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PC wiped , reverted back to windows 7?

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  • 02-02-2019 6:25pm
    #1
    Uinseann_16
    Registered Users Posts: 769 ✭✭✭


    Hi this morning PC which my parents use has completely wiped all user data and even windows 10 off the PC, my father pressed F11 as the screen prompted this morning and ran recovery but there was a empty USB key in the PC so I think it tried to use that as a recovery drive? And blanked everything from the PC photos of us as children through the years my parents wedding photos and loads of important documents. Now my father said he only pressed F11 and the computer did theater itself . I've previously told him not to touch it if it doesn't boot right.
    I can't find the backup external HDD I made I think it was thrown out into a skip by mistake by my parents
    Is there any hope of recovering the data from the HDD
    The PC is currently prompting to set it up for the first time , I am trying to run recovery of the data but it's not working


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    #2
    Uinseann_16
    Registered Users Posts: 769 ✭✭✭Uinseann_16


    This is what is happening as I press F11


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    #3
    DopeTech
    Registered Users Posts: 6,797 ✭✭✭DopeTech


    Uinseann_16 wrote: »
    This is what is happening as I press F11

    Looks like you are recovering the factory image for a 2nd time meaning recovering your W10 files is now close to none. Was anything backed up to Google drive/one drive?


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    #4
    Uinseann_16
    Registered Users Posts: 769 ✭✭✭Uinseann_16


    Sir Dosser wrote: »
    Looks like you are recovering the factory image for a 2nd time meaning recovering your W10 files is now close to none. Was anything backed up to Google drive/one drive?

    No unfortunately I my Google drive wasn't on the main account, would anything be recoverable at this point?


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    #5
    DopeTech
    Registered Users Posts: 6,797 ✭✭✭DopeTech


    Uinseann_16 wrote: »
    No unfortunately I my Google drive wasn't on the main account, would anything be recoverable at this point?

    Things will have been written over twice. They're gone.

    Install a fresh copy of W10 on there and install Google drive so this doesn't happen again.


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    #6
    Teddy Daniels
    Closed Accounts Posts: 445 ✭✭Teddy Daniels


    Uinseann_16 wrote: »
    No unfortunately I my Google drive wasn't on the main account, would anything be recoverable at this point?

    You need to remove the drive and put it in an enclosure or dicking station and read it with a different pc
    It that’s not productive then you could bring it to a recovery place.


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    #7
    Uinseann_16
    Registered Users Posts: 769 ✭✭✭Uinseann_16


    Sir Dosser wrote: »
    Things will have been written over twice. They're gone.

    Install a fresh copy of W10 on there and install Google drive so this doesn't happen again.

    No real point now, it's as well to get new PC this one is about ten years old.
    Thanks anyways lad , I thought I might've been able to save the photos there's very few of them left now with the PC ones gone


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    #8
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 14,011 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    The photos can probably be recovered ....... but if you continue to write to the drive then there is less likelihood of any recovery.


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    #9
    Uinseann_16
    Registered Users Posts: 769 ✭✭✭Uinseann_16


    Johnboy1951 wrote: »
    The photos can probably be recovered ....... but if you continue to write to the drive then there is less likelihood of any recovery.

    I stopped and just left it alone.


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    #10
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 14,011 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    Uinseann_16 wrote: »
    I stopped and just left it alone.

    If you want to try yourself you will need another operating system ..... maybe a Linux distro running from a Live USB ...... and a spare drive to copy the recovered files to.

    Suggestions for recovery applications

    https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

    https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

    I have successfully used both while running Linux.

    Good luck.


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    #11
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,167 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    You *MIGHT* get some back if they were further out the platter as the format job will have put Windows back on the start of the platter.

    You won't get file names though so sorting them back out will be messy if you do get em back.



    I advise doing nothing until you get somebody who's done recoveries before to help. Its a low yield scenario as is.


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    #12
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 14,011 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    ED E wrote: »
    You *MIGHT* get some back if they were further out the platter as the format job will have put Windows back on the start of the platter.

    You won't get file names though so sorting them back out will be messy if you do get em back.



    I advise doing nothing until you get somebody who's done recoveries before to help. Its a low yield scenario as is.

    IIRC testdisk, as well as recovering partitions, can recover files with names in certain circumstances.


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    #13
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,167 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Yes, but in this case both the MFT and its recovery copy will have been purged (maybe twice). Thus the names won't exist anywhere anymore.


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    #14
    degsie
    Registered Users Posts: 8,747 ✭✭✭degsie


    Teddy Daniels wrote: »
    You need to remove the drive and put it in an enclosure or dicking station .

    Ah here, that's a bit harsh!


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    #15
    DopeTech
    Registered Users Posts: 6,797 ✭✭✭DopeTech


    degsie wrote: »
    Ah here, that's a bit harsh!

    Keep it away from the thermal paste!


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    #16
    Skerries
    Registered Users Posts: 12,446 ✭✭✭✭Skerries


    that can lead to a solution
    Untitled Image




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    #17
    Kickstart1.3
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 186 ✭✭Kickstart1.3


    Don't throw away the harddrive or do anything else with it. The photos can be recovered. I wrote a program a few years back that would read the drive one byte at a time looking for the signatures of the photos. There's plenty of software available now to do it yourself or you can send the harddrive away to a specialist to do for you at a cost
    https://www.cleverfiles.com/disk-drill-windows.html


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    #18
    FGR
    Registered Users Posts: 2,455 ✭✭✭FGR


    As a matter of interest how is the PC performing on a fresh copy of windows 7 vs 10?

    I agree with many posters here - there are software recovery options to try and get the photos back.


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    #19
    7znbd9xmoiupye
    Closed Accounts Posts: 126 ✭✭7znbd9xmoiupye


    Is there a windows old folder anywhere? I do not know much about 10 by my win 7 creates a windows old nfolder when reinstalled

    how would it have booted from an empty usb?


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    #20
    tuxy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,983 ✭✭✭✭tuxy


    Darian Square Pipe wrote: »
    Is there a windows old folder anywhere? I do not know much about 10 by my win 7 creates a windows old nfolder when reinstalled

    how would it have booted from an empty usb?

    A clean factory install of windows 7 was installed from a hidden partition of the hard drive using cyberlink PowerRecover.
    Everything will be setup the same as the first day you got the PC so no old windows folder.


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    #21
    KAGY
    Registered Users Posts: 1,091 ✭✭✭KAGY


    Darian Square Pipe wrote: »
    Is there a windows old folder anywhere? I do not know much about 10 by my win 7 creates a windows old nfolder when reinstalled

    how would it have booted from an empty usb?

    The PC booted from a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive, the usb had nothing to do with it. Common for the last few years as manufacturer doesn't need to supply disks.

    There is a chance to get some photos back using photorec, (even if some are just thumbnails) as the recovery image doesn't fully overwrite the main partition.


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