New system install problem.

[crashedcomputer]

I recently rang Dell to help me with a problem i've since sorted out. They obviously didn't understand properly, and sent me an updated version of my XP system. I downloaded it, and it just installed itself on top of the system I already have. now I can't access any of my old stuff but it still takes up all the hard drive space.

 

Does anyone know how I can re-access the old system on my computer?

 

many thanks.

[Tootech]

Was it a repair or was it a full install?

 

I am not sure exactly what has been done, but often there is a folder in the C: drive called Windows.old - that where the data would be. You can copy out what you need and delete the rest when finished.

[crashedcomputer]

basically they sent me a cd with an updated version of windows XP which i downloaded onto my laptop. It downloaded itself on top of my old version and therefore I was unable to access any of my old files. I'll try and find this folder, I think I might have seen it before but I couldn't access it

[Plastic Nev]

The disk Dell sent is probably a system recovery disk, which will have installed a new operating system, sending the machine back to original factory settings. To retrieve any old data you may need data recovery software, which in itself may install over some existing stuff, but is worth a try if there are important files you wish to retrieve.

Have a look here-

NTFS Data Recovery Software. BootDisk, Freeware NTFS DOS and more...

[Jelly Bean]

basically they sent me a cd with an updated version of windows XP which i downloaded onto my laptop. It downloaded itself on top of my old version and therefore I was unable to access any of my old files.

 

Did you download the XP?

Did you download and run straight from the download?

 

Did you download and save and burn to disk as a bootable ISO?