Can I recover lost data?

Fashionfitty

New Member
Hi All
We have had real problems with our laptop the last month and discovered that our Fujitsu Siemens is not the only one with this.. No updates or service packs were received in four years and it all came to a head last week. Trying to install a new copy of Microsoft Office we found nothing would work. We had many conversations with tech help at Microsoft and in the end it was decided that we would have to completely reinstall Vista. We bought an external hard drive and thought we had saved everything to this before proceeding. Sadly we didn't realise that the saving of our photo folder was only a shortcut, so once everything was deleted and Vista reinstalled we put hard drive back in we found none of our pictures in it. I am now wondering if there is ANY WAY we can recover the lost pictures? Or has it all gone for good(6 months of new born daughter!)? Any help would be massively appreciated.
Hannah
 

My Computer

Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD
    1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp
    1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset.
    Only ever used a laptop.
    Also use USB Freeview TV Card
    Lenovo Docking Station
    External Speakers
    Other bits a pieces as needed

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD
    1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp
    1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset.
    Only ever used a laptop.
    Also use USB Freeview TV Card
    Lenovo Docking Station
    External Speakers
    Other bits a pieces as needed
Welcome
I am truly sorry that you are having this problem. It is really difficult to recover lost doucments after formatting, and even more so after actually using the drive to install another OS.
The advice given by ILikeFree is excellent. But, I would like to add to it.
I have heard good things about this software to recover from the computer Hard Drive. It has a free trial period.
NTFS Data Recovery NTFS Unformat
First stop using the Hard Drive the more you use it the more difficult it becomes.
Under the circumstances, I would give thought to bringing the computer into a professsional recovery service. Yes, its expensive, but those pictures are priceless.
For your future pictures, be sure to back them up. You can back up to an external hard drive once a week to make sure that the future pictures do not run into similar problems.
You may, also, want to invest in an upgrade version of Seven. Its much cheaper than the full version and it has automatic back up (back up and restore)
I wish you the best of luck with your pictures and new daughter.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Now, that I reconsidered, I think it may be best just to go to a professional recovery service. The more you use that drive the more difficult it becomes. The service will be expensive, but try to work out an agreement, no results, no charge.
Again, sorry about the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
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