I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. Been under the weather. Finally got back to my PC today and ran the ParetoLogic program and it came up with 7,200+ items it "might" be able to restore. Most of them were unrecognizable to me. I was hoping to recognize some file names that I could pick out to restore, but no such luck.

I've attached some screen shots. Don't know where to go from here.

Sorry for delay.

Restore everything to a folder that doesn't overwrite anything you already have.
Thereafter pick and choose -

OK, it has taken me awhile, but I finally finished tonight. I am still unable to find the "Lists" folder or any of the files in that folder. One I am particularly lost without is called "MasterListofBooks". I also used ParetoLogic Data Recover Pro to try to find these files on the 4 flash drives that I have that have the backups on them. I did a search on the recovered files folder and the flash drives and found nothing to match my "Lists". I told myself that if I found nothing tonight, I would give up and stop looking. Then we could close this thread.

However, I would like to try one more thing. I understand that there are companies that can take these flash drives and try to recover data. Are they expensive? Do you know of a good one? My MasterListofBooks Excel spreadsheet represents years of collecting data on the books I have read and the ones I have donated (for tax purposes). The file is so large that I never printed it out. If I can't find anyother file, I need to find this one.

Thanks for your continued help.

Maureen

Maureen,

My prior company used OnTrack Data Services to recover a failed File Server. It wasn't cheap, but the value of the possible loss far exceeded the charges. They were able to provide a cost estimate as well as an expectation level of data recovery.

I'm not sure how expensive it is to recover files for a home user. It is certainly worth investigating.

I am sorry that it has come to this for you! You did everything typically recommended to safeguard your data.