Tragic thing happened with "My Documents".

[Flight_Sim]

I have a new computer but today I was listening to music on my old pc.I uninstalled a few editing programs for Need for Speed,I then uninstalled Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2.The uninstallation took much longer time than usual.When it finished the music I was listening to immediatley stopped and I got an error message about the file being missing.I checked my other songs and I got the same message.I then decided to see if my pictures were okay,every single picture of about 2000 were all gone,in fact every file in "My Documents" was gone.I went to recycle bin and looked there,nothing,I tried system restore,it brought back the files I had uninstalled but all of my music and  pictures were still gone.Can someone please help me get these files back?Those pictures have extreme value to me,they were of vacations and family.Please help.

[richardd43]

Try doing a search at  http://tucows.com/  for data recovery. There are a number of programs there. You might find something that will work for you

[rootbeer]

I feel your pain. I lost a 300Gb hard drive in an enclosure about a month ago to a spark when I touched it to turn it on. I still have not done anything with it because I work so much and I just don't have the ambition to go through having Western Digital replace it under warranty (it crapped-out in less than three months-- what do you expect for just $275?).

I guess the lost pictures are the part of the loss that is so hard to take.  I, too, have pictures of my family on my machine. Maybe we should all copy our cherished memories to CD, DVD or the best solution-- to a website that posts pictures and videol. Once it's on the web, it's out there forever...

[congo]

Once it's on the web, it's out there forever...

No, it's only out there until their hard drive dies with you're info on it. The internet is other computers, similar to yours.

Unfortunately, people don't realise the importance of backup until they have been through something like this, it's a hard lesson.

It might be too late, but don't touch the hard drive, anything you do now is possibly overwriting your precious data, if you are willing to lose some of it, try a home solution, if you want a full recovery or the best possible, see a pro.

I'll add that this wasn't all your fault, it was the result of badly written software, and this is why you tick that little "I agree with everything no matter what" box before it goes on to install your software. They know how valuable your family photos are, they just don't want to know about it, and they make it quite clear they have no intention of being responsible for any damage that comes from it. You were indirectly warned in the fine print, you took some risk, and now you learned that these machines are not 100% reliable.

I'm sorry for you, but don't despair, you stand a good chance of recovering the data, it may cost though.