Can anyone help? Which Data recovery software?

Wortle

I have had a catastrophe. Closed my laptop as usual and opened it to mayhem. Followed instructions given, and windows immediately did an automatic update. I found I had been given a "temporary profile" I tried a system restore in safe mode. There was no point to restore to except prior to the automatic update just witnessed.
Then I followed the instructions to delete the.bak file given here, http://www.edwardsd.co.uk/work/2012/02/you-have-been-logged-on-with-a-temporary-profile .
The temporary profile messages have gone, but there is zero data. A chkdsc run shows a very empty C drive.

I am guessing that I am now on a rescue mission (pls dont mention the back up word, hubby dropped the external hard drive with that on at Christmas and we are stuck there too, it never rains....)

Has anyone used any software recovery data? Googling shows there is loads out there, but genuine recommendations from folks who have successfully recovered stuff, preferably from a similar episode, would be most welcome. Or can someone can recommend a firm who do this at a reasonable price? (Hertfordshire/Wessex stomping ground). It is mainly photos I am seeking to recover. CD's I can load up again, most admin stuff was in the cloud.

Thanks for reading.

bob_a_builder

Well you will need to get the HDD out and into another PC as 2nd drive - or use a USB caddy to be able to access it from another PC

I've used GetDataBack many a time to recover peoples data from damaged HDDs

That was a year or two back but expect its only got better

LINK

Quite a long process,
I think they offer a trial so you can see how successful it might be if you buy it - most do

securityguy

Wortle wrote: »

Then I followed the instructions to delete the.bak file given here, http://www.edwardsd.co.uk/work/2012/02/you-have-been-logged-on-with-a-temporary-profile .
The temporary profile messages have gone

I doubt you're running Server 2008 with terminal services or remote desktop services on your laptop. So following instructions aimed at cleaning up a common operational problem on software you weren't running in an environment completely different to your own was a bold move. Google is sometimes not your friend.

Wortle

Thanks b_a_b. Will look into it, but I think that removing the hard drive is beyond my capabilities.

Security guy...you are right. By bold you mean stupid of course, and I wouldnt disagree,

NiftyDigits

Wortle wrote: »

Thanks b_a_b. Will look into it, but I think that removing the hard drive is beyond my capabilities.

Security guy...you are right. By bold you mean stupid of course, and I wouldnt disagree,

It is probably easier than you might imagine. The other option is to use a Live CD that contains PhotoRec.

Look here for examples.

In simple terms, you create the disk, boot up from the disk, run the program(it runs in memory, not the hard drive) and it should scan the hard drive for your photos and output them to the path that you choose.

mattyoung1990

I had an external hard drive cave in on me and used a program called 'Recuva'. It retrieved around 98% of my 700GB of data (mainly the odd song here and there that it failed on)

macman

Removing the hard drive on a modern laptop takes 2 minutes. Open the hatch (usually via the underside) by removing a couple of screws, drive can then be slid out. USB caddy from a fiver on ebay.
Much better to do this first than start playing around with amateur data recovery software, which may just overwrite more of the data. If you want it done professionally then prices start at around £350-and can go much higher.
I have regretfully to point out that you've had nearly a month since Christmas to create another backup. Always work on the basis that your drive can and will fail-today.

securityguy

Wortle wrote: »

hubby dropped the external hard drive with that on at Christmas

You have to drop quiescent disk drives pretty hard in order to damage them. Wouldn't it be worth opening up the enclosure, extracting the disk and putting it into a new external enclosure (which would cost about a tenner)? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If that doesn't work, you're probably going to need to extract the hard drive from the laptop and put it in an external enclosure anyway, so if you haven't got one already, you'll need to get one.

Wortle

Thank you everyone for your help. Still puzzling over what to do. Will sleep on it and see if anyone else comes up with any other options.

closed

how are you running chkdsk if the c: drive is empty

install this, put *.jpg in the box

http://www.voidtools.com/

the data may still be there, just not under your profile

--

if you've really deleted important data, do a recuva deep scan http://www.filehippo.com/download_recuva

backup (disk image not clone) properly in future http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx to an external hard disk, never put master copies on external drives, and also burn photo's etc to dvd as well.

this is also useful to have in your toolkit (a bootable live cd) for unbootable machine situations http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/download.html

Backbiter

I had a very similar experience to the OP when I turned my works PC on after Christmas. It also created a new user profile for me, making my data inaccessible. I had the techies in for a couple of hours, who gave me full ownership and full permissions/ admin rights so I could try all sorts to find the data, which was not showing up in the C Drive properties.
I downloaded Recuva, which found loads of stuff of mine, but it was not in any obvious location, and retrieving it would have been on a file-by-file photo-by-photo basis. Even when it displayed the file path, the files it found were not actually visible when I went into the location Recuva had found. In many cases the file path was given as ?
The fact was, Windows had deleted the files (bypassing the Recycle Bin), but that didn't mean they had been wiped. They were still on the hard drive, but not yet overwritten.

I then found another free data retrieval program called Glary Undelete, which was absolutely fantastic. It didn't just find the files, but found the folders they were in, and so it was a much quicker process to restore everything folder by folder. I had the impression that Recuva was able to do this.
When you do restore them, you must copy them to an external drive, not to your hard drive, as this would overwrite many of your files.
Good luck in your efforts. Persistence certainly paid off in my case.