Can anyone help?!?!

[evilqueenfan]

To make a long story short, a friend attempted to download a calendar on his computer. He was trying to search the c-drive for the calendar program and for some reason typed in restore. He clicked on the top application of the restore files and then his screen went black. He said the computer is back to its factory settings so he's lost everything on his computer. Is there anyway to retrieve all or any of his files? TIA to anyone that can help!!

 

[kadaten]

Sorry, no help from me....just bumping it up for you! Maybe edit your title and add "need a techie" or something so one of our friendly computer whiz's will find you!

 

[richiebaseball]

evilqueenfan you have a PM

Richard

 

[totalia]

*wince* oh no. No there's no way of recovering all his files.

Umm, let me try to explain.

When you just delete something, it just erases the first letter of the file so that it can be written over. Does that make sense?

When you restore the computer, it not only erases the first letter, it erases the whole file. Kinda like... you know that toy that you can shake and the pictures disappear when you do? It's kind like that. You never recover the picture and the picture isn't even in the toy anymore.

A computer is magnetics and energy. When you restore, it makes all the magnetic particles move to different spots.

When its completely erased everything, it reloads the Operating system to it's original settings.

At least this is how it was explained to me in university.

Always remember to back up your files occasionally. It saves alot of headache.

 

[evilqueenfan]

Thank you all for your replies. I will definitely pass the information on to him. It looks like he is bummin!

 

[ohanafamily]

Without more details I can't give a "Definite answer" it sounds like your friend did a full system restore. It might have just erased and reinstalled the operating system and left the data-file. I would look in "My Documents" and see if any of the old files your friend created are there. If they are gone, the only way to get your stuff back (or partial files) is to go to a computer forensics expert. supposedly they can find stuff through a few reformats. This is quite expensive, and you will still have to reload your software.

Once again, if your documents are still there, then you may be able to re-install the programs.

If you are using a program like GoBack, it has an undo feature that may work.... But in all seriousness, it looks like your friend is SOL. Sorry.