Lost folders, changed to 16KB files when XP reinstall. Please Help

[Guest]

Allot of the most important files of my life were lost when window XP changed
the the folders they were in to 16KB files (type of file just say's: file,
with no file extension, just like the folders with the files in them are
still there but windows dose not recognize them as folders) This happened
when I reinstalled windows, also windows said it preformed hard disk
maintenance before the install which I have not seen before this problem. a
strange thing is that only all the folders I had moved, changed or created in
the last 2 months were changed in to 16KB dead files, Please Help!, a life
time of important non-profit work could be lost.

I got a new 180Gig hard drive 8 months ago that I formatted with two FAT32
partitions and one was changed to NTFS when windows XP formatted it, so I had
one FAT32 partition with all my files on it and one NTFS partition with my
windows and programs on it, and it worked fine. When I reinstalled windows XP
on the NTFS partition first the installer said it preformed hard disk
maintenance, I am not sure if this is what caused it, and then I had to
restart to perform the reinstall and that went fine and none of the old
program files or folder in the NTFS folder were changed, I just ended up with
all these files lost in my documents partition, because all the folders I had
moved, changed or created in the last 2 months were changed in to 16KB dead
files.

The FAT32 and NTFS partition situation with a large hard disk most probably
caused windows to cause the problem

I dont know if this will fix it, but if a folder with a large amount of data
in it somehow was changed to not be recognized as that folder but a 16KB file
with out extension what could I do to it to change it back to have folder
properties.

Please be quick because I do not want to use my computer much until I get my
documents back. I changed my main document folder's name with the most
important documents I have worked on for the last 10 years, and that was
chaned to a 16KB file when I reinstalled

Please post here and email me (e-mail address removed)

 

[Alias]

Allot of the most important files of my life were lost when window XP changed
the the folders they were in to 16KB files (type of file just say's: file,
with no file extension, just like the folders with the files in them are
still there but windows dose not recognize them as folders) This happened
when I reinstalled windows, also windows said it preformed hard disk
maintenance before the install which I have not seen before this problem. a
strange thing is that only all the folders I had moved, changed or created in
the last 2 months were changed in to 16KB dead files, Please Help!, a life
time of important non-profit work could be lost.

I got a new 180Gig hard drive 8 months ago that I formatted with two FAT32
partitions and one was changed to NTFS when windows XP formatted it, so I had
one FAT32 partition with all my files on it and one NTFS partition with my
windows and programs on it, and it worked fine. When I reinstalled windows XP
on the NTFS partition first the installer said it preformed hard disk
maintenance, I am not sure if this is what caused it, and then I had to
restart to perform the reinstall and that went fine and none of the old
program files or folder in the NTFS folder were changed, I just ended up with
all these files lost in my documents partition, because all the folders I had
moved, changed or created in the last 2 months were changed in to 16KB dead
files.

The FAT32 and NTFS partition situation with a large hard disk most probably
caused windows to cause the problem

I dont know if this will fix it, but if a folder with a large amount of data
in it somehow was changed to not be recognized as that folder but a 16KB file
with out extension what could I do to it to change it back to have folder
properties.

Please be quick because I do not want to use my computer much until I get my
documents back. I changed my main document folder's name with the most
important documents I have worked on for the last 10 years, and that was
chaned to a 16KB file when I reinstalled

Please post here and email me (e-mail address removed)

Don't know how to help you with recovering your files but I guess now
you know that back up is a computer user's best friend. Ten years
without backing up? Is that stupid or what?

Alias

 

[Richard Urban]

Ten years without backing up?

Stop using the computer right now. Every single thing you do on the computer
is capable of over writing those files, even the act of booting the
computer.

Your ten years of files must be worth something to you, right? Go here to
www.ontrack.com and buy EasyRecovery Professional (it's expensive). If your
files are really that important, the price won't matter to you.

I have used this for the past three years with about a 98% success of file
recovery - if the computer was shut down immediately upon detection of a
problem and not used again until EasyRecovery was allowed to "do it's
thing"!

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Alias]

Richard Urban wrote:

Go here to

www.ontrack.com and buy EasyRecovery Professional (it's expensive).

Expensive? You could buy a very nice new computer for that price!

Alias

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Yes, but it's the data recovery here that is priceless.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Alias]

Yes, but it's the data recovery here that is priceless.

Good reason for backing up.

Alias

 

[Richard Urban]

Using it for one customer paid for the program in my case, and it was an
attorney (who ever said they are smart). He had lost about 15 years of
client records and accounts receivables. I happened to hear him moan to his
secretary "I would pay $10,000 to get those files back". I said, "Excuse me.
Do you have a problem? Remember that number."

I went and bought a 160 gig drive, returned to my home for the floppy
version of EasyRecovery Professional and was back in his office within the
hour.

Here is where it gets interesting! I recovered 100% of his files onto MY
hard drive (they have to go somewhere). When he saw how easy it was (not
withstanding the 3-4 hours it took for recovery) he started to balk at the
price. I told him I was going to take MY hard drive and go home. He then
started to write a check. At this point I no longer trusted him and insisted
upon cash!

Boy! Was he ever pissed.

I hope I never have to see him in court on the opposite side of a lawsuit!

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

Thank you for anyone that replied. Answer found, files regained!!! I tried to
recover my files as if they were deleted and nothing was found, I tried raw
recovery and nothing was found, I was very depressed about it all, and then
some one from OnTrack file recovery told me that windows might of turned my
files in to .chk files. and that is what had happened, and .chk files can be
recovered in most cases, I am lucky I retrieved the most important files
back.

 

[Guest]

Hello,

EASEUS DataRecoveryWizard utility can help. Speaking about me, it was
easily able to restore deleted, lost file and unformat drive,
so I think you will also find it quite useful. Really recommended
tool, give it a try.

http://www.easeus.com/