Cant find game files after pc refresh

[Austin Harrison]

So i updated to windows 8.1 because people said it was better and was a little better to navigate than just normal 8. Without much of a suprize since windows 8 is already hell the update made my computer almost unusable. all the update really did was add a start bar that just took you to the old app screen. After spending hours trying to fix it i decided to just refresh the computer. After about 45-1hour it finished and the pc was back to windows 8 and it still had most of my items still on the computer aside from most of the applications i downloaded such as steam, origins, skype and other things of the sort. then i looked at my hard drive and realized that even after the refresh 1.3ish Tb out 2Tb of the hard drive was still taken up. this is because i have many games and the old stuff installed. I was kinda hopeful that i would not have to re download all of them again and i then reinstalled steam and origins to just find out that the games had no files on steam and would make me reinstall them all over again. Then i looked all over my pc to try and find the files to see if i can just redirect their file location so i wouldnt have to download them again. The only problem is all i can find are saves and not the actual data on the games. I was just wondering if anyone knows where the computer put all the files because i cant find them anywhere and they are just taking up space that i will need and if they are usable that i can use them instead of reinstalling them all.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Okay, first you shouldn't have regressed back, as Windows 8 will stop being supported with the 'solution' to any issue being Windows 8.1 (aka wefixed it you need to upgrade). There is a WHOLE LIST of things it does fix, but you may not be aware of (http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/17/technology/enterprise/windows-8-1/). That said when you refreshed your computer you pushed the 'installation' into a new directory (Belive it is Windows.OLD) which has all the files, your documents, etc. Also under the modified path of it you will find the Origin and Steam Paths. YOU MAY need to edit your View in Windows Explorer to see HIDDEN and SYSTEM files to see the directory.

Anyway, do a search for Origin then Steam and "moving to new hard drive". There is lengthy ways to 'fool' each into 'redownloading' but what they do is read what you have on your drive folder you moved over and then confirm it is 100% downloaded, and activate it with alot less time wasted downloading. As for your game progress and such, as I mentioned the original profile is under the Windows.old\user\youruserprofile\ directories, BUUUUUUUTTTTT if you try and drag and drop especially BEFORE installing the games you can hose up your profile and need to wipe / reinstall again. Basically because of your 'refresh' you hosed restoring your profile 'information' (like progress in a game).

Now if you did achievements and so on THOSE are recorded on ORIGIN/STEAM servers, and will 'refresh down' but not the game 'save point'.

 

[Austin Harrison]

Okay, first you shouldn't have regressed back, as Windows 8 will stop being supported with the 'solution' to any issue being Windows 8.1 (aka wefixed it you need to upgrade). There is a WHOLE LIST of things it does fix, but you may not be aware of (http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/17/technology/enterprise/windows-8-1/). That said when you refreshed your computer you pushed the 'installation' into a new directory (Belive it is Windows.OLD) which has all the files, your documents, etc. Also under the modified path of it you will find the Origin and Steam Paths. YOU MAY need to edit your View in Windows Explorer to see HIDDEN and SYSTEM files to see the directory.

Anyway, do a search for Origin then Steam and "moving to new hard drive". There is lengthy ways to 'fool' each into 'redownloading' but what they do is read what you have on your drive folder you moved over and then confirm it is 100% downloaded, and activate it with alot less time wasted downloading. As for your game progress and such, as I mentioned the original profile is under the Windows.old\user\youruserprofile\ directories, BUUUUUUUTTTTT if you try and drag and drop especially BEFORE installing the games you can hose up your profile and need to wipe / reinstall again. Basically because of your 'refresh' you hosed restoring your profile 'information' (like progress in a game).

Now if you did achievements and so on THOSE are recorded on ORIGIN/STEAM servers, and will 'refresh down' but not the game 'save point'.

Wow thank you so much! i was scared i would have to redownoad everything and that would take forever! again thank you!

 

[ush10]

Okay, first you shouldn't have regressed back, as Windows 8 will stop being supported with the 'solution' to any issue being Windows 8.1 (aka wefixed it you need to upgrade). There is a WHOLE LIST of things it does fix, but you may not be aware of (http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/17/technology/enterprise/windows-8-1/). That said when you refreshed your computer you pushed the 'installation' into a new directory (Belive it is Windows.OLD) which has all the files, your documents, etc. Also under the modified path of it you will find the Origin and Steam Paths. YOU MAY need to edit your View in Windows Explorer to see HIDDEN and SYSTEM files to see the directory.

Anyway, do a search for Origin then Steam and "moving to new hard drive". There is lengthy ways to 'fool' each into 'redownloading' but what they do is read what you have on your drive folder you moved over and then confirm it is 100% downloaded, and activate it with alot less time wasted downloading. As for your game progress and such, as I mentioned the original profile is under the Windows.old\user\youruserprofile\ directories, BUUUUUUUTTTTT if you try and drag and drop especially BEFORE installing the games you can hose up your profile and need to wipe / reinstall again. Basically because of your 'refresh' you hosed restoring your profile 'information' (like progress in a game).

Now if you did achievements and so on THOSE are recorded on ORIGIN/STEAM servers, and will 'refresh down' but not the game 'save point'.

In my case my windows 8 on a dell inspiron automatically refreshed, all my apps are gone and my save games are gone as well...
so do you mean that in the hidden windows.old I can somehow restore those? what do you mean by

", BUUUUUUUTTTTT if you try and drag and drop especially BEFORE installing the games you can hose up your profile and need to wipe / reinstall again. Basically because of your 'refresh' you hosed restoring your profile 'information' (like progress in a game)."
?

 

[ush10]

?

 

[Tom Tancredi]

?

USH, this is not a service where we are 'waiting' to answer your questions, and you don't "bump" the question just because you didn't get a response in a hour!

Second, don't tread on someone else's thread if you have a problem, no clue what system your running or what your situation was, or what you did / didn't do to your computer. Start your own thread if you have a question.

Your quick statement "windows 8 on a dell inspiron automatically refreshed, all my apps are gone and my save games are gone as well..." is NOT the same thing as this thread (IF YOU READ IT). You did a system RECOVERY, which means RESTORE it to how Dell sold it to me, when I first powered it on. Yes it wipes it out, because Dell didn't have your save games, didn't sell it with the apps on it and so on. Next time just don't click through 'prompts' READ THEM, because they explicitly say AND ASK YOU that it will WIPE all DATA from your computer when you do it.

 

[ush10]

?

USH, this is not a service where we are 'waiting' to answer your questions, and you don't "bump" the question just because you didn't get a response in a hour!

Second, don't tread on someone else's thread if you have a problem, no clue what system your running or what your situation was, or what you did / didn't do to your computer. Start your own thread if you have a question.

Your quick statement "windows 8 on a dell inspiron automatically refreshed, all my apps are gone and my save games are gone as well..." is NOT the same thing as this thread (IF YOU READ IT). You did a system RECOVERY, which means RESTORE it to how Dell sold it to me, when I first powered it on. Yes it wipes it out, because Dell didn't have your save games, didn't sell it with the apps on it and so on. Next time just don't click through 'prompts' READ THEM, because they explicitly say AND ASK YOU that it will WIPE all DATA from your computer when you do it.

only apps and saves

 

[Tom Tancredi]

?

...
[b] it wipes it out, because Dell didn't have your save games, didn't sell it with the apps on it and so on.[/b] ...

only apps and saves

YOUR STUFF IS GONE YOU WIPED IT.

 

[ush10]

?

...
[b] it wipes it out, because Dell didn't have your save games, didn't sell it with the apps on it and so on.[/b] ...

only apps and saves

YOUR STUFF IS GONE YOU WIPED IT.

not the files

 

[Tom Tancredi]

?

...
[b] it wipes it out, because Dell didn't have your save games, didn't sell it with the apps on it and so on.[/b] ...

only apps and saves

YOUR STUFF IS GONE YOU WIPED IT.

not the files

Look, why are you ASKING me for advice then arguing with me about it when you obviously did not read any of the prompts NOR understand the concepts of Windows RESTORE and RECOVERY options????

WINDOWS told you, restoring to a previous point will remove all programs installed between today and THAT day your restoring back to . Like magically all the days in between NEVER HAPPENED. You Never installed the games, you NEVER played them, you NEVER saved in the games.

Your stuff is GONE. Reinstall the games (you should have the LEGAL licensed DVD or download from Steam/Origin/Amazon) and play it again. If these are NOT legal copies (i.e. TORRENTS) Tom's Hardware does NOT support the theft, use, obtaining, or support in any way PIRATED materials.