Lost Files in XP Home

[John L]

Still trying to recover "My Documents". Have tried
suggestions provided in response to earlier post, all
without success. Found article in Knowledge Base that
suggests that I may have lost them when I tried to
get "File & Printer Sharing" & "Client for Microsoft
Windows" off the installation disc. Article suggests that
if you install XP to same folder as original install, "My
Documents" (and other things)may be deleted. I'm
beginning to think that's what happened. All of the files
are gone, but the "Recent Files" folder shows shotcuts to
all the files and folders that were in My Documents. Of
course, when I click on the shortcuts, the items can't be
found. I've done a search including hidden files &
folder, etc., and they don't show up.

I tried to do the suggestion made by Michael Solomon to
my earlier post. He said: <<Navigate to the files, right
click, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that
was logged on when you were refused permission to access
the files. Click apply and ok. Close the properties
box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of the
user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for
everything in the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab
is the following selection: "Replace owner on
subcontainers and objects," select it
as well.>> But, I don't find any Security Tab. (Maybe I'm
just being obtuse, but when you say "Navigate to the
files" I presume you mean any files I find in "My
Documents"? Only file I find there doesn't have
securities tab in properties. It is labled "Desktop
COnfiguratin Settings" and when I open it, its a Notepad
doc and the first line is "[DeleteOnCopy]".

Am I beyond help in retreiving my lost files?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You're not beyond help but you are moving beyond our ability to help. You
can try running a search on www.google.com for utilities that can retrieve
deleted or lost files. If that fails, depending upon how important these
files are to you, you might consider a service that handles this sort of
thing. There are usually ads in the back pages of most computer magazines
for such file retrieval services. Since they retrieve files from hard
drives that have been virtually destroyed by fire and flood, they probably
can help you as well but the services are expensive.

 

[John L]

I appreciate your attempts to help. You're right about
the backup lesson here.

-----Original Message-----
You're not beyond help but you are moving beyond our ability to help. You
can try running a search on www.google.com for utilities that can retrieve
deleted or lost files. If that fails, depending upon how important these
files are to you, you might consider a service that handles this sort of
thing. There are usually ads in the back pages of most computer magazines
for such file retrieval services. Since they retrieve files from hard
drives that have been virtually destroyed by fire and flood, they probably
can help you as well but the services are expensive.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Still trying to recover "My Documents". Have tried
suggestions provided in response to earlier post, all
without success. Found article in Knowledge Base that
suggests that I may have lost them when I tried to
get "File & Printer Sharing" & "Client for Microsoft
Windows" off the installation disc. Article suggests that
if you install XP to same folder as original install, "My
Documents" (and other things)may be deleted. I'm
beginning to think that's what happened. All of the files
are gone, but the "Recent Files" folder shows shotcuts to
all the files and folders that were in My Documents. Of
course, when I click on the shortcuts, the items can't be
found. I've done a search including hidden files &
folder, etc., and they don't show up.

I tried to do the suggestion made by Michael Solomon to
my earlier post. He said: <<Navigate to the files, right
click, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that
was logged on when you were refused permission to access
the files. Click apply and ok. Close the properties
box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of the
user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for
everything in the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab
is the following selection: "Replace owner on
subcontainers and objects," select it
as well.>> But, I don't find any Security Tab. (Maybe I'm
just being obtuse, but when you say "Navigate to the
files" I presume you mean any files I find in "My
Documents"? Only file I find there doesn't have
securities tab in properties. It is labled "Desktop
COnfiguratin Settings" and when I open it, its a Notepad
doc and the first line is "[DeleteOnCopy]".

Am I beyond help in retreiving my lost files?

.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Sorry, John, if those files don't appear to be where they belong and you
can't find them on a search of the drive, there's not much else I can offer.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

I appreciate your attempts to help. You're right about
the backup lesson here.

-----Original Message-----
You're not beyond help but you are moving beyond our ability to help. You
can try running a search on www.google.com for utilities that can retrieve
deleted or lost files. If that fails, depending upon how important these
files are to you, you might consider a service that handles this sort of
thing. There are usually ads in the back pages of most computer magazines
for such file retrieval services. Since they retrieve files from hard
drives that have been virtually destroyed by fire and flood, they probably
can help you as well but the services are expensive.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Still trying to recover "My Documents". Have tried
suggestions provided in response to earlier post, all
without success. Found article in Knowledge Base that
suggests that I may have lost them when I tried to
get "File & Printer Sharing" & "Client for Microsoft
Windows" off the installation disc. Article suggests that
if you install XP to same folder as original install, "My
Documents" (and other things)may be deleted. I'm
beginning to think that's what happened. All of the files
are gone, but the "Recent Files" folder shows shotcuts to
all the files and folders that were in My Documents. Of
course, when I click on the shortcuts, the items can't be
found. I've done a search including hidden files &
folder, etc., and they don't show up.

I tried to do the suggestion made by Michael Solomon to
my earlier post. He said: <<Navigate to the files, right
click, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that
was logged on when you were refused permission to access
the files. Click apply and ok. Close the properties
box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of the
user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for
everything in the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab
is the following selection: "Replace owner on
subcontainers and objects," select it
as well.>> But, I don't find any Security Tab. (Maybe I'm
just being obtuse, but when you say "Navigate to the
files" I presume you mean any files I find in "My
Documents"? Only file I find there doesn't have
securities tab in properties. It is labled "Desktop
COnfiguratin Settings" and when I open it, its a Notepad
doc and the first line is "[DeleteOnCopy]".

Am I beyond help in retreiving my lost files?

.