Major Problem, need help fast!

I installed Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade yesterday to my computer where I was running XP home edition. Prior to installation I did the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor which told me I was fine to upgrade. I chose to upgrade keeping my files, settings, etc. because I did not do a backup and that is unfortunate b/c it seemed as though it installed without a problem until I went into my e-mail and found that they were all gone. All of my documents are gone including my e-mails I have contacted Microsoft several times but they are not too much help they just basically state I did something wrong when I know I did not.They were asking me to find a file that intially I could not find but after reading someone else's thread on here that had the same problem I found out the file was hidden and now I have located it. I see all of my docs etc. but when you try to open them they are empty and for some odd reason Windows has notepad trying to open my picture files but I do not see where I can change that. I did not format or partition so I am hoping this data is not lost.

Also it transferred over my desktop icons but some of the programs are not working. For instance, Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003 states that a required install file PA561401.CAB could not be found when I try to go into Outlook.

This worries me b/c I have seen this problem in here several times so I feel like something is wrong with this software. It gave me no indication that anything went wrong.

I am currently running a Recover My Files scan on my "C" drive and it has been going for close to ten hours and it seems like it is finding alot of files but my fear is that they maybe empty?

If anyone knows how to resolve this issue w/out me having to buy the license to this software to recover I would greatly appreaciate it.

One other thing when I went to sleep last night I left this scanning and when I woke up this morning my monitor was black and the computer would not boot up; I finally got in through safe mode; last known config; but this is another problem I have seen on this forum. What causes this to happen.

Hi,


There are other recovery tools that are free, and very effective if you have not formatted the drive

Click on the link below, then click the blue bar that says "Download free Glary Undelete Now"

Glary Undelete

Install the program, run it and see if it finds any recoverable files

Or you could try this one

PC Inspector File Recovery download and review - data recovery tool from SnapFiles

What file did Microsoft ask you to find - was it called Windows.Old ?


SIW2

To change the default Open With program , eg for a picture - right click one of your picture files >Open With>Choose Default, then highlight the one you want to use and click OK, or Browse to select another program to open your pictures with.

Hope this Helps

SIW2

I appreaciate the info. Windows.old was one that is not on my computer at all. but the other they were asking for was $INPLACE.~TR which was hidden and also $WINDOWS.~Q CAME UP. The second one of the two is where I can see all the names of my documents and I did figure out how to change the program opening them but I soon found out that it did not matter b/c the folders are empty.

The recover my files program just ended and it seems to have found a lot of files, however it states that some of them are corrupt?

Why did this happen and why was there no indication something was wrong?
Why

I have another question, forgive me if I sound dumb. I downloaded the Glary undelete and scanned my "C" drive but I am afarid to recover b/c I read that you should not recover back to the same drive and also that I should have not even have downloaded it to this computer but I do not have an extra computer.

Any advice? I am anxious to just check all the files it found and hit restore but I do not want to cause myself more problems so I am trying to be cautious.

Try to recover the files into a new folder.
Just as a point Vista uses NTFS filing system which is alot better than the XP fat system. It is always better to do a Clean install, there are lots of reasons which you can read online.

Hi,

Anything you do that writes onto your hdd may be overwriting the files on there.

It's useful to have more than one partition on your hdd. Vista makes this incredibly easy to do.There are two ways forward here

1) I don't know how big your hdd is or how full it was. If there was plenty of space on it before you did the Upgrade install you can probably create another smallish partition without destroying any files. Then recover your files into a new folder ( name it recover or something similar ) on your new partition. Then copy all your documents , data ,etc. onto your new partition. Clean reinstall Vista onto the FIRST partition - format the FIRST partition during the reinstall, DO NOT FORMAT THE SECOND PARTITION.

2) If you think creating a second partition now may overwrite the files you wish to recover, recover them into a new folder first. Then create a new partition, copy your data over to it and perform a clean reinstall as above.


NB : Anything on your second partition will not be damaged during clean reinstall ( as long as you remember not to format it during the clean reinstall ).
Just in case you make a mistake, if there is anything really vital, suggest you copy it onto something external - recordable cd/dvd will do.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html


http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/117366-clean-install-full-version-vista.html


Hope this helps

SIW2

I have 101GB free of 145GB on the C drive. Microsoft just called me to follow up on these issues and the Gentleman was nice enought to create a another partition for me. He advised me to uninstall the recovery software and reinstall it on the new partition and recover the files on that partition. He said it was unnecessary for me to have to do a clean install. Honestly, I do not know, my main concern is to get my documents back.

Once I recover these files on this new partition will I ever be able to put them back on the C drive or should I just leave them on this new partition?

He also looked at both programs Glary and Recover My Files and their findings on my C drive he advised me to use the Recover My Files b/c it allows you to save and Glary does not, do you agree? I would hate to pay if I do not need to but am willing if it will be better.

Hi,

He called you and instructed you to create another partition over the phone? or did he take control of your machine remotely - just curious.

He was of course right to create another partition and suggest you recover your files onto that. He's also right that a clean reinstall is not necessary, but it is a better (i.e. cleaner) solution long-term - you'd manage ok without doing it - up to you.

Don't know what he means by "Recover My Files allows you to save and Glary does not ".

To be fair, he probably hasn't looked at the Glary program before.

Recover my files is a good program, and if you want to spend $60, go ahead.

If you want to recover for free with Glary, here's what you do :

After it has found the files

1) Tick boxes on the left for the ones you want to recover ( it will only work well for files listed as very good condition )

2) Click the Restore button on the bottom right

3) The Browse window pops up - so browse to the folder you have created on your new partition, and recover them into that




Once the files have been recovered, they are like any other files - you can copy them back onto your C drive if you wish.

Hope this helps

SIW2

He did it through Microsoft Remote Assist.

As far as the clean install, I do not mind doing that if it will makes things better but I bought the upgrade copy, not the full version. I believe I have the option to do a clean install with my upgrade copy but won't that wipe out all my programs?

I do not want to get in over my head which is why I chose to upgrade and now I am having all of these problems.

I think with the saving, he meant Recover gives you the option to save to an external source. If the programs are the same as far as getting all my docs back, I would rather not have to pay.

Another huge concern I have had aside from my pictures, douments,etc. is getting all my e-mail back and if I do get it back will it go back into Outlook?

Do you think it is necessary to scan the physical drive or will the letter suffice?

Hi,

Yes , you can do a clean install with an upgrade copy

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68767-clean-install-upgrade-vista.html

Yes, you would need to reinstall your programs - you need to copy your program files to your new partition and reinstall them from there afterwards.

If you are not confident to do this, it is not absolutely necessary - maybe when you have a bit more experience, you can do a clean reinstall then.

Not sure what you mean by the letter or the drive - there is a dropdown on the top left - select the partition to scan there - on mine it just says C: for my first partition



Then click the search button on the right.

Any email messages recovered will still be in the same format as they were.

Be aware you will not get everything back in perfect condition - it is inevitable some of the files will have been damaged.

Did the Microsoft guy say why the upgrade had gone wrong ? Don't answer that until you have recovered your files - try to do the recovery before using your machine for anything else.

Hope that helps

SIW2

Okay, now I am really getting worried. I recovered my word files,PDF's,Excel and some of my JPEG's to the new drive. Most of the word files are blank, and others will not open. The Excel files are blank, alot of the JPEG's are damaged or not showing. I also recovered Bmp files, some are my pictures but most of them are internet or email pictures, should I bother with those?

The adobe files will not open due to a known compatability issue with windows??

What does this mean, do you think my files are really gone?

Oh, my partition ran out of space, am I able to add more?

I have yet to get an explanation from Microsoft as to what happened here, they just keep going back to the fact that they recommend a backup. I would love to know why this happened, I did the upgrade advisor and it did not find any issues other than printer and webcam driver issues. The upgrade seemed to go smoothly, and I got no indication that anything went wrong, so I do not understand why so much is wrong.

Please give me some hope, I have had this computer for three years and I had a lot of important douments on it.

Thanks, by the way for all your advice thus far.

Hi,

If you have recovered anything you are sure you don't want you can just delete them - that may give you enough space to recover the rest . If you have closed Glary , then when you reopen it and scan again - it will recover those again for you , of course.

If some of your files are badly damaged , there's nothing you can do . You may be able to resolve that adobe compatibility issue later.

You will not be able to increase the size of your new partition without destroying everything on there - it should be possible with a 3rd party partition tool - but is too complex for you to try at this stage.

If you have an external hard drive, you can recover onto that - if not,
you can shrink your C partition and create another new partition - so you have 2 new partitions to recover onto.

Whether this will damage the files on your hdd depends where they are located. How big are your C and D partitions now ? ( I assume the new partition is called D.

SIW2

It is actally F. I think my D is my CD drive. The C says there is 115GB free of 140GB. The F says there is 616KB free of 4.87GB, almost completly full.

Why do the files get damaged, what do you think could have happened?

You only should tick the boxes that say Very Good (you could try the ones that say Good as well - you never know ).

Suggest you follow the tutorial and shrink C to create another partition call it R only you can decide how big to make it.Download the PCInspector onto that and scan with that - if it finds any more in good/very good condition - recover them onto your new R partition.

That is all you can do.
Good Luck
SIW2