reformatted computer now btc are lost

All the well meaning Technical Advice presented here is all well and good..
but it is *assuming the owner understands how to use it*

To someone who describes the problem with their computer as "Fucked and wont complete a restore", it seems a bit like you guys are offering proceedural advice on brain surgery techniques to someone who might well be uncomfortable holding a screwdriver.

First Question is.. How many BTC (roughly) are we talking about here ? a few, 10 ? 100 ? More ?

Basically, what is your wallet worth to you ?

If its over $500, then you shouldn't be doing *anything* yourself except switching the machine off and taking it to an *expert* computer guru.

And I dont mean the 18yo next door who knows what "Regedit" does either. You want someone who is extremely familair with NTFS, FAT32 or HPFS (whatever your computer runs) File Systems, Is *experienced* in using a range of Data recovery programs, knows enough to do nothing until they have done an exact sector-by-sector mirror copy of the drive first, and the futz about with the copy, not the original.

Such Gurus are not thick on the ground. I *am* such a Guru in this area and I have been doing data recovery occasionally (a few serious jobs a year) for people for 15+ years, and I would estimate that not 1 in 100 (possibly 1000) IT techies would be even vaguely qualified to attempt such a task. Any mouse-surfer can run "Easy Recovery Pro", but understanding what its doing and how to maximize your chances is not a job for dilettantes.

If you're talking more than $5000 worth of Bitcoins, even I wouldn't go too far myself before I recommended you head to one of the Big Boys in Data Recovery - The businesses that have their own clean rooms, a full time staff of techs who do nothing *but* data recovery all day, and a huge stock of spare hard drives that they can swap the platters out of your hard drives into..

But don't expect to get out of it for less than $1500.. possibly up to $5000 depending on just what has happened. If you've already tried recovering backups onto the drive, or reformatted it, or run any of the consumer-grade data recovery options, then your chances are not good, but they are still possible. Ive had clients recovery from some amazing disasters, but its not cheap.

So, If its not too late, how about letting us know just how big a pile of bits you're talking about here, before you go diving into Fort Knox with the software equivalent of a chainsaw in the hands of a novice.

If its just a small quantity of coins you've lost, then by all means, wade on in, but if you dont know a partition table from an inode, I don't like your chances.

If you're around Melbourne, Australia (unlikely) and need some high level help, drop me a PM and we can talk.. Otherwise, find your local Computer Guru hang out or look up "Data Recovery Services" in your area.