[duality88]

Hope this is the correct forum

Hi everyone,

Just finished formatting my laptop drive due to slowness possibly caused by spyware. Before doing said action I partitioned the main drive (C:) and created a 2nd backup drive (D:) using some tools in Windows 7's control panel.

Before formatting my drive I put all my important files (from the downloads folder, desktop, and the libraries) from there previous locations from C to new folders w/ the same name in D.

After re-formatting the drive and re-installation of Windows 7 all the files I had (important docs, pics, and mp3s/mp4s) in my library were gone. I've spent all day trying to retrieve the files ("free" software recovery programs, reading forums) however I can't seem to get them back.

Any suggestions, advices?

Thanks, Joseph
ps - sorry for the long post. had to detail my actions so it would be clear

Edited by duality88, 12 December 2012 - 11:05 PM.

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Welcome to Geeks to Go duality88! Sorry to hear about your possible loss of data, but likely not all is lost.

In the new installation do you still see a C: and D: drive? If so, are the sizes what you expect? I'm trying to understand if you deleted the partition, or formatted it.

[admin]

Welcome to Geeks to Go duality88! Sorry to hear about your possible loss of data, but likely not all is lost.

In the new installation do you still see a C: and D: drive? If so, are the sizes what you expect? I'm trying to understand if you deleted the partition, or formatted it.

[duality88]

Yes, they are still the same (the sizes). I also still see a C and D drive. I think it got erased when I partitioned C: because I just copied the "libraries" folder from C: to D: instead of copying files from the sub-folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, etc.). Trying some recovery apps but they are too complicated to use.

*Btw, to make things clear: I had 1 hard drive (C:) on my laptop. Most of my important files were located in the Libraries folder. However, due to a virus that I couldn't remove I decided to format my laptop's drive and reinstall windows. Before doing so I made a new partition (D:) w/c would be the destination of my files. After doing so I copied the Libraries folder as well as the contents of the downloads and desktop folder from C to D then double checked if they were copied. Then afterwards I formatted C. To my surprise the contents of the Libraries folder in D: were empty, the other 2 were fine.*

Edited by duality88, 13 December 2012 - 02:57 AM.

[admin]

Libraries are confusing. Unfortunately they don't contain actual files and folders, just links to them that are conveniently arranged. Linux offers something similar with a less ambiguous name, symbolic links, or symlinks. What this means is that when you copied your libraries you didn't copy the actual files and folders, but just links to the files and folders.

Can you still recover files? Odds are you'll be able to recover some, if not all. There are a bunch of free tools listed here, but the list is quite old and I don't know how many are still active. If it were me, I'd pay for a commercial recovery tool, or bring to a computer shop for assistance.

Really the best thing to do is turn the computer off, remove the drive, and use another computer to recovery the data. Avoid writing any data to the drive you're trying to recovery. When using the same system, even seemingly innocuous things like hibernate, and the Windows swap file can be very destructive and overwrite data. Since this is a notebook drive, you might want something like a 2.5" USB dock to connect it to a desktop system, or create a LiveCD.

[duality88]

Thanks for the reply. Already tried several "free" data recovery apps but they're really too limited and complicated to use (shows files that I don't need and it adds to the clutter since there are a hundred of files I need to recover). Will stop now since it could damage my HD. Don't want to pay for data recovery at least as of now.

Will look for other options as well as trying Live CD. Btw, w/ live cd shall I use the above mentioned tools (even the free limited ones)?

[admin]

The commercial tools I linked above (Easeus and Runtime) offer free trials so that you now how much data you'll be able to recover before buying. I wouldn't run any recovery tool unless it were on another system or a Live CD.

There is a geekier (and free) solution using a Linux Live CD: http://partedmagic.com/doku.php