My pictures were erased during system restore, How can I get them back?

anjellwu · 08-23-2008, 07:38 PM

I accidentally downloaded a virus, last time this happened I was able to reboot in Safe Mode (F8 at start up) and fix the problem. However, I forgot how to do it (I was supposed to press F8). I accidentally ended up starting the system restore process with no way to stop it. Now all my pictures and music files are gone.
After reading threads on other forums I found that the files were not gone, and that I can undo the system restore. I followed the instructions but I could not find the option they told me to choose "Undo Previous System Restore".
I ended up downloading PandoraRecovery2[1].0.1 and found that a few music files were still in the hard drive in a file named "sysprep" & "unallocated files and folders", but 99% of the filenames I didn't understand. The others still had the original names.
Is there any way I can get all my pictures and music files back?

Coolfreak · 08-23-2008, 07:58 PM

If I remember correctly, after a system restore, I believe it asks you if you wish to keep what you have done or undo the system restore . . .? Don't quote me on that though. .

Also, in theory, couldn't you just do a system restore to before you did the first system restore?

makinu1der2 · 08-24-2008, 07:39 AM

Hello anjellwu,

From the looks of it you actually started "system recovery" and restored the system back to factory settings. If this is the case then you can try recover the file with several programs as you have already tried. The best solution would be to take the drive to a repair shop to try and have the data recovered.

If you continue to use the drive then the chance of recovery decreases as the data may be overwritten.

anjellwu · 08-24-2008, 08:10 PM

Thanks for your help. I found most of the pictures that I had saved in zip files. It was a long process though. I had to look through about 500 zip files. I gave up on the pics I had in the "My Pictures" folder though. I woud have had to look through a few thousand jpegs to find them. Not only that but when I actually restored them I couldnt open them.