Reinstalled window 10 - can I recover my data from my disk drive?

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My window 10 crashed and it will not reboot. I have been struggling trying to fix it this past week and not have any luck. I only have half of my drive backed up. The other half of the data is still on my hard drive. UGHH!!! Always, make sure to back your files up!!!

I did a search on the internet on how to revive my computer and the only thing left was to re-install window 10 which I did. Window renamed all my old window files under window.old. However, after I re-installed I can't seem to find my old files. I am wondering if those files are deleted? I don't think the disk was re-formatted. Is it possible to find them again?

Did any one experience this before? Any suggestions or advise is appreciated! Thank you!!!

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Recent Comments

15

I had the same problem. Need a technician for your computer. I didn't keep my works on a usb. My fault! I hope you can get it back.

Frank

I was able to retrieve some of my emails and from there I was able to retrieve license for some of my software that I purchased. Luckily, I also have a good portion of my files on another USB drive. Not all was lost -- Thank you, Frank for checking in.

I am almost up to date. However, I lost a lot of time searching, restoring, and installing...

Great! Nice you got most of it!

frank =)

Windows 10 is brilliant but also has its blips. You need a recovery disc. One that you should have created yourself for back up. Full recovery wipes everything out.

If you need to reinstall the apps like Email apps make sure you can remember all your passwords. That is an app that will need reinstalling.

Whatever you do; do not mess with adobe thats built into windows 10.

Try and set up a recovery disc if and when you get back in and sort it. Windows 10 are amazing but going into recovery mode is a trial and error.

Try and salvage what you can but it seems to me you just need to reinstall some of the apps. The biggest issue I have is bringing back and syncing my emails.

If and when you get back into full mode make sure you set your computer to a time when your computer runs to a better time.
All in all you still need to reinstall certain things have to be done manually and are not done automatically.

I will try and come back with some more help for you. If not I hope you got it sorted.
~Debs :)

Thank you!!! I was able to reinstall window 10. Although, my disk drive was not format, all my document files are gone. I was able to recover some of my emails. I took the opportunity to Clean house... It's a pain and slow but get me to reorganize. Thank you for stopping by with suggestions and ideas.

That sounds awful. I have no experience with this but I hope you get it sorted soon Ha.

~Mark :)

Thank you Mark. Lots of wasted time... but I am learning. Hopefully it won't happen again.

This happened to me in January. We had to reinstall Windows 4 evenings in a row. Got almost crazy. Luckily we have two backups. But I lost all my bookmarked links.

Hope you'll find a solution.

:-o

thank you! I lost my work for my websites, some software, and emails. It was a bummer.

How did you reinstall windows? Did you reinstall from a disk or did you use Windows built-in factory reset installation? My guess is that you used a disk.

You're right that you didn't reformat your hard drive. The files are technically still on your hard drive, but windows doesn't have a pointer to tell it that they are still there.

In fact doing anything on the computer (creating new documents, installing stuff, downloading stuff, etc.) could cause the computer to unintentionally write over the data.

It is technically possible to recover the data, but you're going to need software that is designed to find everything on a drive.

I have never had to do this, but I found this site that looks like it might help. https://lifehacker.com/5951822/how-can-i-recover-data-from-a-dead-or-erased-hard-drive. I can look into this more when I get home.

Thank you Steve!!! I shall check that website out. I reinstalled used from a disk for window 10.

Steve! I am making progress with recovering my data. I was able to recover my emails which was fantastic. I am now working on recovering others as well.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I am planning to put a blog or instructions together to help others who may struggle through the same problem I have.

I'm glad you were able to start recovering some data. Good luck getting the rest of it recovered. Let me know if you run into any issues.

Hi there,

So unfortunately I am not going to be much help beyond what you've already found online. However I can offer you a couple tips to avoid such an issue in the future.

First are you working off of a laptop or a desktop?

If you are working off of a desktop, you'll want to have 2 drives: a boot drive, and a "storage" drive.

I recommend using an SSD (solid State Drive) for your boot drive and an HDD as your storage drive.

HDDs don't run as fast but last way longer than SSDs. Additionally, if you have a crash, all you will lose is your applications, which can all be reinstalled. All of your files will be stored on the HDD.

SSDs and HDD are both relatively cheap nowadays as well. Each can be bought for under $100.

I know this doesn't help you much in your current situation but it is a great safeguard should it ever happen again in the future + your PC will run faster.

Thank you! You are right. That is my next course of action. A little late but it's better late than never.

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