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Thread: System Restore went too far back...

  1. #1
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    System Restore went too far back...

    Windows XP Home SP2
    1700+ T-Bred B Version
    Epox 8RDA+
    2x 40GB Western Digital IDE Harddrives
    (Yeah, the build is older than dust, but it did everything I needed it to)

    Well, I was having issues with my computer not starting up properly (freezing at the Windows loading screen, freezing during use) and I thought it was my main hard drive (which was 7 years old) failing on me, so I let it check for errors and repair any issues it came across. Lo and behold, there were errors... and they were repaired. Unfortunately, I turned on my computer yet again only to find out that it refused to go beyond the Windows loading screen. It would get there and it would stay there. Loading it into safe mode would only get me to the black "Safe Mode" screen with mouse input, but that's as far as it went. My sister had told me that she turned it on one time and Windows said it was missing a file, but she's no computer genius, so I have no idea what that file was or could have been. I figured I had to repair the Windows installation, so I followed THESE DIRECTIONS. After copying the repair files over to my system folder and rebooting (Part 2, located on Page 3), my computer came back to life! Windows was working again!

    The next step required me to restore an old system restore point. I thought I was harmlessly copying the registry from the old system restore point, but I had forgotten that I disabled system restore because it took up too much space on my tiny hard drive. Now after rebooting, I am back to Day 1 of my build... absolutely nothing.

    Here's my question... how can I go about pulling the data off the main hard drive and copying it over to my secondary hard drive? I have years upon years of pictures, documents, and fond memories on my main hard drive that I was not able to back up and I would very much like to be able to retrieve them.

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Once you found errors, you should have gotten the data off the drive. As I have said many times, it's a waste of time to repair software if the hardware is bad. You could have slaved the drive on another system. Tech tools has links to thinks like UBCD4Win or bootable Linux discs.

    If you had system restore disabled, the latest version was the original. did you check the documents and settings folders?

    At this point, you can try using a data recovery tool like Recuva, but the XP setup may have overwritten your data. There are other data recovery tools on the Best of Data sticky.

  3. #3
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sir William
    I have years upon years of pictures, documents, and fond memories on my main hard drive that I was not able to back up and I would very much like to be able to retrieve them.
    Not able - or not willing?

    Why oh why do people only learn by experience? We preach and preach to the deaf. Now you know why we preach. I hope it sinks in.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  4. #4
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    You could try GetDataBack to see if it can recover the data. If it shows that it can, then you have to pay for the full version before it will allow you to save the data.

    http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member Ol'Tunzafun's Avatar
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    If you had access to your files before doing the system restore, you can always just "undo" the System Restore. In fact, if you made backups or renamed those files in the Recovery Console, you can undo that as well, but it might be easier to boot from a UBCD4Win disc at that point, where you could do a search for your files and copy them off.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BipolarBill
    Not able - or not willing?

    Why oh why do people only learn by experience? We preach and preach to the deaf. Now you know why we preach. I hope it sinks in.
    Not able. If you didn't take my quote completely out of context, you would have included the part where it said that I was able to back up all my music. Working full time several late nights a week (sometimes all week) eats up most of my social time and whatever time I do have to spare, I spend it with my girlfriend. Since my sister is the one using my computer most of the time, I really don't have a chance to back up anything since I'm either not home or too tired from work.

    I didn't come here for critizism, I came here for help. Why don't you go check the last time I logged in before I posted this thread? Probably at least 2 years, so whatever happened since then, I really wouldn't be aware of it. I may not have been an active member during that time, but I knew that if I needed serious help, Sysopt was the place to go.

    And I am quite familiar with your ways Bill. In fact, I am on my phone right now and my screen is only wide enough to fit the posts from other users, so I have to scroll to see who posted what. When I read your comment, believe me when I say the response in my mind was... well, not forum friendly. I scrolled back to see who posted it and realized it was you. My response then? "Oh wait nevermind, it's just Bill =D"

    I won't hold anything against you... but sometimes, you have to see things from the receiving end. I know you have preached on this forum for many years and it's one thing for it to fall on deaf ears, but it's another for it to try to reach ears that are not around to hear it.

    "If a tree falls in the woods, but nobody is there to hear it..." ;-)

    Anyways... thanks for the help.

  7. #7
    Member druggas's Avatar
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    Not here to defend, but if you've been a member of this site then you know all about backing up your drive.

    And if you've known all along and refused to do so, then it irritates some people here. Backing up is so easy, but most wait until something happens and then they're here looking for help.

    You got good advice while you were here. Use it.

  8. #8
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sir William
    Working full time several late nights a week (sometimes all week) eats up most of my social time and whatever time I do have to spare, I spend it with my girlfriend. Since my sister is the one using my computer most of the time, I really don't have a chance to back up anything since I'm either not home or too tired from work.
    If you would buy an external USB backup system, then it would only take a minute to start the backup process and then you could go to bed or leave to see the GF. If you back up to CDs or DVDs then you are costing yourself valuable social time.

  9. #9
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    The system restore he's referring to is the manufacturer's. It formatted the drive and reinstalled Windows. That is essentially two steps - making data recovery highly unlikely.

    Hey - anyone can make a bone-headed mistake. I've done it. I knew (and still know) that I would eventually mess up big-time. That is why I back up religiously. I still have some data that I created in 1996.

    Here's an analogy for you. You are playing an intense 3D game, but things are going pretty well and are the master of the universe. What's the smart thing to do? Are you going to keep charging ahead and assume that you are death incarnate or are you going to take a second to save your game? The best time to save is when things are going well - not after they turn bad. This is good advice in finance as well.

    No - this is going to be a tough recovery. The drive can be unformatted possibly, but any data that was occupying space where Windows is now is going to be unrecoverable. Every time you start Windows, data is overwritten again. You need to remove this drive NOW and slave it into another PC to attempt recovery. Unformatting is first and data recovery second. Figure a maximum of 50% recovery.

    Call me mean, but I don't lose data. I don't assume that I am master of the universe. I'm actually humble in that way. I know I'm a dummy. I don't mind being reminded that I'm human. I need to be reminded. With that in mind, who is the real egomaniac here? I'll give you a hint - it's not me.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  10. #10
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    I follow BPBs advise only maybe to a much more extreme approach.

    Any important data is backed up to AT LEAST 3 other hard drives/systems, as well as an external hard drive, and possibly to a USB jump drive or two.

  11. #11
    Ultimate Member Ol'Tunzafun's Avatar
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    The system restore he's referring to is the manufacturer's.
    It might sound like that, but it is the Windows System Restore that is cited in the process that he was following

    http://webcast.broadcastnewsroom.com....jsp?id=8658-2

    Quote Originally Posted by Sir William
    The next step required me to restore an old system restore point.
    It appears that he has restored to a default state that is unaware of pre-existing profiles. If this is the case then it can be undone. There is a good chance though, that it is just the %user% that has been deleted, and the profile still exists and can be browsed in D&S, or copied back to the new profile.

  12. #12
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    That "system restore" was not like the typical restore. He said he disabled the system restore service. It basically took the original install files and overwrote the current install.

    The bottom line is that the drive has errors and is probably going bad. It's a waste of time to be repairing the windows install. Get the data off and replace the drive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte
    That "system restore" was not like the typical restore. He said he disabled the system restore service. It basically took the original install files and overwrote the current install.

    The bottom line is that the drive has errors and is probably going bad. It's a waste of time to be repairing the windows install. Get the data off and replace the drive.
    If that's true, then that was the quickest overwrite I have ever witnessed. With that being said...

    Quote Originally Posted by Ol'Tunzafun
    It appears that he has restored to a default state that is unaware of pre-existing profiles. If this is the case then it can be undone. There is a good chance though, that it is just the %user% that has been deleted, and the profile still exists and can be browsed in D&S, or copied back to the new profile.
    This is actually what is happening right now. I just turned on my computer (yes, despite what BPB just said about losing data every time you turn on the computer) and I do have the %user% profile in D&S, but I cannot switch over to that user. The profile is non-existant, but the folder with the profile info on it is still there.

    How would I go about "reactivating" the %user% profile? The only usable profile at the time is the Administrator account.

  14. #14
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte
    If you had system restore disabled, the latest version was the original. did you check the documents and settings folders?
    I already told you to look in docs and settings. I didn't say ALL the data was overwritten, but it's possible that you lost some files.

    You don't have to load the profile to access the data. If you can't access the folder from windows, try using UBCD4WIN or BartPE. The more you use a bad hard drive, the more chance you'll lose data.

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    Great success! BartPE was able to view the inactive profile, so I was able to recover everything that I had and copy it all over to my good HD. Reactivating the old profile doesn't seem possible right now, so I guess I'll just wait for the next paycheck and put in an order for my next build.

    I know you guys only meant well and me adding fuel to the fire doesn't make things easier or better... and for that I do want to apologize. I know how annoying things can get on forums (I moderate a car forum, I can't begin to count how many times I've told people to use the search feature), but my topic wasn't a topic that was generally covered on this forum in particular, so the search feature brought about several topics that had nothing to do with my issue.

    Furthermore, I really didn't think the HD was going bad until I did a disk checkup and it found some errors. Seriously, I've had this HD for several years and this was the ONLY issue I've had since I bought it (Western Digital FTW). I just hoped that I would be able to push another 1 or 2 years of use from it before I had to scrap it, which is why I tried to remedy the problem.

    I really do appreciate all the help (yes, even you too Bill). If I can find the specs for my next build, I'd appreciate any feedback.

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