Help! I've lost everything!

ali · #1 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 02:01 PM

Hi,

I really hope someone can help with this. I accidently sent my computer into 'System Restore' without backing anything up, I know - big mistake.

Obviously, I lost everything - photographs, music, work, email contacts, the works. I had it repaired and the guy changed the motherboard and somehow managed to get back some of my files.

When I turned on the computer there was one file named 'Recovered Data', inside were 15 sub-files:

GIF files (5927)
JPEG Graphics file (14758)
WAVE sound (7916)
Bitmap Image (2921)
JPEG Camera file (401)
MPEG Audio Layer3 (310)
PNG Image (4609)

All of which I CAN open and:

AVI Clip (109)
Office Excel Documents (1)
Office WORD Documents (8)
Outlook Express Data File (179)
ZIP file (513)
Office PowerPoint Document (1)
Outlook Data file (3)
winRAR file (132)

All of which I CANNOT open.

I don't even know what these files are, i'm hoping they're the ones i'm trying to get back. Any ideas how I can open them? Particularly the ZIP files, winRARE files and Outlook Express Data file.

Any advice welcome.

Thanks all

D-A-L · #2 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 02:33 PM

Hi Ali,

What actually happens when you try to open the AVI, ZIP, Word files?

ali · #3 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 02:47 PM

Hi,

When I try to open:

AVI files - the Windows Media Player screen comes up with the error message saying it does not support the file type or codec

ZIP files - Notepad comes up with a screen full of writing that does not make any sense at all

Word files - Wordpad comes up, again with a screen full of gobble-de-gook

Any ideas?

Digerati · #4 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 02:49 PM

Quote:

I accidently sent my computer into 'System Restore' without backing anything up, I know - big mistake.

Obviously, I lost everything - photographs, music, work, email contacts, the works.

Obviously? No. System Restore does not mess with your data files and does not require you to backup first. In fact, typically, System Restore frequently creates new points on a regular basis.

D-A-L · #5 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Word files - Wordpad comes up, again with a screen full of gobble-de-gook

Is Microsoft Word still installed on the PC? Can you find it and run it from the Start > Programs menu?

ali · #6 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-A-L

Is Microsoft Word still installed on the PC? Can you find it and run it from the Start > Programs menu?

Microsoft Word was never on the computer (I was suprised to find it wasn't). There is a Microsoft Works word processor that I can run from the start menu.

Does this help?

ali · #7 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digerati

Obviously? No. System Restore does not mess with your data files and does not require you to backup first. In fact, typically, System Restore frequently creates new points on a regular basis.

Do I mean System Restore? Or was it something Recovery.... as you can tell, I have not got a clue about computers! All I know is, I managed to completely wipe everything: Windows, the lot. I just need to know how to open those files!!

Digerati · #8 (**permalink**) 23-10-2009, 03:58 AM

You might try QuickTime for the AVI file. With Excel and PowerPoint documents there, it sure looks like you had Office.

Cannot open word processor files in Microsoft Works

D-A-L · #9 (**permalink**) 23-10-2009, 10:20 AM

ali, do you remember the file name of any of the files you are hoping to get back? It may be a good idea to start with a few searches via Start > Search and then choose say "Documents" as the file type and enter a keyword to relate to what you are looking for.

If you can locate the main files that are important to you can I suggest you make a backup of them first and foremost before trying to make any other changes to the computer.

Either you did have Microsoft Word and Excel at some point to have created those files as Digerati said or otherwise it is possible someone has recovered your Microsoft Works files for you and saved them as Word files. I would speak with the repair guy and find out exactly what he recovered for you and why there are now Word files which you cannot open.