Used RegCleaner and lost 30Gig of Data

JamieDalton · 06-20-2008, 03:07 AM

Hi, I've just registered and from the size of these forums it looks like I've found the right place! I recently installed and ran an application called RegCleaner to remove old entries of games I no longer play. The app looked easy enough to use and I just checked all the entries I wanted to delete. I was surprised to see very old titles I had forgotten about still on there. I clicked delete and it took about a minute to delete which I thought at the time was lengthy to remove registry entries.

The following day I noticed about 30gig of data had been removed from the D drive. The C drive seems unaffected but entire folders have gone from the D drive and one folder which I use a lot called videoclip has had about 90% of its content deleted with the remaining files being ones I had accessed recently. I can live without a lot of what I have lost but I am desperate to retrieve the contents of the videoclip folder and a few other folders as well some of which I can't remember the exact names. This happened about 2 weeks ago and I've not touched the D drive since. Something I noticed in the recycle bin were about 10 entries all at the same time I used RegCleaner called RECYCLER....and followed by lots of digits. They were only a few k in size but I restored them all in the hope it would reverse the deletion but it didn't. Foolishly I never made a note of the exact file names before restoring or where they were restored to.

Do you think I have any chance of restoring the lost folders? Is it possible to restore partially deleted contents of a folder such as the missing contents of videoclip? I've read that data isn't actually removed when deleted but flagged as 'free space' so hopefully its still there. I'll happily pay a professional or buy software if there is a reasonable chance of success because some of what I've lost is irreplaceable. I work in IT and I'm kicking myself because I've always been careful when using software I don't fully understand. I blindly edited the registry on my first computer which rendered it unusable and I was sure I wouldn't do anything like it again. I can't let it beat me like this! :D

Thanks for any advice.

Jamie Dalton

**Deleted090308** · 06-20-2008, 07:28 PM

Welcome to TSF.

Try some data recovery programs:
GetDataBack
Recuva
Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier

**TheShadowFl** · 06-21-2008, 08:18 AM

Jamie,
The rule of thumb in this forum is "Don't use registry cleaners". OK?

There have been many so called "Registry Cleaners" that have almost destroyed peoples PC's. I've evaluated many myself, over the years, that totally 'wet the bed'.

The only one I've ever used that seems to be 100% safe is "Easy Cleaner 2" from Toni Arts. If it's going to err' , it err's on the side of caution, leaving an entry that MIGHT be ok to remove. I've used it now for years on literally hundreds of PC, with NEVER a problem.

You could try a "System Restore" but if the files are gone off of the HD, that probably won't work.

Maybe this would be a good time to consider doing regular hard drive backups. Obviously you've not been doing backups at all. Bad...VERY bad.

Good Luck,
Shadow

craigwatanabe · 06-21-2008, 10:46 PM

Ditto on that last one. On most registry cleaners before any "cleaning" is done there is typically a warning to "back up all data" before continuing.

You should counting your blessings as some registry cleaners will take out some .dll files as well. You take those out and your computer won't boot up to Windows.

When it comes to registry cleaners, I will only use them if I have all data backed up and a client's OS recovery disks available, JUST IN CASE.

06-20-2008, 03:07 AM	#1 (permalink)
JamieDalton Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp sp2	Used RegCleaner and lost 30Gig of Data Hi, I've just registered and from the size of these forums it looks like I've found the right place! I recently installed and ran an application called RegCleaner to remove old entries of games I no longer play. The app looked easy enough to use and I just checked all the entries I wanted to delete. I was surprised to see very old titles I had forgotten about still on there. I clicked delete and it took about a minute to delete which I thought at the time was lengthy to remove registry entries. The following day I noticed about 30gig of data had been removed from the D drive. The C drive seems unaffected but entire folders have gone from the D drive and one folder which I use a lot called videoclip has had about 90% of its content deleted with the remaining files being ones I had accessed recently. I can live without a lot of what I have lost but I am desperate to retrieve the contents of the videoclip folder and a few other folders as well some of which I can't remember the exact names. This happened about 2 weeks ago and I've not touched the D drive since. Something I noticed in the recycle bin were about 10 entries all at the same time I used RegCleaner called RECYCLER....and followed by lots of digits. They were only a few k in size but I restored them all in the hope it would reverse the deletion but it didn't. Foolishly I never made a note of the exact file names before restoring or where they were restored to. Do you think I have any chance of restoring the lost folders? Is it possible to restore partially deleted contents of a folder such as the missing contents of videoclip? I've read that data isn't actually removed when deleted but flagged as 'free space' so hopefully its still there. I'll happily pay a professional or buy software if there is a reasonable chance of success because some of what I've lost is irreplaceable. I work in IT and I'm kicking myself because I've always been careful when using software I don't fully understand. I blindly edited the registry on my first computer which rendered it unusable and I was sure I wouldn't do anything like it again. I can't let it beat me like this! :D Thanks for any advice. Jamie Dalton

06-20-2008, 07:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: Used RegCleaner and lost 30Gig of Data Welcome to TSF. Try some data recovery programs: GetDataBack Recuva Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier

06-21-2008, 08:18 AM	#3 (permalink)
TheShadowFl TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Central Florida Posts: 290 OS: XP-SP3, Vista Ult. 64, Win-7/64	Re: Used RegCleaner and lost 30Gig of Data Jamie, The rule of thumb in this forum is "Don't use registry cleaners". OK? There have been many so called "Registry Cleaners" that have almost destroyed peoples PC's. I've evaluated many myself, over the years, that totally 'wet the bed'. The only one I've ever used that seems to be 100% safe is "Easy Cleaner 2" from Toni Arts. If it's going to err' , it err's on the side of caution, leaving an entry that MIGHT be ok to remove. I've used it now for years on literally hundreds of PC, with NEVER a problem. You could try a "System Restore" but if the files are gone off of the HD, that probably won't work. Maybe this would be a good time to consider doing regular hard drive backups. Obviously you've not been doing backups at all. Bad...VERY bad. Good Luck, Shadow __________________ A person with experience is never at the mercy of a person with an argument.

06-21-2008, 10:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
craigwatanabe Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 299 OS: xp	Re: Used RegCleaner and lost 30Gig of Data Ditto on that last one. On most registry cleaners before any "cleaning" is done there is typically a warning to "back up all data" before continuing. You should counting your blessings as some registry cleaners will take out some .dll files as well. You take those out and your computer won't boot up to Windows. When it comes to registry cleaners, I will only use them if I have all data backed up and a client's OS recovery disks available, JUST IN CASE. __________________ A computer is only as powerful as it's user so build wisely.