Lost files after system restore

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nickyandre

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#73732 20-Dec-2010 23:51

Lost files after system restore - Windows 7 HELP! - Title says it all!!

I went to turn on my computer and it said i had to system restore (it restored it back to when i first got the laptop. I did this and lost all of my files (pics, music etc!).

Does anyone know how to get the stuff back? In "My Computer" it has Local Disk C and a new folder called "Recovery D" but i can't get into the folder. Would the lost files be there?

I'm may be rambling and making this harder to understand. But if anyone can help and tell me a step by step process (not some of the crazy downloads i have found!) I would be massively greatful!!!

Thanks
Nick

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Snowflake

#419773 21-Dec-2010 00:00

OK, first of all, *never* say yest to that prompt unless you're sure... it wipes all your data.

Secondly, if you really want to try and recover stuff, TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND STOP USING IT! everything you do on it now could be overwriting potentially recoverable data.

Lastly, you might be able to recover some of the deleted files by using a utility such as "getdataback". http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm I've had success with this software before - it scans all the sectors on your disk looking for remnant files that it can try and recover. Make sure that you attempt to recover files to another disk or USB memory stick as recovering them to the laptop drive might overwrite other potentially recoveravle files.

Alternatively you might find it easier to contact one of the data recovery companies in NZ and get them to help you. It probably wont be cheap. Google 'data recovery' and you'll see a few links offered.

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Batman

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#419775 21-Dec-2010 00:03

you what? oh dear!

i highly doubt they (the files you lost) can be recovered easily, if at all. when you restored back to the beginning of time, chances are most of the files have portions that have been physically written over. (the hard disk stores foot prints of files if you like. and then a herd of cows were let loose and have trampled upon those precious footprints.

sorry, anyone else has any simple ideas i dont know about?

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#419776 21-Dec-2010 00:05

(i see regs has just posted - you could recover some stuff if you had a huge hard disk and the footprints were stored in jungles where no cows would want to go ... but i'd hate to give false hope ... am I right?)

l43a2

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#419777 21-Dec-2010 00:07

nickyandre: Lost files after system restore - Windows 7 HELP! - Title says it all!!

I went to turn on my computer and it said i had to system restore (it restored it back to when i first got the laptop. I did this and lost all of my files (pics, music etc!).

Does anyone know how to get the stuff back? In "My Computer" it has Local Disk C and a new folder called "Recovery D" but i can't get into the folder. Would the lost files be there?

I'm may be rambling and making this harder to understand. But if anyone can help and tell me a step by step process (not some of the crazy downloads i have found!) I would be massively greatful!!!

Thanks
Nick

can you see in C:/ a folder called Windows.old ?

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Snowflake

#419778 21-Dec-2010 00:09

joker97: (i see regs has just posted - you could recover some stuff if you had a huge hard disk and the footprints were stored in jungles where no cows would want to go ... but i'd hate to give false hope ... am I right?)

if you have a laptop with a 250GB HDD, and it was full of files, and the system restore overwrites <30GB with OS files then there is a good chance that there may be 200GB or so of recoverable files. a system restore should (hopefully) overwrite contiguous blocks given no existing fragmentation. the files you write to a 250GB disk shouldnt be too fragmented either unless you create/delete files all the time and you're always running out of space. the OS usually tries to write to contiguous blocks too.

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Regs

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Snowflake

#419780 21-Dec-2010 00:11

oh, and for step-by-step guides you can try the following:
http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery.htm
http://www.runtime.org/howto_datarecovery.pdf
other files here: http://www.runtime.org/howto.htm

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b0untypure1

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#422358 29-Dec-2010 12:13

if you reinstalled windows over your original you would have a windows.old folder with everything inside it

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dontpanic42

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#422370 29-Dec-2010 13:25

If all of the above fails, give Recuva a go.

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

I have had good success with this. It probably won't be able to get back everything, but if the data is still physically there on the hard drive (i.e. hasn't been over-written by the new windows files) it should be able to recover it.

Hope that helps.

trig42

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#422646 30-Dec-2010 15:30

Some of the manufacturers recovery software does keep the old User files in another directory, but that is grasping at straws. Check the C:\users directory for a old user directory. Probably won't be there, but I have seen it save someone's bacon a couple of times.

And, I'm sure you know this, but don't forget to backup in the future...