Lost folders - now files

Greetings all
My XP system suffered a grievous fault - possibly virus related . Failed to boot with a corrupt/missing file notice. On checking with a bootable floppy, also with my trusty Knoppix, I found that the Windows folder/directory was now shown as a plain file (32 Kb) & not openable. The 'My Documents' folder was still listed as a folder, but some of the subfolders including my user folder were being shown as plain files (16 Kb). There are also 3 'found' folders in 'My Documents' containing a large number of file fragments. I managed to transfer all files & folders to another drive with Knoppix, then reformatted and reinstalled XP.
My questions: Is it possible to restore the former folders/directories to their previous status? And is it possible to recover any data from the .chk files?
Any advice will be gratefully appreciated.

 

how much time have u got? and how critical is the data?

sure u can try putting humpty back together but it's not for the meek. there are many pay for services to handle this too.

anyway ... a disk editor would help here. norton's old one - DE - would allow u to combine the parts. been years since i've seen it nevermind used it but ... it's doable.

 

Thanks skeet6961. I guess the individual files won't be worth the trouble of trying to statch them together. I'm really more interested in whether files which used to be directories (folders) can be restored to their previous status. I.E. what are the characterstics which identify whether data is recognised as a directory rather than a file. And is it possible to restore those characteristics. Knowing whether it's possible and if so how it;'s done is more important than the raw data. I need to learn so that I too can answer questions like this. Thanks for your quick response. It's appreciated.

 

What you need is file recovery software. Take a very deep breath and follow the procedures below:

1. First make a copy of the existing hard disk - this is a bit by bit copy (disk cloning) and requires an exact extra hard disk and specialised software.

2. Attach this 2nd drive into a computer which has the data recovery software installed as slave. Boot into the OS and let the data reovery software run. Depending on the damage done, the number of files to recover, speed of the computer, RAM, speed of the hard disk and my friend Murphy this can take from a couple of hours to couple of weeks. So be patient.

3. Burn this recovered data onto CD/DVD or copy on some other media.

4. Try to open the recovered data from their respective programs.

Well easy - isn't it.

 

You should have use file recovery software on the hard drive before you formatted and reinstalled Windows. The copies you made with Knoppix might be corrupt and so unrecoverable as all the relevant parts might not have copied over. I can’t help with trying to recover or rebuild files/folders from these copies I’m afraid, all a bit beyond me.

It would have been best to have made the drive a slave to another drive with Windows on it and ran the file recovery software from there to salvage what you could. You then should have tried to repair the faulty Windows because if successful this would have offered the best chance of full data recovery.

As rsinfo said you can clone the hard drive as an extra safety measure so that you are not working on the original and possibly doing further damage to the data.

It may still be possible to run file recovery software on the drive and find some of your data intact. The reinstall of Windows will have mostly gone onto the same sectors of the hard drive that the original install occupied. If you have yet to fill the drive up with new programs and data then many sectors will have remained untouched and may still hold some of the original data.

 

Thanks for the responses & suggestions. Taken on board & mentally digested.
I should have said at first, that I had tried XP's repair functions from the install CD's. Neither option to repair would work because no Windows folder could be found. It's a file now , not a folder. So as far as 'repair' is concerned, there's nothing to repair. Thats why I took the track that I did. I should have thought to have cloned the drive rather than copy it 'cos I've got a good program which runs off a floppy. Anyway, I suspect that file restoration software would produce similar results. But I'll try it and see. I think that the data per se is not worth the effort, but I'm interested in pursuing it as a learning exercise. It helps in keeping me a mentally youngish 78.
I've given the matter more thought overnight and remembering earlier DOS days, come to this (simplified) conclusion. A file must have headers which the OS reads to determine what sort of file it is and its name. It seems to me that the header which identifies a directory (folder) has been 'stripped' in some way. If I could find out what that header is supposed to be, p'raps it (the former directory) could be restored using disk editing software. Is nortons disk doctor still available? Or something similar? I recall once upon a time resurrecting a floppy in this way. The trouble is one forgets some of these things because M$ insulates its users from the guts of the OS. And useful repair tools are hard to come by even if one knew how to use them. I don't know how long it'll be before I can get 'a round tuit' as I'm kept fairly busy one way or another. One of these days I might be able to retire and take up a simpler hobby - like brain surgery? Anyway, I guess I can eventually re-post if my experiences may help others.
I rabbit on. so thanks again for your suggestions.