[living dead btu]

you formatted your hd and it still has files? Are you sure?

Usually a format destroys all information on a hard drive. I may be wrong, but i thought the info was destroyed during the drive integrity test part of the format.

I may be wrong. Usually recovery programs get stuff back that was deleted (in the case of windows, deleted and flushed) When DOS (ahem windows-whatever, DOS still lurks even in XP) When DOS deletes a file it simply removes the first character of the filename and leaves the rest of the file intact. (just like cp/m and atari did LOL) The deleted file will remain until such a time as DOS comes around and writes something else over it.(another file) A restore program simply slips the first letter (you supply) back into the filename. I may be wrong, but if you did a full DOS format command, i don't think there is anything there to restore.

As an aside, the Erase command still lurks about in DOS/windows. This command predates del and delete by several years and actually erases the file. I believe (it used to, but who knows now as much as DOS has been messed with.)