Lost Everything :( Please Help

Tried booting up the computer the other day and for some reason it wouldn't boot up. The options I got were: Safe Mode, Safe Mode With Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Last Good Configuration. None of them worked. Then it had an option where i hit F10 and it would do a System Restore or something like that. We did that and now don't have anything left on the computer, no pictures, no documents, no music etc. Is there ANY way to get the information back at all? Would do anything to get my pictures back....please help...thanks

 

What OS is this? If you did a Microsoft system restore, you might be able to revert back to your old settings. Normally this would not delete data tho, so are you sure it is not there? Are you logged in as the same user?

 

it sounds like you may have lost your h/d? if you have access to a windows xp computer you can make a ms dos startup disk on a floppy. at least you might be able to tell if your h/d is working before you yank it.

my computer --> right click on a drive --> format --> select box, make disk take out and put in your computer, boot it up and see what happens. see if you can change the a:\ to c:\, and type dir.

regardless, you might want to yank it and stick it in an xp computer as a slave and see if you can access it. i've lost 2 h/d's this week alone!! my home computer on sat. and my laptop yesterday morning! anyway, i've lost more on my laptop, so i feel you pain. - sosaman

find my thread on this board (it's probably on 2-3 page), it might have a few more details?

 

It's Microsoft XP...how can i revert back to my old settings...when i log into my computer everything is sort of like if it were a new computer...no documents...different wallpaper.....i never logged in as different users...so i'm guessing it should be the same user?

 

I have a feeling you didn't do a system restore from Windows, you did a system recovery probably from a built in recovery partition which may or may not have erased everything and set the computer back to when you first bought it.

To double check this, we can try the following....

Open up My Computer. Double click on your C:\ drive. Then choose 'Documents And Settings'. Please tell all of the folders listed inside 'Documents And Settings', this can give me a better indication of what happened, perhaps we can retrieve some data.

 

I have 2 folders...All Users, and Owner

All Users: Desktop, My Documents, Start Menu, Favorites, Shared Documents

Owner: Cookies, Favorites, Start menu, Desktop, My Documents, WINDOWS


i checked in both "My Documents" folders for the pictures i had, but to no avail...any ideas/help please?

 

Unfortunately. I think you did a destructive system recovery which means that your computer is set the way it was when you bought it from the store.
If any other sort of recover was done, there may have been another folder other than Owner or All Users that contained your data, but there is not.

Perhaps someone else here can help with attempting to retrieve this data. It may involve hooking this to another system as a slave, etc.

Good Luck.

 

oops,* opens mouth - inserts foot*
I guess I jumped the gun just a bit. What about trying your rescue disks that you create when you 1st get your computer? ( If you have one) I don't know if anybody else's will work?

 

I didn't make any rescue disks...the computer works fine...it's just all the pictures i had from my digital camera got erased...that's what i'm most concerned about...is there some place i can send this to that anyone knows about...i'm not concerned about the cost really...just really want to have those pictures back....any help..as always...is greatly appreciated

 

If that data was written over when you did the recovery, chances are low.

You may want to talk to a data recovery specialist like driversavers.com

 

ok, now i feel really stupid. when i originally posted i took it that it wouldn't boot up (i was somewhat in a hurry), even after the restore option. i had my spouse post my 2nd post (when i left to go back to work), because i thought it wouldn't boot up, and i had overlooked something. which i obviously overlooked everything!! for that i'm sorry to you and krazykrl!!

i know that the compaqs and hp's (don't know about others), partition the drives and have the restoration stuff there, instead of having actual disks. the last comp i worked on was an hp, and of course it asked me:

destructive - which erases every thing and restores it to brand new.

or nondesctructive - which saves your files and such, and restores/rewrites all that was corrupted/damaged, etc.

maybe you had no option?, and i'd have to agree with krazykrl..

*burys head in sand*