Cleaning after a crash

[Drora]

Hello to all

Few days ago I lost the content of my second hard drive, an external one I
named "D". It was wiped so clean that even the disk partition gone and it
can't even be opened. However,

Since my "C" drive is smaller then the huge D, I used to install many
programs on D instead of C as usual.

Obviously Windows registered all the programs, regardless of their location,
on the ADD/REMOVE page.

I want to clean the ADD/REMOVE of all the lost programs but windows will not
do it as the programs are not there to be removed.

I remember long ago, a nice MVP produced a tiny program that do just that,
removing dead lines from the ADD/REMOVE but since I lost all my data, I
can't remember who it was.

Does any one know any thing on this topic?



The same goes for the registry that no doubts is full of obsolete entries
that need cleaning. I know, it is not hard to get a registry cleaning
programs now a days but I have bitter experience with these full programs
and I need something partial or a bit of know how to get into the registry
and do some safe cleaning.

Many thanks to whoever can help me

Drora

 

[Jose]

Hello to all

Few days ago I lost the content of my second hard drive, an external one I
named "D".  It was wiped so clean that even the disk partition gone andit
can't even be opened. However,

Since my "C" drive is smaller then the huge D, I used to install many
programs on D instead of C as usual.

Obviously Windows registered all the programs, regardless of their location,
on the ADD/REMOVE page.

I want to clean the ADD/REMOVE of all the lost programs but windows will not
do it as the programs are not there to be removed.

I remember long ago, a nice MVP produced a tiny program that do just that,
removing dead lines from the ADD/REMOVE but since I lost all my data, I
can't remember who it was.

Does any one know any thing on this topic?

The same goes for the registry that no doubts is full of obsolete entries
that need cleaning. I know, it is not hard to get a registry cleaning
programs now a days but I have bitter experience with these full programs
and I need something partial or a bit of know how to get into the registry
and do some safe cleaning.

Many thanks to whoever can help me

Drora

Here is a Microsoft article that tells you how to clean up Add/Remove
Programs:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314481

Oddly, I wrote my own instructions a long time ago and this MS article
is very similar! If you don't understand the MS article, we can
help. If there is a nice MVP with a program, I would like to see it
too.

Before making any changes to your registry, back it up with this
popular free tool:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

There a several registry cleaning programs you can use but it is hotly
debated sometimes. I have never had a bitter experience with any, but
some people seem to. Lots of people have opinions and favorites and
sometimes the discussions are fun to watch but sometimes not fun to
become involved. I choose to avoid the topic.

I will be glad to help clean up your Add/Remove Programs though.

 

[db]

with due respect to your
preferred methodology,

I believe that you are making
a fatal mistake by installing
all third party programs on
your external drive.

instead you should install
all your third party programs
on the same partition with
windows.

-----------------

in regards as to why the
external drive crashed in
the first place,

no one can say for sure.

however, if it crashes again
and it has all the programs
you installed to it,

then you will have a mess

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Few days ago I lost the content of my second hard drive, an
external one I named "D". It was wiped so clean that even the disk
partition gone and it can't even be opened. However,

Since my "C" drive is smaller then the huge D, I used to install
many programs on D instead of C as usual.

Obviously Windows registered all the programs, regardless of their
location, on the ADD/REMOVE page.

I want to clean the ADD/REMOVE of all the lost programs but windows
will not do it as the programs are not there to be removed.

I remember long ago, a nice MVP produced a tiny program that do
just that, removing dead lines from the ADD/REMOVE but since I lost
all my data, I can't remember who it was.

Does any one know any thing on this topic?

The same goes for the registry that no doubts is full of obsolete
entries that need cleaning. I know, it is not hard to get a
registry cleaning programs now a days but I have bitter experience
with these full programs and I need something partial or a bit of
know how to get into the registry and do some safe cleaning.

Many thanks to whoever can help me

Microsoft 'produced' it - an MSMVP may have mentioned it. ;-)

Windows Installer Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

You installed applications on an external drive? I would not recommend
that.

I would suggest leaving the registry alone. It's not worth it giving the
experience level you presented here.

Here's what I would do after running the Windows Installer Cleanup to fix
the mess caused by the dead drive...

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan with the following
(freeware version):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan with the following
(freeware version):

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Download, install and use the disk cleanup capabilities of:

CCleaner
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Visit this web page:

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Just do the regular fix.

Reboot and logon as administrative user.

Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan...

Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.

Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.

Reboot again.

If it worked - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.

The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates. Also - I do not see any urgent need to
install Internet Explorer 8 at this time.

You should now perform a full CHKDSK on your system drive (C...

How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot

You should now perform a full Defragment on your system drive (C...

How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time

Come back - report your success/failures.

 

[Drora]

Dear db

Where were you five years ago to give me this advice?

Now the disaster occurred and took with it 145 GIG of my data, medical,
banking, legal, family and anything in between. I am now staring at an empty
C drive that lucky it is intact so the computer at least is working.

However, by all experts it was a good idea what I did back then and now
neither the experts nor the Data is here.

I have some new ideas for super safety for the future but it is too long to
discuss here
Thank you

 

[Drora]

Stanley, thanks for the detailed advice.

I hope I can pull it off successfully

Thanks
Drora

 

[sandy58]

Here is a Microsoft article that tells you how to clean up Add/Remove
Programs:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314481

Oddly, I wrote my own instructions a long time ago and this MS article
is very similar!   If you don't understand the MS article, we can
help.  If there is a nice MVP with a program, I would like to see it
too.

Before making any changes to your registry, back it up with this
popular free tool:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

There a several registry cleaning programs you can use but it is hotly
debated sometimes.  I have never had a bitter experience with any, but
some people seem to.  Lots of people have opinions and favorites and
sometimes the discussions are fun to watch but sometimes not fun to
become involved.  I choose to avoid the topic.

I will be glad to help clean up your Add/Remove Programs though.

Thanks for the helpful info, Jose. Obliged.

 

[DL]

Hardware can fail at anytime, for various reasons, any data stored on a PC
should be backed up to at least one device (and those backups should be
verified)

 

[Bill in Co.]

Hello to all

Few days ago I lost the content of my second hard drive, an external one I
named "D". It was wiped so clean that even the disk partition gone and it
can't even be opened. However,

Since my "C" drive is smaller then the huge D, I used to install many
programs on D instead of C as usual.

Obviously Windows registered all the programs, regardless of their
location,
on the ADD/REMOVE page.

I want to clean the ADD/REMOVE of all the lost programs but windows will
not
do it as the programs are not there to be removed.

I remember long ago, a nice MVP produced a tiny program that do just that,
removing dead lines from the ADD/REMOVE but since I lost all my data, I
can't remember who it was.

Does any one know any thing on this topic?



The same goes for the registry that no doubts is full of obsolete entries
that need cleaning. I know, it is not hard to get a registry cleaning
programs now a days but I have bitter experience with these full programs
and I need something partial or a bit of know how to get into the registry
and do some safe cleaning.

Many thanks to whoever can help me

Drora

There may be still a chance you can recover at least some of the data on
that drive, either with a program like Easeus Data Recovery, or by sending
it out to a specialized data recovery company to extract the data, but that
option is very expensive. Your other option, I think, will be to start
all over and reinstall all programs from scratch, but this time on C.

 

[db]

145 ggs of data is a lot
to lose and

having that sensitive data on
a removable drive should
basically be a good idea.

so the question are:

- why did that drive proved
unreliable?

- can that drive can be trusted
in the future to contain the data?

- could it have simply been an
ntfs crash which could have been
recoverable?

perhaps, you want to take advantage
of this opportunity and continue your
thread herein by sharing the details
of your proposed methodology.

-------------

incidentally, can you elaborate
on the make/model of that
external drive?

it will be helpful for everyone to
know what piece of equipment
caused the disaster.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[Unknown]

If you have two HD's with data and/or programs on each but not both you need
to backup both
to have a good recovery system.

Stanley, thanks for the detailed advice.

I hope I can pull it off successfully

Thanks
Drora

 

[Drora]

That *D* drive was a Maxtor product. Now I learned that they no longer exist
and they are part of SEAGATE.

For the four years I owned it and kept stuffing it , I had complete
confidence in it especially as it is an automatic continuous back up. So
when it crashed it took with it every thing including the backups.

I called Seagate and they quote thousands of dollar to try to retrieve the
data but I will not go for it. Besides, the markings on the Disk management
says that the content is -0- so it is empty.

HOW ON EARTH SO MUCH DATA VANISHED INTO TIN AIR IN FRONT OF MY EYES IN ONE
SECOND IS BEYOND MY COMPREHENSION, but it did.

That disk cost me a little over $ 200 back then but today the world have
changed. Instead of that bulky monster with 180 GIG, I just bought me a
slender, wallet size HP one that hold 320 GIG for $ 89.

So I will be buying a hub of 7 USB outlets ($27) and plug into it at least
three of those slender huge drives and at night I'll simply pull them all
out and hide them under my pillow

The security idea is simple:

WE trust machine all the times, sometimes with our very life when we climb
an aircraft for flight. And machine are but human made machines no matter
who manufactured them, they can fail.

WE can't fly in three aircraft at once so to avoid the one that will
crash...but we can use three HDD at once, especially that their cost became
really low. The chance of them failing all at once is almost nil

Hope you like this idea

Drora

 

[db]

there could be two possible
causes for the issue.

1) the master file table crashed
and non of the files are no longer
indexed in the (mft)

however the mft can be reconciled
to the file system via a check disk
(chkdsk)

2) the ntfs (nt file sytem) crashed.

you can use a program called
acronis disk director and use
it to scan the drive.

it is a trail ware and if it produces
a listing of the files it finds it won't
restore them unless you buy the
software.

I use the above and it is a highly
reliable and great utility to have.

so my suggestion is to exercise
option number 2 above firstly.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[Drora]

Hi db

By now the drive was formatted and only after that it appeared on the screen
for us to see it is empty.

Do you mean your system can find anything there after the formatting?

Thanks
Drora

 

[db]

if you did a quick format
then the data is likely
recoverable.

but if you did a full format,
then i don't have the
ability to know how to
retrieve the raw data that
forensic experts do.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen