Windows 7 Disk Image Situation???

[jjpadinske]

So my neighbors computer harddrive failed, I have gone through every step I could find on how to save it with no luck, she never backed up her files either. I hooked up her harddrive to mine to see if i could get anything off of it and all her documents are gone but all her windows files seem to be there, how can I go about from my computer backing up her windows files to boot on a brand new harddrive if this is even possible? I have a spare harddrive I am giving her but I dont want her to purchase another operating system, what are my options to save her operating system if any? Or should I just call Microsoft again(already did but it was little help), so confused please help!

 

[huron]

Did the drive physically fail in some way? I don't understand why you would be able to find the Windows files and not their documents.

I don't know a way for you to just copy those files over and boot the other disk.

You could image, create a duplicate. This issue with this is if it's not a hardware failure and instead was something like the Master Boot Record - it would copy this and you'd be in the same place.

For imaging, I've used Ghost and Acronis...both have been good for me.

The only concern I have is if a virus got rid of her documents, then imaging it could recreate the same situation.

 

[jjpadinske]

Thats what confused me cause I figured it was a physical problem becasue the only scan I can run off her computer is a diagnostic and it says the harddrive has an issue, so I figured I could just hook it up to mine and get her files off of it but they are gone and that confused me, I guess I can scan the drive or something and see what I find

 

[sminlal]

Personal folders are created with access control that prohibits them from being accessed by anyone else. Sign on to your machine using an administrative account to see if her folder is visible. If it is, you can access it by right-clicking on the folder and changing the security attributes so as to take ownership of it (and all the files and subfolders it contains), and then you'll be able to change the permissions to allow read access to it (and all the files and subfolders it contains).

 

[huron]

It's true that personal folders wouldn't be accessible, but by default, I don't believe they are hidden, just locked.

I do agree about logging in as an admin and trying.

You could use a program like Recuva if the files look like they've been deleted - deleted files just have had their pointers removed...not actually gone (until overwritten by other data).