[atomicflatulence]

I recently lost a hard drive and all the data on it. Didn't back-up anything. I'm an idiot.

Problem is...I had a picture that I took as my background. It still appears as Windows opens and closes. It does not appear as my background though, and I can't seem to find it. I'd really like to at least save this pic of a waterfall that I took on a hike a few years back.

Is it stored on the motherboard itself? Is that why I can't find it? I tried searching the computer, and through some reading here, realized I should let it search hidden files too. No luck so far. Where could it be? Its still somewhere, cause I see it evertime I start up.

[Noyb]

Welcome to the TSG forum ... Even idiots allowed here

What did you do with the old HD ???
Did it Crash .. Or just get confused ??

[atomicflatulence]

It was my second drive, and I stored data on it. I thought it was safer to keep all my data on a second drive, and not the primary one. Computer started to crawl, and I could access drive anymore. It kept saying that it needed to be formatted.

[Noyb]

You may still be able to read the old drive.
I've used .. http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm ... to read a drive that was formatted.

Maybe someone knows of some freeware you can try.
Does this try to appear as a screen saver or background ??

[Noyb]

There’s a trick I’ve read about here at TSG, that may work in your situation.
Remove the drive .. put it in a freezer bag .. and in your freezer for several hours.
Install it quicky .. you might be able to read it.

Have you tried to Show hidden and system files .. then browsed your C: Documents and Settings folder ??