Recovery on windows XP

[juxie]

Hi,

 

I just happened to help my mate recover his Windows XP.

It wasn't loading Windows at all.

Unfortunately, he saved his stuff in desktop folder and I have mistakenly assumed that should be safe to recover without re-formatting and those data will still be there.

But then they are not on the desktop anymore!

He has sent his notebook to repair hoping that those technicians are able to recover the data.

I was considering of using Recuva hoping to get his files back.

Is it possible? Just in case nothing comes out from the repair, hoping to get his files back to normal.

 

Please advise.

 

Thank you

[davey]

Hi,

 

I just happened to help my mate recover his Windows XP.

It wasn't loading Windows at all.

Unfortunately, he saved his stuff in desktop folder and I have mistakenly assumed that should be safe to recover without re-formatting and those data will still be there.

But then they are not on the desktop anymore!

He has sent his notebook to repair hoping that those technicians are able to recover the data.

I was considering of using Recuva hoping to get his files back.

Is it possible? Just in case nothing comes out from the repair, hoping to get his files back to normal.

 

Please advise.

 

Thank you

Hello juxie,

Welcome to the forum!!!

You never know until you try.Then sometimes doing it can prove to you that your assumption that the folder was deleted is untrue.This happened to me in the last week or so.

By using Recuva I realized that the folder was not deleted.

I then did a Windows Search based on some words of text that I new were in that folder.

Voila !!! I found the folder and recovered all my data.

davey

[juxie]

Hello juxie,

Welcome to the forum!!!

You never know until you try.Then sometimes doing it can prove to you that your assumption that the folder was deleted is untrue.This happened to me in the last week or so.

By using Recuva I realized that the folder was not deleted.

I then did a Windows Search based on some words of text that I new were in that folder.

Voila !!! I found the folder and recovered all my data.

davey

 

Did a search. Apparently, they are not there.

So I suspect they have been deleted.

But then again, his harddisk space is still the same as before we run the recovery disk.

Will try out today.

[davey]

Did a search. Apparently, they are not there.

So I suspect they have been deleted.

But then again, his harddisk space is still the same as before we run the recovery disk.

Will try out today.

Use Recuva to try to find it. Look for file name or folder name.

Maybe renamed if deleted from Recycle Bin,

See these links.

First link will show how names are changed for Recycle Bin.Second is the Guide.

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=14299 Recuva tips

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=8563 Recuva guide

Don't give up.You will find it.

Good Luck,

davey

[juxie]

Use Recuva to try to find it. Look for file name or folder name.

Maybe renamed if deleted from Recycle Bin,

See these links.

First link will show how names are changed for Recycle Bin.Second is the Guide.

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=14299 Recuva tips

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=8563 Recuva guide

Don't give up.You will find it.

Good Luck,

davey

 

Apparently his files are not deleted.

He saved his stuff on desktop.

There is a folder under "documents and settings" that access is denied.

We suspect all the files are inside that folder.

Did a check for space on C drive and compare with the current total (by selecting all folders -> right-click -> properties).

It shows differences. Usage on C drive is 75 Gb, selecting whole foldrs ->right-click-> properties returns 19 Gb.

So definitely the files are not deleted.

We need to access that folder in "documents and settings" I guess.

He is using windows XP home.

Went into safe mode but his computer crashes.

[davey]

Apparently his files are not deleted.

He saved his stuff on desktop.

There is a folder under "documents and settings" that access is denied.

We suspect all the files are inside that folder.

Did a check for space on C drive and compare with the current total (by selecting all folders -> right-click -> properties).

It shows differences. Usage on C drive is 75 Gb, selecting whole foldrs ->right-click-> properties returns 19 Gb.

So definitely the files are not deleted.

We need to access that folder in "documents and settings" I guess.

He is using windows XP home.

Went into safe mode but his computer crashes.

OK.

Exact message is needed regarding access denied.

What was he running the day when his system crashed or prior to turning turning his system off?

Don't tell me CCleaner because that is the last thing a lot of people run before turning off their system.

Contrary to popular misconception it is usually not the last thing they ran but the last program that fouled things up.That could have occurred any time since last start-up.

I mean what did he do and then what happened?For example did he delete stuff,uninstall or install stuff?

How many Gigs on his C drive? 75?

davey

 

P.S. I forgot to tell you that you were not mistaken at all about not doing a reformat.

That is the absolutely last thing that you want to do.You are correct and on the right path.

Try to restart in safe mode again and select last known good settings.Also make sure that notebook has a good charge before doing anything else.

You are a good friend indeed!!!

Edited May 8, 2008 by davey

[juxie]

OK.

Exact message is needed regarding access denied.

What was he running the day when his system crashed or prior to turning turning his system off?

Don't tell me CCleaner because that is the last thing a lot of people run before turning off their system.

Contrary to popular misconception it is usually not the last thing they ran but the last program that fouled things up.That could have occurred any time since last start-up.

I mean what did he do and then what happened?For example did he delete stuff,uninstall or install stuff?

How many Gigs on his C drive? 75?

davey

 

P.S. I forgot to tell you that you were not mistaken at all about not doing a reformat.

That is the absolutely last thing that you want to do.You are correct and on the right path.

Try to restart in safe mode again and select last known good settings.Also make sure that notebook has a good charge before doing anything else.

You are a good friend indeed!!!

 

The error message is a popup window that says "Access is denied".

He didn't install anything at all.

We are not using CCleaner. Basically just put in the recovery disk provided by the laptop manufacturer.

The message before we load back using recovery disk was about system32 being corrupted and to fix, insert the recovery disk.

We chose to repair the windows rather than reformat.

Now the problem is his windows can't load safe mode by pressing F8.

So what happened was I tried to crash his computer in to get into safe mode.

We got in but after a while, it shuts down and restarts itself a few time before going back to normal.

I suspected it was due to heat on his laptop (because it was quite hot) but apparently he chose not to believe because he has not encountered before.

So I didn't want to try crashing and loading to safe mode again just in case he blames me for crashing his machine.

His drive have got 75 Gb out of 86Gb and according to him it seems that was the space he had before the laptop crashed.

 

Is there a way not to go into safe mode but able to get the security tab to change the permission to that restricted folder?

taking out the harddisk, connect to other computer and change security permission using other computer, possible?

[hazelnut]

You really seem to have a hard task ahead of you as you really need to boot into safe mode to access the security tab to take ownership of the file.

 

Not sure whether this is worth a try

 

http://blog.didierstevens.com/2007/02/19/r...ith-a-reg-file/

 

Have you tried this?

 

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html