system restore

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I had to restore my computer ot the original factory settings. I lost all my
files. Is thera progrma that is good at finding lost files such a ms word,
powerpoint, excel, and picture/video files?
 
Hans said:
I had to restore my computer ot the original factory settings. I lost all my
files. Is thera progrma that is good at finding lost files such a ms word,
powerpoint, excel, and picture/video files?
Click to expand...

Yes, but it's really expensive, like over a grand type expensive. Now
you know that back up is a computer user's best friend.
 
=?Utf-8?B?SGFucw==?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...
I had to restore my computer ot the original factory settings.
I lost all my files. Is thera progrma that is good at finding
lost files such a ms word, powerpoint, excel, and
picture/video files?
Click to expand...

If the files were simply deleted/reformatted non-destructively,
then, yes, you can find programs that can recover lost files. I
don't know any, but Google is your best friend. If you totally
fail, there are computer forensic specialists in the $100-
200/hour range that can recover anything that is even remotely
recoverable, but what they can NOT do is name them as you once
had.

Now, what backup regimen do you practice, if any? If none, why
not? The time most people decide to start backing up their HD is
right AFTER a crash or a reinstall. Don't you have opticals or an
external HD? These things are dirt cheap on a per-GB basis these
days and very, very effective. Also, I would strongly recommend
that you buy a good imaging utility like Acronis True Image that
can take a full bit-by-bit binary image of an entire partition or
just part of one. That is FAR better than restoring to your OEM's
as-sold condition, plus True Image can do individual file and
folder restores in the advent you just accidently deleted some
files or they became corrupt.

Next, don't forget malware protection. It takes a whole LOT more
than a freebie AV program and MS's malicious software removal
tool to protect yourself today, and should be used very
rigorously, especially just prior to doing a full partition
image.

One last one: Create an extended partition, D:\ or whatever, to
hold just the data YOU create. That way, if malware infests you
or you're forced to totally rebuild your system, you don't lose
everything, likely you won't lose anything. And, if I were a
betting man, I'd bet you had all your stuff stored in hundreds of
folders under My Documents. Not the best way to do data
management if you have more than a trivial amount of data, YOU
want to be able to find it again, and, you want to facilitate
easy and effective backups.
 
Alias added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...
Yes, but it's really expensive, like over a grand type
expensive. Now you know that back up is a computer user's best
friend.
Click to expand...

I know a couple of Cyber friends that recovered several hundred
gigs for only about $200, but they were left with literally 100,000
files of all types, none named, and they do not differentiate
between the tens of thousands of itty bitty bitmaps and other
things Windows scatters around, thus he lost his entire car picture
collection, got it back, and spent weeks and weeks laboriously
renaming some 10,000+ pictures.

As you say so correctly, and as a play on words to the real estate
biz, backup, backup, backup are the 3 most important things for ALL
PC owners to get a firm grip on.
 
HEMI-Powered said:
=?Utf-8?B?SGFucw==?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...


If the files were simply deleted/reformatted non-destructively,
then, yes, you can find programs that can recover lost files. I
don't know any, but Google is your best friend.
Click to expand...

Run this demo and see if it finds anything:
http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm
 
Mike Lowery added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...
Run this demo and see if it finds anything:
http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm
Click to expand...
I don't have the problem, the OP does, but now I have a question of
my own: I know utilities exist, I'm just not at all informed
because I have taken precautions for decades to protect my personal
data and have fortunately never had a major loss.

What is this exactly? The reason I ask is that while I trust you
Mike, I generally do not just blindly click on a link to someplace
I'm not familiar with. Best way I can explain that is sometimes a
friend will send me an E-card for my birthday or something which
turns out to have dozens of pop-ups some of which are highly
dangerous malware on a phishing expedition, and my sending friend
didn't realize it.

Thanks.
 
Back
Top