[mike_holly_7]

hi, i did a system recovery to get rid of serious problems and my files and pictures are gone. i have done this before and it has always saved my stuff. is there anyway i can get this stuff back? please tell me yes, all my pics of my kids birthdays and christmas's were in there.

[Byteman]

Hi,

Please tell us the system make and model number....and, there are sometimes, not always though...two types of system Recovery, non-destructive where it saves your files and then the full recovery where all files etc would not be saved. I'm hoping this is just something minor and that you did not do the full type.

Have you opened Windows Explorer and looked for a folder under Documents and Settings with your old user account name?

[flavallee]

When you have something important(like family pictures of birthdays and Christmas) that you don't want to lose, you should burn them to CD-R's.

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I fear that you did a full recovery and reverted your computer back to its original factory specs and lost everything in the process. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

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[mike_holly_7]

HP Pavillion S732On Slimline PC Model nuber is S732ON17FP. I'm pretty sure it didn't delete everything because my administrator pic is the same as what is was before i restored it. It is a picture that was in my picture folder. I just can't figure out how to fix this problem, or even if it can be fixed.

[aka Brett]

look for a windowsold folder

[aka Brett]

if you remember the name of one of this pics do a search for it

[mike_holly_7]

i looked for the folders but couldn't find anything. is there anything else that i can do?

[Byteman]

Are you sure you have looked completely...?

Because XP will not always show you hidden files and folders by default, Go to Start > Search>Files and Folders>> and under "More advanced search options".
Make sure there is a check by "Search System Folders" and "Search hidden files and folders" and "Search system subfolders"

Next click on My Computer. Go to Tools > Folder Options. Click on the View tab and make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is checked. Also uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" and "Hide extensions for known file types" . Now click "Apply to all folders"
Click "Apply" then "OK"

Then try looking through the My Computer> Drive C: folder and , Documents and Settings folder for your own and any other user accounts with a name and go through the Docs and My Pictures folders there.



If you come to one and get an error message "Access denied" please post back, there is some help for that issue.

I'm pretty sure from what you posted in first post that you would know the difference between Windows' System Restore and doing a partial or full system Recovery....

Was System Restore involved in this problem?

That just goes back some amount of time, to a saved point before a major change or whenever you elected to create a Restore Point. This generally also saves your files do I don't think it applies to your problem, just curious.

Could your data files you are missing have been in another folder, that you are forgetting about and not hunting for?

Hoping that setting the Explorer view to show hidden files may turn up something.....

If you have concerns about File View, revert your settings back in Windows Explorer when you are done checking for your old files or folders

[Elvandil]

And open C:\ and look for any folders that might contain backups of your files. Try to open the folder if you find one. If there is one that looks like a backup folder that gives an error when you try to open it, that is probably the one.

[mike_holly_7]

user data folder says access denied, recovery bin folder in progress says system cannot open, any ideas?

[Joanyoung]

this will help with access denied

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

joan

[mike_holly_7]

i did all that and i cant find anything, like i said, when i did the recovery it said that it would not delete any data files that i have put into the computer or created. I am thinking they are here somewhere because like i said, my administrator pic is one that was in my picture folder. any other recommendations? I didnt do a system restore, it definitely was a recovery. Please help...

[Elvandil]

How much space is used on the drive? Have you unhidden hidden files and folders?

Try one of these to see whers an amount of space equal to your files may be used:

Disk Pie
TreeSize
Xinorbis
AssessTree
Directory Size Calculator

[DoubleHelix]

What operating system are you running? What is the full and exact path of the folder you're trying to open? Did you follow the advice and directions already presented?

[srhoades]

Post exactly what folders there are in the documents and settings folder. Most likely what happened is when you did the restore you used the same username. The old profile with all your docs will be username while your new profile will be username.computername

It's simply a matter of cutting and pasting the my docs, desktop, and favorites folder from one to the other.