Hi I am new to this site, I have a HP Pavilion 061 and a couple of months ago I could not get the computer to startup. On the blank screen I was given 3 option, I forget the 2 I didn't choose I chose to Recover. Bad choice I guess because I lost ALL My files( I think they are lost because I can't find them). Well that is why I am here. looking at the size of the hard drive and what I have presently on it and what I have left there is a lot of gigs unaccounted for. I was told to talk to you guys and gals. Any help would be really appreciated! PS my kids files where left but not mine.
Mark

Hi-- welcome to PCHF


Many "off-the-shelf" PC's have an auto-recovery partition built in-- this is hidden at the factory (so you don't erase it by accident) It is there so "support techs" can easily recover your damaged installation over the phone-- it basically is a backup of what was on your PC when it was brand-new.This would explain why your harddrive seems much smaller than it should be. You must have had a system-crash-- and accidentally activated the auto-recovery process...unfortunately these processes often destroy user-stored files.

The Files you "lost" may still be there-- but hidden from this current installation.
You may be able to have them professionally recovered (expensive)
or try to do it yourself (free, but maybe tricky).

Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File Recovery - Home is a free program to help recover "lost" files... however --nothing is as simple as it seems.
This link will take you to the "beginner's guide" in the Recuva forums- so you can get an idea of how it works before attempting recovery.
Beginner's Guide - Piriform Forums Please be sure to read them before attemting any recovery prcoesses.

The call is yours --depends on how valuable those lost files are...