XP Pro SP3 - Wouldn't boot. Reinstalled. How do I find lost files?

[pianoman2054]

Tried installing a program from download. Halfway thru it locked up. When I restarted the machine it hung at Windows Starting page. I did everything to re-start. Absolutely nothing worked after 4 days of trying everything. Had to re-install XP Pro over top of initial installation. Now I have 2 Windows on my drive. Although I still had almost all of my initial programs, photos, etc., I lost some very crucial photos, videos, etc.. Is there anyway I can retrieve those things? Or better yet, repair the first Windows? I don't need the info concerning how to repair it with the simplest of tactics. I've done EVERYTHING I knew, and some I didn't, to fix it. I would need some trick or tip that would be a last resort sort of thing but remember, I've already re-installed Windows AND updated it to SP3. Now I have Windows AND Windows.0. Really I just want to retrieve the lost stuff.

 

[vacunita]

Where were these crucial photos etc...?

When you reinstalled Windows did you create a different user?

Have you looked in C:\Documents and Settings\ for your old user folder?





----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Web & Tech

 

[pianoman2054]

No and yes. Like I said, my stuff was MOSTLY still there, just missing a lot of photos, videos, etc., from My Documents, My Pictures and My Videos. I don't understand why it kept some and missing others from the same folder.

 

[edfair]

There is some malware floating around that hides stuff and moves other to different locations in addition to hiding it.

There is a program "unhide", available on the web, that is helpful in getting stuff back were it is supposed to be.

Not sure what the results might be on a machine that has had a replacement OS added.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[pianoman2054]

I thought of that and tried doing a wildcard (*) on the formats that they were all in. Turned up nothing.

 

[flyboytim]

You could install Picasa, which is very good at trawling through your drive in order to find hidden image files of all types as it builds its libraries.

http://picasa.google.com

 

[goombawaho]

I don't see how it would be possible that a parallel install of windows could "pick and choose" some files to delete and leave others in the same folder (user folder c:\documents and settings\user). Does NOT make any sense at all.

I would slave the drive to another computer and see what you can see and search the hard drive for *.jpg, *.mpeg, *.mpg, *.avi, etc.

Failing to find what you want, I'd install GetDataBack for NTFS trial (with the hard drive still slaved) and run it against the slaved hard drive. Try "recover deleted files" first because it's quick. If you buy it, you can recover them to the boot drive - NOT the drive where they were lost. Or there are other tools that people recommend that may be free, but use GDB so you can SEE if you will be able to recover your files.

If you still don't see what you were looking for, run one of the longer searches in GDB.

 

[pianoman2054]

I know it makes no sense but that's exactly what it did. I'll try what you said and let you know.

 

[cdogg]

During a parallel installation on the same partition, choosing the same username you had before during setup will overwrite the existing folder in Documents and Settings. Did you have more than one username on the original installation of Windows? If so, then that might explain why some files are still there (the ones you're finding are from the other username, and not the one you overwrote).

Just a guess, but that's what it sounds like.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[pianoman2054]

I think so. So it sounds like the files are gone and can't be retrieved.

 

[goombawaho]

So it sounds like the files are gone and can't be retrieved.

Not necessarily - do what I suggested before the chances of recovery go down by using the laptop and writing to the drive. It may be too late, but GDB will see if the files are still there.

 

[G0AOZ]

There is also the possibilty that the hard drive developed some bad sectors which have now got locked out - your missing files could have been on those sectors.

I have successfully used GetDataBack for several years, but I've found that when it wasn't able to find some missing data, EASEUS Data Recovery did the business. There is a trial version of this software but it has very limited functionality.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[goombawaho]

There is also the possibilty that the hard drive developed some bad sectors which have now got locked out - your missing files could have been on those sectors.

I would have to say that this would have to be a miraculous occurrence. Normally you would see CORRUPTED files if sectors went bad, even many of them. Not whole bunches of files plain missing.

But we both agree to see if you can see the files with whichever tool you choose. If you are using the computer at this point, every day may be wiping away the opportunity to salvage some/all the files.

 

[pianoman2054]

Consider them wiped. I've been using it since this happened, some weeks ago. But thanx every1 for your help.