Please help or I'm screwed.

[Geez]

I have a Compaq laptop with XP installed. The other day it decided not to
start up and gave me a message saying that Windows did not start successfully
and none of the options would allow me to start it up. I looked on line (via
another computer!) and discovered that the best thing to do was install from
the start up disk which I did. When I put it in, it told me that none of my
data files would be erased. HOWEVER, once it was all started up again, it
was like running from scratch - none of my software and none of my files.
Please please please tell me there's a way of recovering this stuff.

 

[R. McCarty]

Was the "Startup Disk" a Windows XP install CD or a recovery disk that
the PC vendor supplied ? If recovery it's likely your pre-existing XP
instance
was overwritten.

If you Explore to Documents & Settings do you see your original user name
as one of the profiles ?

As far as recovery is concerned that's very questionable. A full recovery
or
re-install would most likely overwrite the disk where the previous setup was
located.

 

[Ron Badour]

Quit using the laptop or you may overwrite files that you need. Formatting
the partition does not destroy the files and they may well be recoverable.
You will need to either pay someone to retrieve your data or you can try
data recovery software such as:

Data Recovery Wizard, $69.95. Retrieves data under just about any situation
(as long as the drive still spins).
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/index.htm

Restoration, Freeware, limited retrieval capabilities.
http://www.webattack.com/get/restoration.html

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[Alias]

I have a Compaq laptop with XP installed. The other day it decided not to
start up and gave me a message saying that Windows did not start successfully
and none of the options would allow me to start it up. I looked on line (via
another computer!) and discovered that the best thing to do was install from
the start up disk which I did. When I put it in, it told me that none of my
data files would be erased. HOWEVER, once it was all started up again, it
was like running from scratch - none of my software and none of my files.
Please please please tell me there's a way of recovering this stuff.

And, of course, you don't have a back up, right?

Remember, back up is a computer user's best friend.

Alias

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I have a Compaq laptop with XP installed. The other day it decided not to
start up and gave me a message saying that Windows did not start
successfully
and none of the options would allow me to start it up. I looked on line
(via
another computer!) and discovered that the best thing to do was install
from
the start up disk which I did. When I put it in, it told me that none of
my
data files would be erased. HOWEVER, once it was all started up again, it
was like running from scratch - none of my software and none of my files.
Please please please tell me there's a way of recovering this stuff.

Shut it off and leave it off.

Remove the drive, attach it to another system that has recovery software,
and make sure that System Restore is NOT monitoring the drive. Scan the
drive for recoverable files.

First, look in the Documents and Settings folder structure, and see if there
is a second set of user folders, for example Administrator(1), User(1).
Look in all the folders for your files.

I use R-Studio, there are other brands of recovery software; not all will
work properly with all USB drive adapters. Most come with a demo version
that allows you to see at no cost what can be done. If it looks like it
will work, you pay to get the fully functioning version and recover your
data.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bus Driver]

I have and have used this successfully in the past to recover 15gb of music
that i thought i had lost

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

simple & easy to sue

Steve

 

[Twayne]

I guess it depends of the wipe/reinstall routine.

If you run a reinstall, and in the process Quick Format the drive, no
actual data is deleted.

Actually, it is deleted because wiping the MFT removes all references to
the files, which is the same as deleting: They are no longer available
after that point.

The MFT is wiped and rebuilt, and then Windows is installed.

Some, not all, parts of windows is reinstalled.

It seems, and this is my experience, that the Windows folders are re
written, with the new install, to almost the same parts of the drive.

That's because that portion of the drive no longer has any files in it;
they are all marked to be overwritten as with any deletion, and the same
program writes the same files on to the same tracks, so it's to be
expected they would be in very close to the same locations.

So you have a new set of folders, with the old data literally hiding
in the background.

The old data is no longer retrievable except by special undelete
routines, which would nearly all fail due to the overwrite processes,
same as with any deleted file. The OS sees that as available space to
use.

The better quality recovery software pulls out the whole folder
structure, along with the files, and in alot of cases the data is
fully recoverable.

Recovery software overwrites all of the existing files with the files in
the backup, just like it says it is going to do at Restore time. The
don't "pull out" anything; they rewrite the proper sectors of the disk
where it matters and replaces where it doesn't matter, but it's the same
results. The old data is NOT retrievable except from a current backup.
In fact, that's the reason for doing backups before you mess with the
disk; the data is going to be gone, gone, gone.

HTH,

Twayne`