enigma 521 Posted January 22, 2010 Yesterday I got a replacement motherboard for my computer and set it up. I got it running but my joy was short lived. Somehow during the installation of XP it decided to install the OS into a hard drive other than the one I specified. It installed the OS into my backup hard drive that USED to contain about 180GB of files and programs that I had collected throughout a good part if not over a decade. All of it.....gone. Some of the oldest files I have backed up onto CDs that I've done somewhere back in '02 are still around so that is good but the more recent and more important stuff is all gone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyralak 12,068 Posted January 22, 2010 Oh, crap man. That's awful. Really awful. What kind of files? Just downloaded programs or irreplaceable stuff? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
enigma 521 Posted January 22, 2010 Oh, crap man. That's awful. Really awful. What kind of files? Just downloaded programs or irreplaceable stuff? Resumes, old pics, scanned pictures of myself as a kid (my parents brought over the album and I scanned the pictures before they went back to Canada). Old games, music, videos and so forth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyralak 12,068 Posted January 22, 2010 Oh damn. How much of it can you get back? I'm sure you can scan the pics back again at least. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Questor 501 Posted January 22, 2010 Oh damn. How much of it can you get back? I'm sure you can scan the pics back again at least. How much data have you written to the drive? If you have another drive to boot off of, you may be able to use file recovery tools to pull a lot of it off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
enigma 521 Posted January 22, 2010 How much data have you written to the drive? If you have another drive to boot off of, you may be able to use file recovery tools to pull a lot of it off. I've got XP installed and a few other programs. If I were to retrieve the files I might risk messing with XP. Would the file recovery tools disrupt XP if it is installed on the same drive as the deleted files? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Questor 501 Posted January 23, 2010 I've got XP installed and a few other programs. If I were to retrieve the files I might risk messing with XP. Would the file recovery tools disrupt XP if it is installed on the same drive as the deleted files? No, but ideally you would run the recovery tools from a different install (on a different drive). Writing temp files and such would overwrite some of the data on the drive, reducing the amount of recoverable data. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
enigma 521 Posted January 24, 2010 I managed to recover some files but unfortunately my ST\Bolo fanfic wasn't one of them. Fortunately I have it written down but it isn't the same. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
