DennisD

Obviously not intentional, but links removed for the reason stated. Were you just deleting one or two images, or an awful lot of them?

Hi ronfoster, and welcome to Piriform. When the cards have been plugged into the computer, are they being given a drive letter? If not, Recuva, and all other recovery programs I know, will not be able to see them. It isn't a Recuva failing, it's the way Windows works. Formatting the cards, as I've just explained in another topic, is a viable option as long as you just do a "Quick Format" and not a full one. A quick format will initialize the file system without overwriting any files. This would enable Recuva to see the cards and scan them. Of course if you use the card at all before scanning, you will overwrite files. You would have to scan for "Non Deleted" files. Set this up in "Options\Actions". But before you do this, I would suggest making a back up of the card with USB Image Tool. USB Image Tool: (Free, standalone program in a less than 1MB folder) The back up "Image" created could be restored to the card if the quick format didn't yield results and a repair of the card could be tried. For what it's worth, years ago I changed the "policies" settings of all my removable drives and camera cards to "Optimize for quick removal" as opposed to "Optimize for performance" (in other words disabling "write caching"), which makes it possible for them to removed safely without using the "Safely Remove" routine. I've never had a corrupt external drive, flash drive or camera card and I hot pull them all the time. IMHO "Optimize for performance" (write caching), is an accident waiting to happen. Hope that helps.

Hi James, and welcome to Piriform. Firstly, are the files unwittingly being recovered to a similarly named folder on a different drive? Accidentally switched the target location. It's easy to do and of course each time you "save" you'll get the warning that the files are already there. Have you tried doing a search for the CAD files on the drive you're recovering to? Although they probably shouldn't be, have the CAD files possibly become "hidden" for whatever reason? Have you tried closing the folder you're recovering to and opening it again? Others may have a better answer James, but that's all I've got for now.

Hi Bo, and welcome to Piriform. I've screwed up my system drive a few times in similar ways. One of them was installing a Linux Distro to a properly created partition on an already partitioned drive. I ended up losing my system drive and a data partition containing all my music and photographs. All backed up, but that's not the point here. I've also logged on to my computer to find a black screen and a flashing cursor. No operating system. Each time I've rescued the situation with the free home version of "MiniTools Partition Wizard" installed onto a CD. I booted my computer with the CD and MiniTools opened up with a display of the drive. I searched for the lost partitions, found them and restored them. On the last ocassion the computer still wouldn't boot, but my friend Alan (above) advised me that I needed to use Minitools "Rebuild MBR" to fix that. And it did. The first time I recovered partitions with MiniTools I didn't need to do that, but this time I did. Follow the advice above from Alan to provide a screenshot of Disk management if you can, and his next suggestions, as we always try not to step on each others toes with advice, but it wouldn't hurt to download and install MiniTools to a CD as well. Be prepared. MiniTools Bootable CD: There's also a flash drive version ... Minitools Bootable Flash Drive:

Hi Timesink, and welcome to Piriform. These are caused by lingering folders and/or registry entries. If you go to "Start\Run" and enter "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" /export, (or substitute the location of CCleaner if it isn't in this identical location which is my XP) and hit OK. Then go the CCleaner folder at that location and you will find a "winapp.ini" file containing the location of the entries displayed in CCleaner. A double click usually opens it in Notepad. Do a search for the offending programs and then check the locations displayed. These need to be deleted, but please take note ... if you're not sure about deleting something, then post back and ask. If you don't know how to search the registry locations, again post back and let us know.

Hi Frank, and welcome to the forum. Firstly. It would be well worth having a look at the old drive with Recuva, and the other reputable programs you mention. Being an old drive, a scan will no doubt pick up a lot of stuff, so I would suggest setting the Recuva "View" options in "Options\General\View mode" to "Tree View", which will enable you to zone in on the original location of your files without having to trawl through a long list of everything picked up by the scan. They may have been overwritten of course if the drive was used for a time after you deleted the files, but still worth a try. Secondly, the option to format the Seagate drive is a viable one as long as you carry out a "Quick Format" and not the "Full" variety. A quick format will simply initialize the file system again and make the drive space available to be overwritten, but without deleting any files. As long as you don't use the disk between the quick format and scanning it, then there won't be any overwriting of files at all. However, I would use that as a final option. The first thing I would do is attempt to find and restore the partition (or partitions) on that drive. It sounds like the MBR (Master Boot Record) and all the important partition and file information it contains has been damaged and it is possible to find and restore a partition and to give it a new MBR. Recovering files and partitions isn't an exact science, and there's no guarantee that it will work, but I've personally saved external (and system) drives on a number of occasions in this way. In your failures with the software you mention, did the drive have a drive letter when connected to your computer? And while you were using Lazesoft, did you just try the data recovery option? OK. Download and install "MiniTools Partition Recovery" program (Freeware) from here ... Partition Wizard Home Edition 8.1.1: How to recovery a partition: After installing, connect your drive and run the "Partition Recovery" module. Once loaded, if it picks up your drive, can you post a screenshot of it in your reply, like this ... I would like to see how your drive is displayed. However, if you feel confident enough by all means follow the guide, but hang back if you aren't sure of proceeding. I'll help if I can. You'll notice that Minitools also has a "Data Recovery" module which you can by all means try, but be aware that this free version is limited to 1GB of recovered data.

I thought that was odd Derek, one of the reasons why I made my post more "tongue in cheek" than a serious warning. Plus I gave up on IE years ago.

Some interesting observations here Derek which make sense of your inability to get info on this ... http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1010094/pg1 Can this be true? And who would do such a thing? And finally (taken from the article) ...

I dunno how I'm gonna sleep tonight ... http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1010094/pg1 I'll probably disable "Automatic Updates". That should do it.

I can only speak for XP, but if you are, as mta suggests, talking about "thumbs.db", they are recreated unless you have this box checked ... "Tools\Folder Options\View" from any (windows) explorer window menu. Isn't "thumbcache.db" a Vista thing for "thumb.db"?

Hi usillyrabbitu, and welcome to the forum. To save my fingers, the suggestions in this post also apply to your situation ... http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=40566&do=findComment&comment=246682 Either try the alternative (free) software in the links which will scan a raw drive or card, or do a "quick format" to initialize the file system and enable Recuva to scan the card. I stress "QUICK Format", not the "Full" variety which would wipe the card of files. Also take note of the option to first back up your card with "USB Image Tool" before formatting. Which option to take is entirely your choice, but please ask if you need further guidance on any of them.

Sorry to hear of your slip up. Not really much you can do but maybe scan again and hope some of your files weren't overwritten. Hope you get something out of it.

You could have activated the option to "Restore Folder Structure" in "Options\Actions\Recovering". This should restore all files into a copy of their original folder structure albeit on another drive or partition. If you've already recovered and haven't used the drive you're recovering from, then maybe try scanning again with the above option set and recover to a different location. I wouldn't chance writing over successfully recovered files before a second attempt is confirmed just as successful as the first. It may also help to select "Tree View" in "Options\General\View mode", which would display the scan results in their original file and folder structure. Useful for targeting particular files and locations. I don't know how you would organise the already recovered files, although others on here may. Hope that helps. EDIT: Welcome to the forum by the way stuj

No worries, and the devs are now aware of this issue. In fact there does appear to have been some change in the most recent version ... Taken from the changelog ... http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=40866&do=findComment&comment=248453

See the latest version, v4.13.4693 (24 Apr 2014) ... Version History: Download:

Pleased you got your stuff back Alan. Welcome to the forum.

You're welcome theredi, but that thrill of potential danger would soon turn to one of abject misery if you screwed up your registry. Most operating system crashes or refusals to boot come from some issue in the registry as opposed to screwing up on the file side of things. You could be left with no option but to reinstall Windows depending upon the seriousness of the screw-up. And it is so easy to make a daily backup of the entire registry which you would hope never to use, but is there as a comforting safety net. Most of the guys on here back up the registry in one way or another, and here are two examples of good free software to use ... ERUNTgui 1.5.0: Very easy to understand and use, and you set it up to make a back-up of the registry at first boot each day and to keep a set number of rolling back-ups. I've set mine to 3, but you can keep as many as you like. Set it and forget it. Registry Backup: (Tweaking.com) I've never actually used this as I've used ERUNT for years, but it's a well respected program and web site, and the developer himself frequents Piriforms hallowed halls on a regular basis. Your choice of course, but I would hate to see you fall foul of a registery foul-up. EDIT: Of course you may already make "Disk Image" back-ups of your Operating System, but if you don't ....

Hi dOneder, and welcome to the forum. Thanks for posting that. I'm sure someone will benefit from it.

You're welcome. Those guys do tend to spread themselves around.

I think those entries are connected with Skype. Do you have Skype or have you recently got rid of it? The reason I say that is this web page ... http://totalhash.com/analysis/e7fa542df37dba315b8978ba3d9d5f61a2f3fd91 I took a few of the text strings in your list of registry entries and simply did a search of that page with Firefox's "Find" feature. For example search for "ICredentialRequestedEventData" (no quotes) and it's in that long list. Every text string beginning with "I" which I copied and pasted into that web page was found. Here's an example to illustrate what I mean ... I think every reg entry in your list is the same "I" something or other, and I think the only thing you could break is whatever they came from which does appear to be Skype ... Taken from the same page. You say you've "cleaned up" apart from one entry. Do you mean you've deleted all of them? If that's so and one entry keeps coming back, just "Exclude" it ... http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/excluding-files,-folders,-and-registry-entries @Nergal: I was bored. EDIT: Welcome to the forum by the way theredi.

Hazel, I would rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick. I found stuff from Real Player in places all over my computer. I even found shortcuts in "system32" and other unusual places, and at this point in time I can confidently say that there isn't anything, anywhere on my computer carrying the name "Real Player". I've even searched in every media type program's folders and reg entries for anything relating to "Real" and there's nothing. I'm pretty sure that the name sticking in CCleaner is a bug. There's nowhere it can be picking it up from. Same with "Google Toolbar". There isn't a Google folder to be found anywhere on my hard drive (I've zapped every one I've found) and I've painstakingly checked every "Google" reference in the registry and there isn't a toolbar reference anywhere. I've searched for (and in) the folders of every browser I've ever had installed, and searched their registry locations and again, nothing. The only things left carrying the name google are things like .png and .idx files in Opera's local app data folders, and cookie stuff for site registrations. At the end of the day, CCleaner shouldn't realistically be looking anywhere other than what's written into it's winapp.ini file. And I don't have any google locations in my small winapp2.ini file. This is a bug is my opinion and I can live with it. The only thing which would now convince me otherwise is a CCleaner routine from the devs to open the "Containing Folder" or "Reg Entry" for the "Real Player" and Google Toolbar" entries in my CCleaner listing.

Been there, done that Nergal, and there aren't any traces of Real Player in any of the 4 separate locations listed in CCleaners winapp.ini file. Yet there it sits in CCleaner. This isn't a rebuke or negative comment against your method by the way. I learned that one from you. It's just to show that it isn't always as simple as that. I've even racked my brains as to the possibility of a version of the player sitting in some other programs folders or reg listing but a general search for "Real" anything would find something you would think. It's a puzzler.

Hi schajee, and welcome to the forum. I can't duplicate that result on my XP machine. Whichever combination of multi-select I use (disabled and/or enabled items), the "Disable" or "Delete" button/s remain active. We need someone here with your OS to give it a try so we can narrow down the cause, although be assured the devs will be looking at this either way.

Hi MrSinatra, and welcome to the forum. I don't use Winamp, but these are the locations hot wired into CCleaner ... A little research tells me that the playlist files carry either the m3u or m3u8 file extension? And the above cleaning routines will be cleaning recent (%appdata%) and older (%ProgramFiles%) versions of Winamp of their playlists? I'll point this out to the devs, and being essential files for the running of Winamp, I would think they would rectify this. EDIT: Please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this.

Hi qsdewa. I don't have those locations on my XP system so can't check myself, and I can't see them in CCleaners winapp.ini file, which are the locations hot wired into CCleaner. They may be in the user generated "winapp2.ini" file, but I don't use it and it isn't an official Piriform supported item but one of the guys who does use it may contribute. You could always make sure those locations are cleaned by adding a manual "Include" for them ... http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/including-files-and-folders-for-cleaning Hope that helps. EDIT: I've just noticed your post in the "winapp2.ini" topic so you are versed with it. Maybe post the question.