Backup Data GONE

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I have an external hard drive that I used to backup data from my old Windows
XP system. A few days ago I purchased a new PC which comes with Windows
Vista. I can see the external hard drive, and I can see tat there are files
on this drive, BUT they are not the files that were there. In fact I had used
up about 100 GB of the 120 GB available on this drive, and currently it tells
me that about 111 GB are still available, and that I have only used a small
amount. HOW DO I GET MY DATA? HELP! Thanks.
 
ProudDad said:
I have an external hard drive that I used to backup data from my old Windows
XP system. A few days ago I purchased a new PC which comes with Windows
Vista. I can see the external hard drive, and I can see tat there are files
on this drive, BUT they are not the files that were there. In fact I had used
up about 100 GB of the 120 GB available on this drive, and currently it tells
me that about 111 GB are still available, and that I have only used a small
amount. HOW DO I GET MY DATA? HELP! Thanks.
Click to expand...

Does the old XP machine see the files?

Alias
 
I dunno. The old PC did see the files up until I tried to rebuild the old
system. This is when I ran into problems and basically had to give up on the
old PC and buy a new one. Right now I cannot do anything with the old PC.
 
Here is some additonal info on this problem: I had the external hard drive
plugged into one of the USB ports when I first started up the new PC. I am
wondering if VISTA did something to this drive during initialization? I say
this because this drive now has a name (PRESARIO), which I never gave it. And
it has files that appear to be from the new VISTA system. WHY would it wipe
out everything else I had on this hard drive? (I did plug this hard drive
into an old Windows 2000 laptop I have and I saw the exact same thing there
as I do on the new PC.) How do I recover my data??? Thanks.
 
Simple access by a Vista PC wouldn't Format a USB drive on it's own.
That's the danger with all "Magnetic" backups - erasure and corruption.
You should always have backups on some kind of more permanent kind
of media (CD, DVD). Preferably a copy should be stored somewhere
outside your home, like a bank lock box.

There are tools that can perform a UnFormat operation - if that is what
happened.

One issue with moving these USB drives around is the drive lettering that
is assigned. You may have encountered a problem where a drive letter
was re-mapped and the PC uses that letter for some type of backup or
imaging process. Both Vista & XP take the next Alphabet letter for a
removable drive that's plugged in - Unless you've assigned it a letter then
it should remember that assignment.
 
Here is some additonal info on this problem: I had the external hard drive
plugged into one of the USB ports when I first started up the new PC. I am
wondering if VISTA did something to this drive during initialization? I say
this because this drive now has a name (PRESARIO), which I never gave it. And
it hasfilesthat appear to be from the new VISTA system. WHY would it wipe
out everything else I had on this hard drive? (I did plug this hard drive
into an old Windows 2000 laptop I have and I saw the exact same thing there
as I do on the new PC.) How do Irecovermy data??? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Partition Recovery (http://www.tech-pro.net/partition-recovery.html)
should be able to get the data back if it is on there. There is
something fishy about the files being different and the drive having a
name you didn't give it. I think what R McCarty wrote, that the drive
letters have got mixed up, may have something in it. But it seems to
have resulted in the drive being overwritten, if you are seeing the
same on another computer. You will probably find that some of the
files are lost, but Partition Recovery should be able to get back the
files that were on the remaining part of the drive.
 
I just had another thought to bring to the table. After backing up my old PC
(a Compaq Presario) I was working at doing a system recovery, using the DVD
that came with that computer. This was not successful, leading to me actually
buying a new PC. Is it possible that the system recovery DVD wiped out the
external hard drive?? I know that I would not have directed it to that drive,
and I also know that my 'C:' drive is wiped out, so it does not make sense,
but nothing does at this point.
 
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