How to recover personal files after loading XP restore disk?

After I installed Norton Antivirus 2009 , I lost my desk top icons, start button, etc. Just blue log in screen, that wouldn't allow me to log in. Ctrl-Alt-Delete, Esc, etc. would NOT work. So, I loaded my XP restore disk that came with my computer. All my personal family pictures, videos are gone. Is there anyway to recover the files from my HD or are they really gone? My IT friend said that the recover disk most likely completely deleted these files and restored my desktop to it's original purchase status. HELP! What can I do? Does the recover software you read about really work? Any advise would be helpful. Thanks

 

Shawna,

Sorry to hear about your problem. As Pete and your IT guy says, the data is probably lost. I do have another recovery program to try. It is Active@ File Recovery. I used it for a drive that was going bad and had great success with it. They have a trial version that will tell you what it can find. You will probably need to buy it if there are things it found. Well worth the $45 for the Professional version which I bought. Good luck.

Mike

 

Thanks---That's what I was afraid of......What 'bout those "HD recovery" services that you hear of that supposably cost a lot of $$$?

 

Thanks Mike, I will try that program. $45 is a small price to pay for years of memories!

 

I read that some data recovery software certainly work when you have a pure logical problem. The problem is to use them when the disk shows some kind of physical problem. In this case, the software automatically sweeps the drive and once more the worse can happen: the last chances of recovery without having to open the disk go down the drain, since some circuits stop working during an automatic recovery of this kind. Therefore you need to know when to use this feature. Do you agree?

 

Thanks

 

You're welcome. I hope something works for you. The program I mentioned allowed me to recover hundreds of pictures and other items from a drive that could not be accessed any other way. Their web site states, "Data recovery after disk partitions loss / format / damage" and "Files that have been lost by formatting, damaged by virus attack, a malicious program, or a power failure." Definitely worth a try to see what it can find for you.

Mike