Recovering data from a formatted drive

[vt2017]

By mistake I have formatted my external hard disk that had McAfee Encryption for removable media in place. There has been no action on this external hard disk subsequent to these steps. I tried some of the recovery tools, but none have helped so far. Is there any chance that I can recover my lost files?

 

[RolandJS]

Boot backup/restore/cloning utility usb or dvd,
[if no cd/dvd device in laptop, if affordable, get a usb cd/dvd device] and:
-- if possible, make a one-pass DIY clone onto an external HD; or
-- if possible, make a one-pass DIY full image of the hard-drive onto any affordable and reliable external media

If you are successful in cloning the problem HD as-is, put the 2nd cloned HD away for now. Exactly what data recovery programs and steps have you tried so far?

 

[vt2017]

Boot backup/restore/cloning utility usb or dvd,
[if no cd/dvd device in laptop, if affordable, get a usb cd/dvd device] and:
-- if possible, make a one-pass DIY clone onto an external HD; or
-- if possible, make a one-pass DIY full image of the hard-drive onto any affordable and reliable external media

If you are successful in cloning the problem HD as-is, put the 2nd cloned HD away for now. Exactly what data recovery programs and steps have you tried so far?

I tried running a scan with a few software recovery tools, but none of them have been able to recover the data in it's original format that I can read. Some of them recognize the existence of some files and I am able to recover them to another disk, but I am not able to read them. I have tried Recuva, Testdisk, EaseUS and Stellar Data Recovery. OS is Windows.

 

[RolandJS]

At this point, a DR specialist may be your only hope. Like you, I do not like at all losing my data stuff!

 

[USAFRet]

Data on a drive that was encrypted and then formatted is almost certainly toast.

 

[RolandJS]

I forgot the stuff was encrypted - all might very well be toast.