Is it possible to recover files after reinstalling my whole Mac OS X?

Question

I recently reinstalled my whole Mac OS X in my new iMac. But I realized I forgot to backup some files (my Pictures folder!).
Is there a way I can recover those files? When I reinstalled the software (using the DVD's the iMac came with) I used the option erase and install (I don't remember exactly what it said but it was the complete reinstallation option.
Thank you.

Answer 1

It could be - remember that a folder is really just a special kind of file. The files within it are just additional files, linked to it as contents in the file allocation table. And all of them are not necessarily kept as a discreet contiguous chunk of data on the hard disc. So yes, it is possible that the folder itself is fine, but the files within it are not.
Or, as mentioned, it could be something else, like permissions, or a corrupted iPhoto database, or who knows?
Did you look at the DR3 FAQ? Does it make any sense to you, given whatever was displayed while the recovery software was running?
DR3 online FAQ entry:
I recovered files, but they won’t open. What’s wrong?
The answer to this question depends on whether you’re talking about files recovered from under the “CBR” folder, or other ones.
Files recovered by catalog (i.e. Not from the CBR folder)
It's normal for a small percentage of recovered files to be bad. But if you have checked a number of them and none of them are good, then chances are that they were recovered with wrong ABL setting. Pick out a few files to use as test files, and go back and select a different ABL choice (Expert>Allocation Blocks Layout..menu) and recover and test those few. If you find an ABL setting that gives good results on those files, re-do your big recovery with that setting. For more information, read the material on Allocation Block Layout in section 8.2.1 of the Data Rescue 3 Users Guide.
Files recovered by content (i.e. from the CBR folder)
It's also normal for a small percentage of these files to be bad. If the original file was fragmented (not stored on disk in consecutive blocks), then it can not be properly recovered by content. In most normal situations, most files on a user's disk will not be fragmented. Typical fragmentation rates for files tend to be just a few percent.
Note: The ABL setting plays No role in recovering files under the CBR folder.