Another Disk Cleanup Disaster

[John]

Ran Disk cleanup on my home premium. When it was done all my data files
and about half my programs were trashed. When I rebooted I found it also
trashed the boot system. Had to run a fix install.

I have a clone drive so everything was backed up and I can re-install
the programs... but apparently no one should ever run Disk Cleanup... is
this true? I notice simlar things happend in this newsgroup.

Also... I use Final Recovery and afterwards it couldn't even find any of
the "deleted" files. I wonder what Disk Cleanup did with them?

John

 

[Dave]

I've run Disk Cleanup many times, with no problems.

 

[Ronvdl]

I don't think the Disk Cleanup utility could do something like this. It only
deletes the contents of some folders like the temporary folder, the temporary
internet files folder, etc.
It doesn't remove any documents or programs, and really does not delete the
boot info or any other system information.

 

[Cap''''n Bazza]

Hi John

Hate to say this but I too ran Disk Cleanup because the Microsoft website
advised that I should and it appears to have cleaned up most of my data files
(about 120GB) including photos, CDs, Movies my e-mail messages etc. It has
left a very few jpgs, mostly covers of the CDs, and some pdf files but all my
important stuff is gone.

I wish I had a clone drive but I haven't. This is my'"D" drive, fortunately
my "C" Drive is not affected this time.

About a year ago I cleaned the "C" drive and that killed all my program
files including my Windows XP system.

Did you find a way to restore your files?

Regards,
Cap'n Bazza

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi,

You may have to use a third-party data recovery tool to get back the data. I'd seek a professional data recovery service if the data is extremely important.

To prevent such problems in future, fix the Disk Cleanup handler. See:

Serious Disk Cleanup problem caused by broken registration | The Winhelponline.com Blog:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/serious-disk-cleanup-problem-caused-by-broken-registration/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
Winhelponline.com blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog


Hi John

Hate to say this but I too ran Disk Cleanup because the Microsoft website
advised that I should and it appears to have cleaned up most of my data files
(about 120GB) including photos, CDs, Movies my e-mail messages etc. It has
left a very few jpgs, mostly covers of the CDs, and some pdf files but all my
important stuff is gone.

I wish I had a clone drive but I haven't. This is my'"D" drive, fortunately
my "C" Drive is not affected this time.

About a year ago I cleaned the "C" drive and that killed all my program
files including my Windows XP system.

Did you find a way to restore your files?

Regards,
Cap'n Bazza