NEED HELP with Window.Old (reinstall from Vista) :(

reply to post by Komodo


Hi Komodo, Klassified is correct it is unlikely that trying to take ownership of the files will cause any additional problems to the hard drive. Im not sure how much good it will do in this case but it " shouldn't " hurt to try.

A colleague of mine had a similar problem the other day and we tried to take ownership of the files but that did nothing. After an hr of us trying all the usual methods of recovery and failing she deleted a folder she found that didnt seem to belong to the system (just had a bunch of random letters for a name) and that miraculously fixed the problem. I will speak to her later and get some more details as she is in vastly different time zone to me.

Im not trying to give any lectures but installing a new vista without backing up the essential files first was obviously the wrong step to take here. The Tech guy could have used the vista install disk to get to a command line and by whatever method try to move off the important files before doing the re-install. This is the recommended course of action from Microsoft.

When you do a fresh install the filesystem is completely re-written if you delete all partitions and format before installation , but of course you cant do that when you are writing over an old system and trying to retain the data. File corruption , corrupted permissions or damaged files systems is a tricky beast to tackle and like Klassified said if these files are super important then poking around with random suggestions might not be the best way to go.

Ill have a think on what can be done and speak to my colleague later.

reply to post by Komodo

It's a shame that something so simple has become so complicated for your friend. And I sincerely hope everyone involved has learned something from this experience. You'll hear the word redundancy a lot from a technicians mouth, because it's important. It can't be stressed too much. Not only should your friend have been keeping regular backups, but the moment a problem was identified, all the data on that machine should have been backed up before any repairs were even attempted.

I know I'm ranting a little here, but it frustrates me to see things like this happen, when it could have been prevented so easily. As I have said in the past. Folks usually end up costing themselves more money by not seeking out a professional with a good reputation from the onset of their problems. My apologies, I'll shutup and get to the point.

What I would do at this point, I can't explain to you in a forum. So my advice is to buy that new drive, and get him up and running. Windows 7 would be a better choice than XP, but that's just my opinion.

Secondly, I would take that drive to a reputable technician, and tell him/her you need the personal data recovered from the Windows.old folder on that drive. Make sure the tech knows he/she is dealing with malware, corruption, and permissions issues. This will also let you know if you are dealing with a knowledgable tech. Does he/she look at you with a blank stare when you say permissions issues?

Lastly, tell your friend I said not to let his frustration get the best of his better judgement. The chances are very good indeed that a good technician can retrieve all of his data that hasn't been erased or corrupted. And also tell him to buy a portable HD for backups, and learn to use it. I wish you luck in this. And I sincerely hope your friend gets his important data back.

I now know why I usually avoid this forum like the plague. It's a very dangerous forum. I highly recommend everyone take any advice here with a grain of salt, including mine. Go to a reputable professional face to face. You'll be glad you did in the end.

This will be my last post in the Computer Help forum. When it comes to the potential loss of valuable data, you don't need 20 anonymous opinions(My apologies for adding to it). You need the help of a reputable professional.

Boot the computer with a Linux (use ubuntu 12.04) disk , you will have a good chance of seeing your data.

reply to post by Klassified


Thx you Klass~!

I completely understand what you mean about the frustration. I won't be replying to you posts, I do thank you for your time and effort thus far.

PS: I gave you a star (just mess'n)

reply to post by PhoenixOD

and that miraculously fixed the problem.

which means to me: you were able to see all the files and ext?

Im not trying to give any lectures but installing a new vista without backing up the essential files first was obviously the wrong step to take here. The Tech guy could have used the vista install disk to get to a command line and by whatever method try to move off the important files before doing the re-install. This is the recommended course of action from Microsoft.

Agreed~! and not that I have much knowledge of using a cmd prompt either, but, that was one of the things I thought about when he wanted to re-install.

which means to me: you were able to see all the files and ext?

Yes that was the case/ I managed to get in contact with her and she doesn't think her problem is very relevant to your case.

So you can see ANY of the files contained in Windows.old? From your description i got the feeling that it was just a few that were missing.