Help lost everything

[spx]

Hi My Pc has been plaing up recently and a friend offered to fix it and lost everything!!

My only option was to reinstall windows, he said my programs would still be there but they're not.

My only savour is that I used norton ghost 10 to make a duplicate of my hard drive some months ago. The copy is on a usb drive 80gb.

Thnakfully I have access to all my kids photo's but I am unable to access any of my old programs that I downloaded (and paid for) and I do not have any hard copies to reinstall.

Even though I know all the data is on the drive ghost says that I did not configure a restore point so will not do anything. I've tried to copy the contents and paste them on c drive but that didn't work either.

Hope someone can help thanks.

 

[Igorian]

Hi My Pc has been plaing up recently and a friend offered to fix it and lost everything!!

My only option was to reinstall windows, he said my programs would still be there but they're not.

That would depend on the damage and how you performed the install. A repair install would have left your programs intact (if they were working beforehand)

My only savour is that I used norton ghost 10 to make a duplicate of my hard drive some months ago. The copy is on a usb drive 80gb.

Thnakfully I have access to all my kids photo's but I am unable to access any of my old programs that I downloaded (and paid for) and I do not have any hard copies to reinstall.

Even though I know all the data is on the drive ghost says that I did not configure a restore point so will not do anything. I've tried to copy the contents and paste them on c drive but that didn't work either.

Presumably, you have your pictures etc. on another drive, which is how you can acess them. How are you trying to use Ghost? Have you tried booting from the Ghost CD and performing an emergency recovery? This is likely to be the only way to perform the recovery you want unless you have saved the installers to the same location as your data, in which case you just re-install them.

 

[spx]

No he didn't do a repair, for some reason the repair console was asking for an administators password.. I never set one up so I didn't know it.

Then went for a quick format, should have known when the message appeared that all data would be lost!!

Tried booting with ghost... didn't seem to have the option to do an emergancy repair?

 

[Igorian]

No he didn't do a repair, for some reason the repair console was asking for an administators password.. I never set one up so I didn't know it.

Then went for a quick format, should have known when the message appeared that all data would be lost!!

Tried booting with ghost... didn't seem to have the option to do an emergancy repair?

Hmm, he didn't need to access the recovery console to do the repair install.

I don't have my V10 disk with me, but i'll take a look when I get home and try to guide you through it, if possible. If you can email me your details, address in my profile, it might be easier.

 

[spx]

Hi mate, looks like I have found most of the programs and reinstalled them... only thing is most of the licence keys were in my email.

Searched the disk but I can't find any of them... would emails be backed up? What would be the file extension for outlook .eml, .email?

 

[breezer]

.dxb believe it or not

 

[Softus]

.dxb believe it or not

Don't believe it - it's actually ".dbx", but that's for Outlook Express.

For Outlook you should search for ".pst" files.

 

[gas4you]

Could you not go on the sotware manufacturers website and log in to access your keys? I know I have done this with several of my sotware vendors sites.

 

[Softus]

Could you not go on the sotware manufacturers website and log in to access your keys?

He could if he'd actually paid for them.

 

[spx]

Hi I did pay for them, but unfortunalty they only last for a year so i have to pay again to get the lates updates. Really don't see the point as the versions I had worked fine.

Done a search for emails using the extensions provided but nothing is found, which is strange because i have emails stored in outlook ( not express)

Anyone know where these emails are stored I can'f find any link to their location!!

 

[Igorian]

The default location for the outlook.pst file is C:\Documents and Settings\user_id\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook, where user_id is the name of the logged on account. This is a hidden location, so you need to show hidden files. Open My Computer, click Tools and then Folder Options. Click the View tab and then select the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders.

 

[spx]

Igorian, you're a star mate, found it! How do I open it? I assume it contains my old emails?

 

[Igorian]

Igorian, you're a star mate, found it! How do I open it? I assume it contains my old emails?

I assume you mean you've found the pst from your backup. You can import it into Outlook. File>Import and Export>Import from another program or file>Personal folder file (.pst). Browse to its location and let it do its stuff.

 

[spx]

Worked perfectly Igorian, got all my licences back and most importantly my joke emails

In all honestly mate thank you very much

You're the man!!!

 

[JohnD]

And now, back up your data and do it at least once a month.

One method is to use Windows Files & Settings Transfer Wizard

Put your backup disks in the shed or the boot of your car, or at work (where you will still have them if your house burns down)