Lost files

[Guest]

If I changed my operating system from Windows 98 to Windows XP without
backing anything up is there any way to retrieve old files that were deleted
in the transfer?

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

If I changed my operating system from Windows 98 to Windows XP without
backing anything up is there any way to retrieve old files that were deleted
in the transfer?

That depends entirely on how you went about installing XP. Did you do
an upgrade with an upgrade CD? Did you install to a different drive?
Did you remove the partition and reformat in NTFS? More information
would help.

 

[Guest]

I think I removed the partition. I found the folders that the files were
in, but the folders are now empty.

 

[Guest]

if you removed the partition, then it has been wiped away. The folders you
are seeing are probably the standard ones which have nothing now....
Fortunately, you backed up your data, so you can restore the partition -
temporarily....

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I think I removed the partition. I found the folders that the files were
in, but the folders are now empty.

If the partition was actually removed, chances of recovery are slim. If
you can see the old folders, and you are sure they are the same folders, the
partition was not removed. If you didn't format the drive, the partition
was not removed.

To have any chance of recovery, you must stop using that drive now and
remove it from the machine. Reinstall XP to a new drive, and either
install data recovery software, re-connect the old drive, and attempt to
recover data from the drive or take the old drive to a data recovery
specialist. This will cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, but they will
probably be able to do a better job than you can yourself.

Use the old drive only to read from. Do not allow anything to be written
to it. Writing to the drive will overwrite any remaining traces of the
previous files. If you run recovery software, always point the file
recovery output to a physically different drive.

HTH
-pk