows files probably destroyed any chance you had.

[Radon3k]

How would I go about attempting to recover those files? I understand they're more than likely gone but it won't hurt to try.

[UHN_ED]

Grab a recovery program. Most will let you see if there is anything to recover and then you pay to do so.

If you know linux, I use knoppix to do this often enough for friends and family; just have a drive to copy to if they are on a NTFS partition. That way is just as fast and free.