Data lost....Help plz

[h_kunte]

DIDNT KNOW WHERE TO PUT THIS, & I AM DESPERATE FOR ANSWERS...SO I AM POSTING THIS QUESTION TWICE....

Friends,

My PC's boot file ( the hal.dll file which is there in the <system 32> folder in windows) got corrupted & I cud not boot my PC. I knew that my data was secure & I decided to boot from a windows XP SP2 CD. I followed all the instructions which were doled out by the installation wizard & I continued without formatting any partition on my HDD. After almost 50 long minutes the installation was complete & then to my utter dismay I realised that I had lost ALL the data which I had stored on my desktop. In fact, a completely new desktop interface had replaced my previous desktop. I also lost all the theme settings which I had made. Although the data in my HDD is safe ( I have 3 partitions) I realised that I cannot access the data. What I mean to say is:

1. The drive on which windows is installed shows ALL the programs in the <program files> folder which I had installed earlier, but not a single program is present in the start menu. Moreover, even if I access the program from the program files folder, they refuse to open up. Does that mean that all the data on the windows drive has corrupted? I cannot open even simple applications like winamp,WMP, yahoo messenger, Nero, zonealarm, NAV.....

2. I have lost all the drivers of my sound card & Grafix card. I realised this because I cud not hear songs even after re-installing WMP. Also, I cud not open any of my games...

3. All the rest of my data(which is on the other 2 partitions of my HDD) is safe & I can access it properly.

4. I lost all the data which was present on my previous desktop. I had a folder named "Downloads" which I had placed on my desktop & here I used to direct all my incoming downloads. Now that was a huge 3 GB folder & I have lost that now. IS there any way I can recover that folder?

5. My PC has become very very slow now. I have an AMD 3000+ proccy with a 1 GB RAM & still, the display is choppy even when I scroll thru any window. Can anyone figure out why this is happening? This particular thing worries me a lot...

6. When I press Alt+F4, I dont get the "stand by" button to click on. So, I can not put my PC on standby anymore.....

Well.....lot & lots of problems I believe. Looking forward to replies. Thanx a lot in advance...

h_kunte

 

[sakumar79]

1. Just reinstall your programs. If you had done a repair install instead of a reinstall, you should have been able to bypass most of the above problems...

4. Log in with an administrative account and go to C:\Documents and Settings. Select the old user account and select "Sharing and Security" in right-click menu. Go to Security tab and click on Advanced Button. Go to Owner menu and change the owner to your new account. Apply this for folder, subfolder and files is the option to choose when you press Apply or Ok button. Now, you should be able to access the old user's files.

5. Reinstall drivers for sound and graphics and other components (LAN, USB, etc)...

Arun

 

[abhasbajpai]

I had lost ALL the data which I had stored on my desktop. In fact, a completely new desktop interface had replaced my previous desktop. I also lost all the theme settings which I had made.

any type of reinstallation of microsofts latest oS replaces my documents and documents&settings folder and ANY DATA in them is lost
so you lost all the data from your desktop
you chances to recover the data are using data recovery tool
ontrack
or
recover my files
*www.recovermyfiles.com/
both are paid S/W BUT u can find other way round (ha ha ha)
and both have very good chance of data recovery
my suggestion dont use your computer till u get good data recovery s/w
as useging your computer you can write on the sectors used by your wiped data.

 

[choudang]

if you installed you prev OS @ C: and now u r are installed it @ D:... you can recover your file.. if you didn't format the C: ..
log into your admin acc and go to c:\documents and settings.. then go to your user_name folder \desktop.
or you can go to all_user foledr and got to desktop.

1. as you installed your OS on a new partition, you cann't execute your previous propgrams, which are installed on your prev OS.

2. Applies the 1 answer.

3. You can do it always.. cuz its not related to your OS, these are located in a diff partition.

4. try to follow the steps, which i gave you at the TOP... and if you are in a fussion.. use PC Inspactor File Recovery.

5. may be your VMam is using your both OS partition. make it system default for prev partition. install all the neccesary driver.

6. install graphis driver for your OS... without graphics driver.. standby is disabled

 

[abhasbajpai]

The drive on which windows is installed shows ALL the programs in the <program files> folder which I had installed earlier,

by this i conclude that u hv reinstalled windows on the same partation as before
so
your my document folder and document and setting folders are replaced with new one so u have to use a data recovery software (which i and other have told in previous replys) for your data on desktop.and buddy do it soon as u use the system the chances of data recovery diminishes
as for other things
reinstalling the softwares and drivers will solve your problem