XP Recovery Wizard

[Jerry]

I created a media recovery kit (8 CD's), then performed a
system restore. I did not back up my files (i.e. Word
docs, jpg's, etc.). Are they lost forever??

 

[Ted Zieglar aka Rocky]

If you are referring to the System Restore feature of Windows XP, that
feature has nothing to do with your personal files. System Restore is about
Windows system files.

If you are referring to a 'repair installation', where you reinstall Windows
over itself in the hope of repairing a problem with the operating system,
that process also has nothing to do with your personal files. If done
correctly, your personal files are not touched.

If you are referring to a 'clean install' of Windows, where you erase your
hard disk and reinstall all your software from scratch, everything on your
hard disk was permanently erased. Same thing if you used your computer's
recovery CDs. Are your files lost "forever"? There are outfits that deal in
recovering data from erased hard disks. That kind of highly technical
expertise will cost you in the thousands - and no guarantees.

Ted Zieglar

 

[Jerry]

Thanks Ted. Yes, I used the Recovery CD's. A techy at
CompUSA said he might be able to recover the files via
a "data transfer." It would cost $49.95 whether they find
them or not. You think this is possible? Or would it
truly cost me "thousands?"

Thanks again,
Jerry

 

[Ted Zieglar aka Rocky]

So-called "recovery CDs" are not standard things, so you should find out
from your computer vendor exactly what their recovery CDs do. In general,
recovery CDs erase your hard disk and then reinstall all the software that
was on your computer when it left the factory.

Recovering files from an erased hard disk is definitely a specialized
procedure, way beyond the capabilities of CompUSA, and can easily cost
several thousand dollars. These are the techniques used, for example, when
government agencies are involved.

If you had emptied your Recycle Bin and wanted to try to recover the files,
that is something that CompUSA has the ability to do. It's something that
you can do yourself for a lot less than $49.95. But in your case, you're
talking about recovering files from a hard disk that had its partition(s)
deleted and was then formatted, that's impossible without special
technology. Ask the vendor exactly what their recovery CDs do.

Out of interest, because I've never used recovery CDs, isn't a warning
displayed to the effect that your hard disk is about to be erased? Or is
this not explained in the documentation? You would think that computer
vendors would emphasize this little detail.

Ted Zieglar

 

[Guest]

The language was ambiguous. It did state to make sure
you back up your data before proceeding. It then went on
to say have 8 CD's or 2 DVD's ready to create your
recovery kit and back up your data. I assumed (we know
what that means) that when they said this that I would be
creating the back up at that point. I called the vendor
and they said "No, you've lost your data."