Have I lost everything??

[Chilli]

A while ago i left a thread about my laptop crashing. A big thankyou to everyone who replied. I tried using it in safe mode and using the command prompt to try and sort out the problem but because I could not make any progress and mostly because i was getting fed up with the thing not working I tried to re-install xp from another disc. This did not work as the computer would not recognise the final code you need to get the program working.

 

Finally, I used the restore disc which came with the laptop, something I should perhaps have done in the first place and this appears to have worked. What it has done though is what it says on the tin i.e. the pc is now back to how it was originally when i first got it with just the basics on it and everything that I had put on it such as music, work projects and videos/piccies have all gone. Have they gone forever, or is there any way at all that some or all the files can be restored? And has the fault that caused all the trouble gone too or has it simply been covered over?

 

I would greatfully appreciate any help you could provide in this matter.

 

Chilli

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Now you have restored back to factory condition Chilli your stuff has indeed gone.

[Seth]

Some restore disks have two different types of restore options. One of which creates a folder on the desktop called "backup". Do you have that folder?

 

If not, the data can be retrieved provided that it has not been written over. The more you use the laptop, the more of those valuable files will be written over.

 

The best data recovery program I've used is called Recover My Files, but it's not free:

 

Data Recovery Software to Undelete Files; Disk recovery; Recover Deleted Files

[Dalo Harkin]

The 'backup' is sometimes stored in the C:/

most laptops now have the drive partitioned by the factory CD - as in a C:/ drive for the OS and programs and then say a D:/ drive for photos, movies etc