Hi everyone! I need help!!
BACKGROUND - My laptop was running slow and lethargic, so I decided to reinstall Windows 7. I took all important files off the computer and put it on a backup external hard drive. One of the files I put on the external HD was a Windows 7 image file.
WHERE THINGS WENT BAD - The reinstallation of Windows 7 was troublesome. The DVD was not working. I tried making a bootable USB drive with the Windows 7 image (using PowerISO) and I couldn't get it to start the install process. By accident, on one instance of trying to get the computer to start the reinstall, I left the USB plug for the external HD plugged in to the laptop. To my surprise, upon reboot, Windows started installing and it worked great! BUT, after I had finished the installation and went to put the files from the external HD back on to my laptop, all my files were gone. The hard drive had renamed itself to WINDOWS_7_H (which is the start of Windows 7 Home Premium). All the backup files are still there ... I know they are. But the drive now only shows the files associated with the Windows 7 installation.
HELP - Is there a way to get the hard drive to revert back to its previous state? Is the use of a file recovery program the only way I'm going to get the files back? Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you so much in advance for your help.
BACKGROUND - My laptop was running slow and lethargic, so I decided to reinstall Windows 7. I took all important files off the computer and put it on a backup external hard drive. One of the files I put on the external HD was a Windows 7 image file.
WHERE THINGS WENT BAD - The reinstallation of Windows 7 was troublesome. The DVD was not working. I tried making a bootable USB drive with the Windows 7 image (using PowerISO) and I couldn't get it to start the install process. By accident, on one instance of trying to get the computer to start the reinstall, I left the USB plug for the external HD plugged in to the laptop. To my surprise, upon reboot, Windows started installing and it worked great! BUT, after I had finished the installation and went to put the files from the external HD back on to my laptop, all my files were gone. The hard drive had renamed itself to WINDOWS_7_H (which is the start of Windows 7 Home Premium). All the backup files are still there ... I know they are. But the drive now only shows the files associated with the Windows 7 installation.
HELP - Is there a way to get the hard drive to revert back to its previous state? Is the use of a file recovery program the only way I'm going to get the files back? Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you so much in advance for your help.