Windows.old user files disappeared on me, can I get them back?

[superwk4]

Help guys. Awhile back I had to reinstall windows after it had crashed on me, and so it created a windows.old file that had all my old files on it. I would go C drive, windows.old, users, user, then i could find all my stuff there. It was there for a few months too.

But today I needed to get something from there, and saw that the "user" folder is missing, I have other folders in there like Public, Default, defaultuser0, and hanna (my name) but none of those has my old stuff in it.

I think the reason it just happened was because of a windows update. I need to say, I've had windows 10 since 2015, I didn't just install it. I had to reinstall it months ago, and all my files were safely in windows.old folder, but the other day windows 10, im assuming had a huge update, because it actually asked me what time should i update. I didn't think it was going to get rid of my old files, but that's the only thing i can think of. No opererating system upgrade, always had windows 10, just recently there was an update OF windows 10 that I think may be the issue, and if that is the issue, is there a way to roll back a verision of windows 10, so i can get my old files back? Thanks so much.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

The first question that comes to my mind is why didn't you move the files from your windolws.old file when you had the chance? The chances are very slim that you can ever recover them. You can try recuva, but you will need to have access to a second hard drive.

https://www.piriform.com/recuva/download

Of course this whole episode is just a lesson in how important it is to have back ups of all of your data.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, Windows.old goes away all by itself. Generally, 30 days.
It was not meant for permanent continuing access.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, your precious stuff may be in a windows.old.old.

The current windows.old was created during the last major update. And possibly, by some small chance, it also made a windows.old.old (or something similar). Which was the original windows.old....


But, your stuff is probably gone.