Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows XP > Windows XP General Discussion > Windows XP Reinstall...Lost all files in "My Document Folder"

Windows XP Reinstall...Lost all files in "My Document Folder"

Forum Windows XP : Windows XP General Discussion - Windows XP Reinstall...Lost all files in "My Document Folder"

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rimmi2002   01-11-2008 at 08:33:27 AM

I just reinstalled windows XP because my system was not booting...I had 1000+ pictures saved in my documents/my pictures folder and many important documents...that I really wanted to recover and I made the fatal mistake as I just found out of using the same user name...so all old document and settings folders were replaced my new document and settings folder. I really want the pictures back. Is there any way/software that will help me recover these files. Please advise. Thanks.

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Grumpy9117   01-11-2008 at 02:06:13 PM
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Did you format your hard drive when you reinstalled Windows XP? Did you look in C:\Documents and Settings for your old folder?

Grumpy

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rgeist554   01-11-2008 at 02:50:08 PM
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If you did a full reinstall (where you wipe the partition or install over it), then those files are probably gone. The only people that can help you are probably those that restore hard drives...

If you did a repair install or had those files on another partition that you left untouched, then they should still be there - you probably just have to snoop around as Grump said.

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rimmi2002   01-11-2008 at 07:08:49 PM
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Ther is no old folders in document and settings...during the install I installed over the old windows folder. The problem is my whole document and setting folder was deleted also.

I have reinstalled windows like this several times before. This hasn't happened to me before because I had been lucky and had been using a different user name of each new install...so in the past after re-installing the document and setting folder there would be a folder for the new user and folders for the old user name. This time I just happened to use the same user name as the previous install and it replaced all the old "document and user setting" folders with new empty folders of the new name.

I think I need a program that can recover deleted files from the HD. These files were deleted during windows install. Any idea which software is the best at doing this?

My HD storage space went from 15gb used to like 6gb used..after the install...I did not reformat the HD, and it is evident by all other folders "program files" with files from all previous programs are still on the computer.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by rimmi2002 on 01-11-2008 at 07:10:33 PM
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rexter   01-12-2008 at 08:29:52 PM
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rimmi2002 wrote :

Ther is no old folders in document and settings...during the install I installed over the old windows folder. The problem is my whole document and setting folder was deleted also.

I have reinstalled windows like this several times before.....

My HD storage space went from 15gb used to like 6gb used..after the install...I did not reformat the HD, and it is evident by all other folders "program files" with files from all previous programs are still on the computer.




Your files are still there but it's been replace with a different filename like "My Documents000" so you need to go to folder option and check show hidden files and folders. If some files needed from a protected operating system files, uncheck hide protected files as well. then go to documents and settings folder and look for a folder with with the same filename plus some numbers added to it.

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