jaybana42 said:
I was having problems with my labtop and sent it to get repaired by
someone who came highly recommended. For some reason he had to
reformat my whole computer and I lost all my files. Is there any way
to either recover anything or reinstall my Windows XP Home Edition.
One other problem I am having is my CD-RW is not working. The icon
appears in My Computer but does not read any disk
First off, they formatted your PC without informing you they were going to
do this? Did you sign some waiver or agree to this type of repair in any
fashion?
Secondly - file recovery depends on what you mean by "reformat my whole
computer". If you mean they killed the partitions, reinstalled an OS or
something similar - the chances of recovery are very slim, because the data
has likely been overwritten.
You added something about "reinstall my Windows XP" - did they just format
your hard drive and put NO OS on it? Or do you need to provide them with
the CD for the OS first?
You may want to clear up exactly what was done to your computer before you
decide what to do. Reinstalling Windows XP is not a problem as long as you
have a recovery CD or better yet - a copy of the WIndows XP installation CD.
Lastly, you mention "other problem I am having is my CD-RW is not working.
The icon appears in My Computer but does not read any disk", which leads me
to believe you may have some OS other than Windows XP installed on it now
and you purchased an upgrade to Windows XP CD and installed it yourself
sometime in the past? If so, repeat the process. However, if the reason
you have not reinstalled is because the CD-RW drive is your only CD drive,
then you in fact have a pretty serious problem. You may need to go to the
manufacturer (of the laptop/CD-RW drive) web page and download a driver for
whatever OS you are using.
