Hi,

Sorry if this turns out to be a long post, i'll try and keep it factual and to the point.

Have had my PC about 18 months - came with XP pre-installed but with no CD's to reload files.

For months, PC played up when booting. It would 'apologize but windows didnt start up correctly' - and give me the choice of safe mode, carrying on as normal, or try last known good configuration.

I'd always go for last known good config, but it would reboot and go back to the same message again - EVENTUALLY it would reboot properly with a message saying something like 'Windows detected a missing or corrupt file - C/windows/ system config. Please insert windows CD and press R to start repair.

WELL - this weekend i managed to get hold of a Windows XP CD. I put it in the machine, and when prompted - i pressed R to start the repair.

Instead of 'repairing', its re-installed windows and i have lost everything on my hard drive - 8 years worth of family photos being the most crucial to me.

Even then, the PC STILL does the same thing as start up - so its not cured anything.

I downloaded a programme last night called 'recover my files' and it can salvage perhaps 20 or 30 photos for me out of a total of about 800, so i am gutted.

I didnt back up my photos regularly because my PC had a system restore facility, but this doesnt work -it'll only now restore itself to how it was AFTER it wiped the HD.

So, is there anything more i can do to get these files back?
And secondly, shall i deem my PC to be beyond repair and replace it incase i get stung like this again?

If anyone knows bow to help me get my photos back i'll make a huge donation to the site - i am desperate and my missus is distraught. Thanks

Hello Dame,

Recovering lost files once they have been overwritten is pretty much impossible. There are some companies that say they can do it, but most are just saying they can recover deleted data but not overwritten data. There are some places that can get data that has been overwritten only once.....but it is incredibly expensive.....into the thousands of dollars.

That program you used probably found the pictures that haven't been overwritten by new data. The program we use at my tech shop is called getdataback (ntfs version if you are using XP or Vista). It can be found here - Data Recovery Software - File System Utilities It retails for $79 dollars. But again, this will only recover deleted data that hasn't had new data copied over it.

At this point you shouldn't be using the computer at all if you are going to try to recover lost data. Every bit of new data you add on there....even temporary internet files....are going to be copying over your old deleted data.

If the pictures are worth a few hundred dollars to you, you can bring the hard drive to Best Buy for their data recovery service. They send it out to their service center to have it done, but I believe it costs 5 or 6 hundred dollars.

Hope that helps!

Wadd, Many thanks for your reply and information.

I've been in touch with a company here in England UK, who can try to help.

I have to take out my hard drive, send it to them, and they'll take it to bits and see what they can recover.

Once they've salvaged what they can, they call me to let me know what it is they have recovered. IF (and it sounds improbable), they get a good sized chunk of my photos back, i have to pay them £250 plus tax, which is about $600 - but if they can only recover a few pictures and the majority are lost forever, i just tell them to send me back my hard disk and it costs me nothing - except for what i've paid out in mailing expenses.

Sounds like i have nothing to lose really. I'll heed your advice about not using the PC and will report back, just to put closure on it and pass on my results, just in case someone else makes a mess of their PC like i did, which i hope they don't.

PS - for what its worth, i''m not sure i've overwritten much since i re-installed Windows - as all i have added to my PC is the virus/firewall security software. I have lost about 20 Gigs worth of information and programmes, so there must be massive amounts of my HD that haven't been overwritten. Fingers crossed.

Regards,
Dame

Wanted to add an update in case any other readers encounter the same problem.

I downloaded and ran a program called 'recover my files' - which cost $70 to obtain product key, it scanned HDD for about 6 hours and it recovered about 90% of my lost jpegs.

I'd recommend this tool to anyone.

Success !!

(now......on to my other problems.........)

Hello Dame so I can mark this thread resolved?

yeah sure JB - resolved and replaced with another