[karkalec]

Hi There,

For the second time I have lost all saved files and settings on my computer. I should say first of all that I am a teacher using a district-owned computer, and although I can install and run programs, save things, etc. I am restricted from using things like System Restore.

This first happened in October. I was out of the country for two weeks and the computer was turned off and stowed in a closet in my house. When I got back and booted it up every trace of my existence (saved documents, bookmarks in web browser, etc.) had vanished.

Last week we had spring break and this morning when I booted it up again the same thing had happened. The only similarity I can see is not being used for a week or so, but other than that I'm at a total loss for why this is happening. Since the first catastrophe I'm backing everything I do up on a flash drive, but I would still like to figure out what's going wrong. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Justin

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Hi Justin -
If you have no access to system restore please try the following ideas.
http://www.geekstogo...ry-using-erunt/
Follow this link and next time you will be away for a week or so you can backup your system.
The program is Free and is called ERUNT. It is used when you want to save or backup your system.
Our experts use this when doing fix up work on infected computers, in case any files are lost you have a backup.
Your idea of a flash drive is the next best thing I can think of for now.

Someone may have a better idea , so keep watching this post ..

Thank You

[noknojon]

Hi Justin -
If you have no access to system restore please try the following ideas.
http://www.geekstogo...ry-using-erunt/
Follow this link and next time you will be away for a week or so you can backup your system.
The program is Free and is called ERUNT. It is used when you want to save or backup your system.
Our experts use this when doing fix up work on infected computers, in case any files are lost you have a backup.
Your idea of a flash drive is the next best thing I can think of for now.

Someone may have a better idea , so keep watching this post ..

Thank You

[rshaffer61]

Per the description of Erunt:

ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT) allows you to keep a complete backup of your registry and restore it when needed. The standard registry backup options that come with Windows back up most of the registry but not all of it. ERUNT however creates a complete backup set, including the Security hive and user related sections. ERUNT is easy to use and since it creates a full backup, there are no options or choices other than to select the location of the backup files. The backup set includes a small executable that will launch the registry restore if needed.

When the Windows registry gets corrupted, it can mess up your entire system. Emergency Recovery Utility NT--but you can call it ERUNT--lets you back up your registry. With ERUNT's restore folders, you can restore your NT-based system to its full glory. And if your PC's sorry state has reduced you to a mess, too, don't worry; ERUNT doesn't have any complicated settings. You can set ERUNT to automatically backup and restore the folders, too.

If you want to protect your OS and data you need to think about making a image of your system..
Acronis True Image has a free trial version and is only 50USD to purchase the full version.

[Macboatmaster]

I was out of the country for two weeks and the computer was turned off and stowed in a closet in my house. When I got back and booted it up every trace of my existence (saved documents, bookmarks in web browser, etc.) had vanished.

I tend to think that it depends on where the actual data you refer to is being stored.
If it is being stored on THAT computers hard drive there is no apparent explanation for ONLY your saved files being missing
If however the computer is part of a network and the data is stored NOT on that hard drive but on a server then there is the explanation
I suggest you speak to the administrator of the system.
Even the blocking of system restore would not of course explain how saved material appears to go missing.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 26 April 2011 - 07:17 AM.

[dsenette]

Macboatmaster is correct, you need to talk to the owners of the machine about this issue. depending on where you're saving things and how the computer is set up, this COULD be by design

[karkalec]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses! I have two possible logins. One is onto the network and the other is local, just on the computer. I always opt for the local login and was saving all of my stuff on the hard drive of the computer.

[happyrock]

do you know exactly what folder you were saving everything to...
can you select the boot order or access the bios...if so you can try puppy linux ..it runs in RAM and writes nothing to the hard drive
you could use it to search for your missing data