Finding files that weren't backed up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kat331
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Kat331

Hi,

I'm pretty much computer illiterate...I think I accidentally did a clean
install when upgrading to Vista from XP. Is there a way to retrieve the
files that I didn't back up? I'm mainly concerned with the pictures.

Any suggestions would be great, even if it's a suggestion of where I can go
to have this done.

Thanks
 
Kat331 said:
Hi,

I'm pretty much computer illiterate...I think I accidentally did a clean
install when upgrading to Vista from XP. Is there a way to retrieve the
files that I didn't back up? I'm mainly concerned with the pictures.

Any suggestions would be great, even if it's a suggestion of where I can go
to have this done.

Thanks
Click to expand...


If you installed without formatting the drive, there is an old windows
folder left on the drive
and all your stuff is in there.
If you formatted the drive...then all your data are gone...
the only hope would be about $1000 worth of labwork and even then it's
doubtful
 
Kat331 said:
Hi,

I'm pretty much computer illiterate...I think I accidentally did a clean
install when upgrading to Vista from XP. Is there a way to retrieve the
files that I didn't back up? I'm mainly concerned with the pictures.
Click to expand...

If you actually performed a true "Clean install," which entails
formatting the hard drive, then no.

Any suggestions would be great, even if it's a suggestion of where I can go
to have this done.
Click to expand...

If you didn't perform a true "Clean Installation," then some of the
files may still be there, within the "Windows.old" folder, where the
Vista installation routine is souuposed to preserve the "unusable"
remnants of the earlier OS.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
I searched for a windows.old folder, and nothing is coming up. I'm taking it
that that's not a good sign, and that I must have formatted the hard drive.
Is this correct?
 
Depends what kind of format Vista performs... I doubt it erases the whole
system partition, though. Try some free undeleters (ex,
http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/) - google for more such
programs. You *might* get lucky and recover a few pics - pending how large
and fragmented your files were etc. Some comercial file recovery programs
have a demo version that you can try and see if files are recoverable -
you'll have to pay for the full working version of the program, though, if
you want to recover the files.
Michael
 
Double check your hard drive, the partition that Vista is installed on and
any other partition that had your old version of Windows on it. It will be
on the root of the partition. Unless you intentionally went into advanced
settings and formatted your drive you did not reformat
 
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