Restored & Lost Files-XP Lied

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stan Campbell
  • Start date Start date
S

Stan Campbell

So...WINDOWS XP says you will not lost files or e-mail etc. I'm not a
believer after a RESTORE. Whole Folders were missing especially all my Corel
and Adobe folders and their files. Welll..they were obviously somewhere but
I could not find them with a search...so I reversed the Restore and they
they were back again.

It appears that NOBODY knows what happened to them or where they went
including Microsoft.

Please don't suggest I burn the files to a CD. I want to know why they say
it retains files when it clearly did not retain all my files...and where do
they go?

Alex Ander
 
I read somewhere that if you delete a "system" file the
next time you boot the "system" file returns. Corel and
Adobe files are not "system" files. You were lucky to
get them back with Restore. E-mail is really not a
system file either.
 
I would guess it may depend upon where YOU chose to store those files. If
you put them in your "My Documents" folder, they would have been there!
 
As "Crusty," in this thread mentions, if you place such files within the My
Documents folder, it will protect them during a System Restore.

Since System Restore has an undo function, you may be able to retrieve the
files. Return to System Restore, you should see an option to "Undo last
restore." Using that option should return the system to its former state,
returning your files to you.

If you then wish to repeat the System Restore to resolve some issue, first
move the files you previously lost to the My Documents folder. It also
would be advisable to back up those files and any others you consider
valuable, not just because of System Restore but because systems do crash
with potential of file loss or damage, hard drives fail (I lost 3 in one
year) and all manner of other issues can cost a user their files. Best
advice, make sure you are backed up off the hard drive, it's the best
defense against losing files that may represent years of your life and work.
 
Hi Michael

%systemroot%\system32\restore\filelist.xml would suggest otherwise. No CSS, so it is 'raw'.
 
Greetings --

Are you talking about using WinXP's System Restore feature, which
does not affect data files, or did you use your PC manufacturer's
Restore CD, which is expressly designed to wipe everything off your
hard drive to give you a fresh start?

Bruce Chambers

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having both at once. -- RAH
 
Will, I'm not sure I understand what this means.


--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Hi Michael

%systemroot%\system32\restore\filelist.xml would suggest otherwise. No CSS,
so it is 'raw'.
 
Bruce, System Restore "Shouldn't" take out data files but it can and
sometimes does. One safeguard, in addition to a backup off of the hard
drive is to move all data files to My Documents which is usually untouched
by System Restore.

This is not to say the OP didn't use a Restore CD as you suggest. If that
was the case, those files would be gone.
 
That's not a bad idea, I do that as well but it's mostly for convenience.
If you are running System Restore on all drives, this won't protect them
from the possibility of this happening. This is also no protection against
file loss due to some catastrophe such as hard drive failure, viruses or
accidental deletion.
 
Hi Michael

I'm not sure which you don't understand.

My Documents is 'Excluded' in filelist.xml. Therefore that folder is not included when SR creates a Point.

CSS = Cascading Style Sheet. Without that an XML file can't be displayed - as an 'understandable' page - in a web browser.
 
When you posted, you said the file would suggest otherwise and that implied
to me that placing files in My Documents won't protect against an SR that
would delete files. In this post you state that the folder is not included
when SR creates a point, that would seem to indicate to me that is part of
the reason why System Restore ignores the My Documents folder and it's been
my experience that SR does indeed ignore My Documents. I've had SR remove
files that I recently downloaded even when moved to a different partition.
However, if I move them to a sub-folder of My Documents, that doesn't
happen.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Hi Michael

I'm not sure which you don't understand.

My Documents is 'Excluded' in filelist.xml. Therefore that folder is not
included when SR creates a Point.

CSS = Cascading Style Sheet. Without that an XML file can't be displayed -
as an 'understandable' page - in a web browser.
 
Hi Michael

SR will only monitor the files that are explicitly listed in:

<FILES>
<Include>
****************
</Include>

Folders:

<DIRECTORIES>
<Include>
****************
</Include>

Without a CSS, the XML file can be manually altered to include/exclude any folders/files.
 
Yes and as far as I can see that is in no way contrary to my original post.
I stated, if they place the files in My Documents, they will usually be
protected from being deleted in a System Restore. If you are stating
otherwise, while your facts are correct, your conclusion would seem to be in
error.

While I've certainly seen incidents of file loss after a System Restore,
both personally and from other users on this board, I can't recall ever
seeing files saved in My Documents or any sub-folder thereof being removed
as a result of this operation.

I don't dispute your last sentence though I've never tried it and not sure I
would leave it to the inexperienced. I also don't see that it in any way
contradicts my original advice.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Hi Michael

SR will only monitor the files that are explicitly listed in:

<FILES>
<Include>
****************
</Include>

Folders:

<DIRECTORIES>
<Include>
****************
</Include>

Without a CSS, the XML file can be manually altered to include/exclude any
folders/files.
 
Will, upon reviewing my original post I note I also suggested the user try
using the Undo feature to restore files apparently lost during SR. Was it
that to which you were referring? Since you weren't specific in your
response (Recall, I did say I didn't understand), I had no idea to what it
was you were referring. If it was to that point, I wish you had been more
clarified and pointed to the specific part of my post with which you were
taking issue.

While it is true, if it's not protected, it shouldn't be restored in an undo
of SR, if SR "taketh away" SR will often restore in an undo. I've had that
experience and I've offered it to others who have run into an issue of lost
files when doing a System Restore and so have others and in most cases the
files were restored when selecting Undo.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Hi Michael

SR will only monitor the files that are explicitly listed in:

<FILES>
<Include>
****************
</Include>

Folders:

<DIRECTORIES>
<Include>
****************
</Include>

Without a CSS, the XML file can be manually altered to include/exclude any
folders/files.
 
I agree with you. So long as System Restore interprets
%personaldocuments% to mean each account's My Documents shell folder,
your statement holds. My Documents will be excluded from the list of
folders that System Restore monitors and if the user created a folder
almost anywhere else, it will be monitored by System Restore and user
files will be deleted.

He could put documents in All Users\Documents and they should be safe.
Or he could add a path to that .xml file that Will referenced to exclude
his data folder.

Note that the personal documents shell folder is not necessarily
%userprofile%\My Documents, but the folder that is referenced in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders in the Personal key.
 
Thanks, Kent for the response and the additional information.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
 
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