Windows 7 please help me

[romo96]

Hello. I have installed new windows 7,on my previous windows 7. Till that, i have saved my important files in Local disc D. Windows is installed on local disc C.But previous windows version moved moved to D disk. And my files, that were in D disk, have lost.What can I do for moving back my files, which are very important for me....??please, help me,if you can.
Thanks Beforehand

 

[rbeldua]

hello romo96 welcome to the forums, you could try "recuva". Recuva is a free file recovery program that makes it extremely easy to locate files that were once thought to be lost forever.

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Read more: Recuva Review (v1.40.525)

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[romo96]

Thank you, will it help me to find my files?

 

[Medico]

You most likely installed the new Win 7 over your data partition rather than over the old Win 7 partition. it is important to always MAKE SURE where you are installing an OS. When installing any OS, if you choose to install over an old OS, it WILL NOT move the old installation, it will install directly in the same partition. If this is indeed what you did, you overwrote your data with the new installation. Sorry but your data will most likely be lost. Data recovery tools are only good if the old lost data has not been overwritten. it's worth trying but in your case will probably not be effective.

 

[romo96]

Ok.There isn't any other way to recover my old data? I understand Everything.I have to be more careful, before installing Windows. Thank's for all

 

[Elmer]

Further to the already given excellent advice.

This is why it is always best to name your partitions, C:\System, D:\Data, E:\Enything(?), R:\Recovery.
When you go to install Windows 7 the partition letters may change, as to the order the system finds them. But once installed and you are back in your operating system, they are as they should be. The names however, don't change.

 

[romo96]

if i don't back up my files, and want to install windows again, can my files be back?

 

[Saltgrass]

It is a little confusing as to exactly what happened, but if you did not overwrite the original Windows 7 install, are your files still there?

Also check to see if you have a Windows.old folder on your system. Might be hidden, not sure. If you do the old files may be there. Perhaps searching your system for a known file you need would reveal if they were still present.

 

[romo96]

I have checked, there isn't windows.old folder,even hidden folder,now i am explaining you what happened.I have installed new windows on my old w7. Till install i packed all my important files in D disk. And started install.I installed new windows in my C disk. But when i finished installing, my old C disk moved to new D disk, and i lost all my files and data, which was on my D. Do you understand me?

 

[Saltgrass]

I believe I did understand you yet the situation is confusing, not because of your explanation, but of what really happened, which you did not seem to expect.

Lets say you installed the new Windows 7 and mistakenly selected the second partition (old d: ) for that install, as has been suggested in this thread. If you did that, the old Windows 7 partition would still be intact and all files would be useable.

If you had installed in the same original Windows 7 partition, you would not have overwritten the partition where your backed up files were, unless you changed the partition sizes.

If you could use the snipping tool and get a picture of your Disk Management window and attach it using the paperclip on the Advanced Replies window. Maybe we could see for sure the current situation.

 

[romo96]

Am i right??do you want to see this capture?
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[Saltgrass]

Your capture shows 2 partitions. The first one is a normal Windows 7 install and the second is a logical Data partition. Is this different than it was prior to the latest changes?

What type of files/folders are in the second partition (D: )? Is that the partition you say was the original Windows 7 install, and if it is, your original files are not there?

 

[romo96]

Yes the first is normal windows 7, so it is C System Disk, and the second is a logical Data partition. Yes there is only one difference. It is before in Data partition there were my softwares, and there was not old windows.And now there is old windows. In D there is this. Link Removed
Yes D is that partition.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

My two cents worth, if you installed Windows in your C:\Windows directory it would have replaced your original Widows installation and move the old file data to a Windows.old file.

Your D:\ would have been unaffected and nothing would have been moved there.

If you installed the new Windows 7 installation to your D:\ drive, (I'm pretty sure this is what you did) then it over wrote the existing data on the drive. Because there was no operating system on the drive I don't think it will create the Windows.old file.

And, your D:\ drive will now be your C:\ drive when you log into Windows and your C:\ drive will be your D:\ drive.

If you did that, then you should have 2 working Windows installations and you should be asked which one you want to log into when you boot your computer. I don't know why that isn't happening.

If after booting to your new Windows installation, you look in Windows Explorer see that your old Windows installation still there, on dirve D:\ then you probably installed over your data and it's most likely unrecoverable.

If your data is anyplace it's on what is now your C:\ drive, because it was your D:\ drive before you installed Windows on it.

I know this is confusing.

Mike

Well now that I see the screen shot I'm more confused, there is a Windows Old folder but no installed operating system on D:\.

I don't know how that could happen?

I'm pretty sure you installed on D:\ there isn't any reason that it would have done anything to D:\ or put the Widows Old folder there unless you did, but I don't know what happened to the previous Windows installation?

I'm still pretty sure that what is your C:\ drive now used to be your D:\ drive.

Maybe it works different because both dives are partitions on the same disk?

Anyway if you are going to try and use Recova I would be sure and look for your files on the C:\ partition too! It's possible that some of you files could be recovered but I don't know what the odds are.

 

[Medico]

I also believe you actually installed the new Win 7 over your original D Partition instead of the orginal C Partition. Once you do this the original D partition becomes the C partition as the active Windows OS always assumes the C partition.

Once you get this straightened out (I suspect your data may be gone, but who knows you may find some of it somewhere using the methods outlined above) I would suggest renaming your partitions to easily identify them. For example here is what mine looks like:

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[romo96]

I think yes, you are right, with inattention I install win7 in wrong partition...I try to get my files back.I am trying this version. When I search in D for my previous versions,, there isn't My previous version, and i don't understand why. And Recuva didn't worked too. I can't back my data with Recuva too. If I reinstall Windows, can windows get my old data??with my old C disk and my old D diks??

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'm afraid that if you installed over it that it is gone forever.
If Recova can't find the deleted files I don't know of anything else you can do.

What's in the folder named Windows Old?

In the future buy an external USB hard drive and back up all your files on it regularly.
Only turn the drive on when you are using it and it will still have your data, no matter what happens to your computer.

Mike

 

[Medico]

I'm afraid I have to agree with Mike. Your data is most likely gone. Sorry. I know it's hard to hear but this is a very valuable learning experience. It is SO IMPORTANT to make sure you are choosing the correct partitions, so the naming of those partitions is so important to distinguish the 2. I also know of no other methods to recover this data since it was not misplaced, it was overwritten thus wiping out everything. Once you have things back, you will most likely have to recreate your data with whatever apps you originally created it. Then Image the OS and backup the data to offsite storage (CD's, Ext HD, Flash drives, other HDs) just off the main HD. I store my Images on an Ext USB HD and back up my data to 2 seperate PC's. The chance of all 3 dying at the same time is pretty small.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

What he said, and I have 4 external hard drives and my data isn't on my Windows drive in the computer either.

 

[Elmer]

AND Don't forget to name your drives! So when C:\7 becomes C:\8 and D:\8 becomes D:\7, you know the drive you want to install on is named "7", because 8 (D:\8) has your data on it!