(Computer Illiterate) Friend using a very essential machine had virus that
disabled Norton, instructed her to insert Windows 2000 disk - She
inadvertantly did a complete install and lost all of her programs and files.
Not being familiar with the OS, wondering if there is ANY possibility of
restoring? Any immediate help would be sincerely appreciated.

Angela

"waywardbydesign" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:37A4B5A0-51AB-4CD0-A971-(E-Mail Removed)...
> (Computer Illiterate) Friend using a very essential machine had virus that
> disabled Norton, instructed her to insert Windows 2000 disk - She
> inadvertantly did a complete install and lost all of her programs and
files.
> Not being familiar with the OS, wondering if there is ANY possibility of
> restoring? Any immediate help would be sincerely appreciated.
>
> Angela

Unfortunately the files are permanently lost. There is a chance of
retrieving some files after formatting, but most remaining fragments
are overwritten during the re-installation of Windows.

If your friend has lost important data files then she may have to
look at this unfortunate event as a sharp reminder of the iron law
of computing: All important files must be backed up every week
to an independent medium.

waywardbydesign wrote:
> (Computer Illiterate) Friend using a very essential machine had virus that
> disabled Norton, instructed her to insert Windows 2000 disk - She
> inadvertantly did a complete install and lost all of her programs and files.
> Not being familiar with the OS, wondering if there is ANY possibility of
> restoring? Any immediate help would be sincerely appreciated.
>
> Angela
>


It depends upon exactly what kind of a Win2K CD she used and exactly
what kind of "complete" installation she performed.

If she used an OEM Recovery CD provided by the computer's manufacturer,
then she did completely overwrite the contents of the hard drive with an
image of its original, ex-factory state. All of her programs and files
are gone, for all practical purposes. A professional data recovery
business _might_ have a way to recover something, but it would likely
cost a couple hundred dollars just to get the drive diagnosed and a
couple thousand dollars for the actual recovery.

If she used a true Win2K installation CD and inserted it while running
Win2K, she'd have been offered the choices of performing an "Upgrade"
(Recommended) or a "New" installation. If she had chosen the Upgrade,
though, this question would not have arisen.

If, however, she chose to perform the "New" installation, or even if
she booted from a true Win2K Installation CD, and didn't elect to
delete/create or format any partitions, she may have inadvertently
performed a parallel installation. If this is the case, then her
applications and data may well still be there, but unavailable to the
new OS installation. A quick test to determine if this is the
situation: reboot the computer and watch it start up. If there are now
two OS choices when the PC boots, then you have a parallel installation
to clean up. Your friend's applications will all have to be reinstalled
under the new, working OS, but her data files should still be in their
original locations. Any files stored within her old C:\Documents and
Settings\Username folder can be copied/moved to her new C;\Documents and
Settings\Username folder.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 07:55:15 -0700, Bruce Chambers
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>waywardbydesign wrote:
>> (Computer Illiterate) Friend using a very essential machine had virus that
>> disabled Norton, instructed her to insert Windows 2000 disk - She
>> inadvertantly did a complete install and lost all of her programs and files.
>> Not being familiar with the OS, wondering if there is ANY possibility of
>> restoring? Any immediate help would be sincerely appreciated.
>>
>> Angela
>>
>
>
Seems to be a very good argument for having the OS on one small
partition (8-9 GB) and have the programs and data seperate on another
partition.
Quite apart from the speed of re-formatting the partition, much
quicker for the smaller size, the restore if ever backup are up to
date would set the registry and COM+ in an instant. Just don't
understand that a lot more people don't use their partitions
correctly.

For your information, my stats are:
Win 2000, Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz
1 Gb memory,ADSL
200+200 GB disks partitioned C:E;as 7.81,80.84.97.65
F: G: as 88.65,97.66 for data
Borge Pedersen :-)
Perth, Australia
private.php?do=newpm&u=
remove SPAM and underlines for email

nesredep egrob wrote:

> Seems to be a very good argument for having the OS on one small
> partition (8-9 GB) and have the programs and data seperate on another
> partition.


There's very little point in having a separate drive or partition for
just applications. Should you ever have to reinstall the OS, you'll
still have to reinstall each and every application anyway, in order to
recreate the hundreds (possibly thousands) of registry entries and to
replace the dozens (possibly hundreds) of essential system files back
into the appropriate Windows folders and sub-folders. This is a useful
solution only if your system partition lacks sufficient space for all of
your applications.

On the other hand, placing data files on a partition or physical
hard drive separate from the operating system and applications is a very
good idea. The practice can greatly simplify system repairs/recoveries
and data back-up.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH