Lost Files After System Restore

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guy Kingston
  • Start date Start date
G

Guy Kingston

I have just discovered that the entire contents of the My Pictures
folder have disappeared (except for the 'sample files'!) after having
used System Restore. Is there any way I can recover these files?

Guy.
 
System Restore should not have affected the files in "My Pictures" because the files in the folder are not monitored. See "Monitored File Extensions http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/enus/sr/sr/about_system_restore.asp".

What were you trying to get rid of that you used SR? Did you do a search to see if they are somewhere else?

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| I have just discovered that the entire contents of the My Pictures
| folder have disappeared (except for the 'sample files'!) after having
| used System Restore. Is there any way I can recover these files?
|
| Guy.
 
What were you trying to get rid of that you used SR? Did you do a
search to see if they are somewhere else?
Click to expand...


I've recently had to reinstall Windows twice (long and boring story)
but in each case I used a brand new hard drive so no data at all has
been lost through this activity.

It takes me a day or two to re-install all my software and get the
system running again properly. Occasionally I mess up and it seems
easier to go back in time a few hours (or sometimes days) to an early
incarnation of the re-building process.

On this occasion I was having trouble with my network and had tinkered
with so many different settings the only way I could get it back to
the original was System Restore.

I have searched the hard drive, even used File Rescue Plus, but the
missing files aren't to be found. It's not just my photos that have
gone missing – each System Restore results in the loss of about one
third of my Downloads folder and the entire loss of the contents of
any folders whose names were changed since the restore point I revert
to.

Guy.
 
I feel for you.

Did you have backups of the files? Do you have a 2nd HDD that you could use as a slave? Move your "Documents" and "Download" folders to it. Install all applications to the system drive (C usually) then System Restore will only be dealing with that drive. When a RP is created the slave drive "System Volume Information" folder will not be written to since there will be no programs on the slave drive to restore.

BTW since you wrote that you had changed file names after a RP was created the restored file system has no way of knowing that you had done that. Did you read the article that I sent the link for?

I have my system set up that way and right now on C there are 18 RP using 1,147.8 MB and a tracking log of 0.0 MB, on D only 6 RP using 0.0 MB and 0.3 MB in the tracking log.

You might find that using imaging software is easier (most defiantly) than reinstalling. I use TrueImage from www.acronis.com, go there and read about it.

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
|
| I've recently had to reinstall Windows twice (long and boring story)
| but in each case I used a brand new hard drive so no data at all has
| been lost through this activity.
|
| It takes me a day or two to re-install all my software and get the
| system running again properly. Occasionally I mess up and it seems
| easier to go back in time a few hours (or sometimes days) to an early
| incarnation of the re-building process.
|
| On this occasion I was having trouble with my network and had tinkered
| with so many different settings the only way I could get it back to
| the original was System Restore.
|
| I have searched the hard drive, even used File Rescue Plus, but the
| missing files aren't to be found. It's not just my photos that have
| gone missing - each System Restore results in the loss of about one
| third of my Downloads folder and the entire loss of the contents of
| any folders whose names were changed since the restore point I revert
| to.
|
| Guy.
 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/enus/sr/sr/about_system_restore.asp just click on it. There are no spaces, (?url=/) there is a _ between the words "about_system_restore" Here are some more:

System Restore
1. System Restore overview http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/techart/Windowsxpsystemrestore.htm

2. Microsoft Windows XP System Restore http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/techart/Windowsxpsystemrestore.htm

3. Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore in Windows XP http://microsoft.com/technet/itcommunity/Newsgroups/FAQSRWXP.asp

4. Monitored File Extensions http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/enus/sr/sr/about_system_restore.asp

5. Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q309531


--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| I now have 4 HDDs!! Slightly older versions of the Documents and
| Downloads folders were stored there and I have been able to recover
| much (but not all) of what has gone missing. I have a lot of digital
| video stored on my system and backing this up is unfeasible so I
| perhaps tend not to back everything else up as much as I should.
|
| My error was to take Microsoft at their word when they said files
| won't be lost during System Restore - this is patently not true in
| every circumstance.
|
| I tried to read the link you suggested but it keeps coming up Page
| Cannot Be Found, even when I replace the spaces with _.
|
| I will look into the imaging software and I'd love to know how to
| create restore points on my other HDDs.
|
| Thanks for all your help.
|
| Guy.
 
Back
Top