Cannot Restore Lost Files after Windows 7 Installation/Upgrade
My laptop, originally running Vista Home Premium, had a number of problems and finally crashed last weekend. Luckily, I had everything backed up on an external hard drive for safe keeping. So I thought! In the process of getting my computer up and running again, I installed a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade (only custom installation would work). As part of the usual installation process, the program installed important updates, etc. Once I verified Windows 7 was working well, I reinstalled and upgraded my McAfee antivirus protection and two other small software programs that were not too significant. All was working beautifully! I shut down and went to bed. The next morning, after making sure all hardware and software was running smoothly, and system checks revealed no problems, I took the files from my backup hard drive and moved them to my "new" and "improved" computer. I used a few files and had no issues. All was there and accessible without difficulty. When I tried to shut down, Windows 7 had to install 32 additional updates before the computer would turn off. When I rebooted the computer, IE settings and favorites were gone. ALL of the files moved from the backup drive to the computer were gone. A system search reveals NOTHING. I have looked at the permissions. I have gone into the old Windows.old folders --- but after I moved all of my files and made sure the system was functioning properly, I deleted all the old files. Why did I need them on the computer taking up space if everything was functioning great?!? Now I have NOTHING. All of my photos (which is my livelihood right now); my resume; my banking information; and SO MUCH MORE is apparently GONE. Any help out there?
September 24th, 2010 8:56am

You can try restoing the system to a point before the updates were installed. But the important lesson is to not put all your eggs in one basket. Instead of moving all you important files to your new computer, you should have only copied them so you would have a backup of them in the event of a castrophy.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
September 24th, 2010 11:15am

If you have not used the backup disk yet (filled it up with new files) you can use: http://www.data-recovery-software.net/ to recover all the files from you backup disk, if you moved them. If you formated the disk, you can still find the files with R-studio. But if you have filled the disk with new files, then you have a problem. Remember that you have to recover any files from the backup disk on a second disk (your computer) and not on the backup disk.... It think there is free versions of same types of programs out there, but I have used R-studio for several years now, and it find almost every thing. I have had people that has got to me with blanks harddrives, and I have recovered almost every file they needed. If it's important files, pay the money for R-studio and recover. But try it out before you buy it. You can install and use it to see how much data it find. And if it finds the folders and files you need, then buy the program to recover.Kenneth Myhre
September 24th, 2010 11:49am

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics