XPS erased all my files

Hi everyone,

So I've been having my new XPS 1530 for about a week. Today I clicked on the "system clean up" pop up and all of my documents, music, pictures were erased. My programs like Microsoft Office, Itunes, etc. are still on my computer though. Is there a way for be to retrieve my documents?

Thx

 

try a system restore, though I doubt that works

did you check the ms database?

others may have better answers for you.......

 

download TuneUp Utilities & goto undelete option. Click it & see if the files are still in good condition. If they are restore them~

 

System restore doesn't work because no restore points have been created - this is a new laptop and I have not created any yet.

What's the ms database?

I'm trying to use TuneUp Utilities right now. Thanks

 

TuneUp Utilities is AWESOME. thank you so much.

 

So TUU worked? kewl, only managed to get a few things back with that undelete option...

 

actually nevermind. i take my word back. ugh... only a few of the files got retrieved. the rest of them are corrupted! omg is there anyway to fix the corrupted files?

 

ouch what hard drive was this so i stay away from it?

 

what hard drive? what do u mean?

 

It is very likely that the hard drive (aka where all your data is stored) is malfunctioning. That would explain losing the data, and the corrupted recovery attempt.

Download a program called HDTune and post the S.M.A.R.T. status that you will see in the Health tab when you run the program. If you use Vista and UAC, after you install it make sure you right click and hit "Run As Administrator" within the start menu.

Chances are that the S.M.A.R.T. numbers will indicate your drive is failing.

 

he's requesting what brand harddrive did you buy/get~

goto control panel > admin tools > computer management > device manager > disk drives

It will give you the model # ~


As for is there another way to recover the files. There MIGHT be however considering the files have already been writing over its going to cost you A HELL OUT A LOT to get a data recovery company to restore the files.

 

there is nothing under the health tab...?

 

i have a samsung hm320ji (320gb)

i absolutely have to recover the files...

 

if he can get a close friend to file a child porn possession/distribution complaint with law enforcement it might be possible to get the police to do it for free.

ahh ok thanks, i will make sure to stay away from that drive! i hope you are able to get your stuff back

 

Did you run as an administrator? Does Everest show you more information? That is another program that can usually see SMART data, under the Storage options.

I suggest you minimize your use of the drive then, just in case there is something going on that is damaging the physical drive. Do not defrag the hard drive, no matter what. Only install programs if absolutely necessary, disable SuperFetch if needbe...anything to minimize disk activity.

If the drive does appear to be damaged, you might be able to use SpinRite to get as much off the drive as possible. This is a last resort option, because if your drive is failing this program might put the final nail in the coffin. Do not do this without consulting at least a few people first.

 

ok.. my computer is brand new. how can my hard drive fail?

basically when i got my computer two days ago, this window called "system clean up" or something like that kept appearing but i kept on pressing cancel. today however i pressed okay because i thought that it would just delete stuff from my internet temp files and recycle bin, etc. but it actually deleted all of the stuff in my documents, music, and picture folders.

all my programs are still there.

when you first turn on a dell xps 1530, doesn't this window appear?

it's definitely not spyware or anything in case some of you are wondering.

 

so it wasn't a drive failure?

 

"System Clean Up"...that does not sound good. If that is the case, then some malware probably got it (sorry). Disable Indexing and Defrag on your PC, do not transfer new files or install new programs as your data is probably still "unused" somewhere. I realize that you probably tried one utility already to recover info...try this one, I've used it many times and had great results. Free version merely scans for lost files, you have to buy it to actually recover anything (however, the free one tells you what you'll be able to recover to see if it is worth the license cost for you).

Drives can fail, and they do. It is called the "bathtub curve"...a lot of failures in the beginning (first month or two), few failures in the middle (a few years), rest of failures after the middle.

 

I really doubt that this was a hardware failure since this happened exactly after the cleanup, also the files would not have been deleted but just staying there corrupted but in this case the files where also deleted from the data table.
I will go for the other guess of a possible infection, get AVG and you will be fine

 

How?

Running an anti-virus program won't get the missing files back

 

I agree w/ Greg. He has given you some invaluable information in his 2 posts.

you asked what MS database is-- it's a database of problems w/ ms software and their solution.

I hope the program that greg suggested helps you out- it looks pretty good.

A few suggestions to other users new to Vista--> It has a nice backup option that can be configured to back up files, documents, etc, to another partition, ext. usb hdd, or a usb flash drive. It can be set to backup daily, weekly, etc. It can be invaluable in this type situation......

The other in to enable and set a restore point-that feature has saved my a_ _ numerous times.

About it (from Vista help):

What is System Restore?

System Restore helps you restore your computer's system files to an earlier point in time. It's a way to undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal files, such as e‑mail, documents, or photos.

Sometimes, the installation of a program or a driver can cause an unexpected change to your computer or cause Windows to behave unpredictably. Usually, uninstalling the program or driver corrects the problem. If uninstalling does not fix the problem, you can try restoring your computer's system to an earlier date when everything worked correctly.

System Restore uses a feature called System Protection to regularly create and save restore points on your computer. These restore points contain information about registry settings and other system information that Windows uses. You can also create restore points manually.

System Restore is not intended for backing up personal files, so it cannot help you recover a personal file that has been deleted or damaged. You should regularly back up your personal files and important data using a backup program.

 

This might help:
http://www.recuva.com/

 

If you right click on the desktop and go to properties, click on the Desktop tab and towards the bottom click on customize desktop and uncheck "Run Desktop Wizard every 60 Days"

 

when i called dell they claimed that this was not a program that came with dell or vista... but it definitely is.

they suggested that when i reboot press f8, repair my computer, and choose dell factory image restore. they said that this would make my computer like when it was brand new... which it STILL IS since i just GOT THIS COMPUTER 3 DAYS AGO... hehe

 

What software have you installed yourself since you got your laptop?