2 (Hi-)MDs accidentally formatted - Tracks still recoverable?

[Melodo]

Dear specialists

well I am new to using a forum, but I use MiniDiscs for more than 5 years now as a mini sound interface: For recording my band and meanwhile also for recording the sound of the work shops I am filming. Until now I didn't see any possibility to add to a forum like this, because I simply do not have the theoretical knowledge. But now I am asking you urgently for your help in my case, even without any input from my side in advance

I used a Sony Hi-MD Walkman MZ-RH1, a Sony Hi-MD (1 GB) and a standard Sony MD (80 Min) for recording - both MDs were formatted as Hi-MDs in advance. Recording and saving of the tracks after the work shop went fine.

A few months after the record, unconscious of what I was doing, I formatted these 2 (Hi-)MDs ("Menu" --> "Edit" --> "Format"), although the very important material from my work shop roll was still on them. I hadn't digitalised the material yet, but only right after formatting them, I realised what I had done

They had contained the sound of the PA, on which the two clip-on microphones (Lavaliers) of the speakers were amplified. Now I am left with the sound of my directional camera microphone. In this case 10m away from the speakers, with an occasionally coughing lady sitting in the audience... right in front of my camera

I did not do anything else to the MDs after that happened. So my question is are the tracks still on them? And if yes, is there a way to undelete/unformat/recover and extract them to my hard drive (at this moment without thinking about the cost that is related to this process!)? In hard drive unformatting this is possible, since the bits and bytes are only set to be overwritten when formatting a hard drive, but entirely left as they were.

Since I read that Hi-MDs are encrypted, nothing seems to be possible in my case. TOC cloning might also not help. But I invoke all of you guys, if there is anyone out there who has an idea to what the solution to my problem seems to be please help me in this situation. The thing is that I only have 1 or 2 weeks time to solve this problem. Otherwise the customer has to live with a record for a DVD pressing of 300+ pieces like this. So "Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Help!" like the Beatles would say..

In advance, I must say thank you a lot and that you guys are doing a phenomenal job in an area that should gain much more awareness since MiniDisc is a quite neat interface.

Best greez - Melodo

[philippeb]

TOC cloning works for MDs, but not for Hi-MDs.