Invisible Existing Data After System Recovery eMachine T6212

[Wye]

After doing a system recovery (non-destructive, no reformatting), my personal files which were to remain intact somehow disappeared. They would still seem to exist on the hard drive since I still have only 13 GB left on my C drive just like before (out of 160 GB), but where's the back-up folder that would include them and how to I get them to reappear? This never happened to any of my other eMachine systems, but this one, T6212, is proving to be a real mystery.

 

[ronintexas]

They should be in the "USERS" folder. You may have to take ownership of the folder if your default username/password is different from your previous installation.

 

[Wye]

They should be in the "USERS" folder. You may have to take ownership of the folder if your default username/password is different from your previous installation.

Thanks. I had checked that folder before, along with a whole slew of others, but found nothing except for a couple of system file type entries. Just double-checked it again and still nothing, and this is under the 'show hidden files and folders' option. The computer did have a password before, but it was removed long before I did the restore, but the username was changed in the process of the system recovery from whatever it was before (the computer originally belonged to my nephew so I don't know what his username was) - if by username you mean what you want to name the computer when you're setting up the computer or doing a system recovery of it. If that's so, then what should be my next step?

 

[ronintexas]

If you right click on a folder (i.e. the users folder), go to properties, click the security tab, then click advanced, then click the owner tab. Click advanced - make sure your current login name is in the "change owner to" box (you can get the users in the "other users or groups" button). Make sure to place a check mark in "replace owner on subcontainers and objects" - then click apply.

You will take ownership of all files and folders under the user folder.

 

[Wye]

If you right click on a folder (i.e. the users folder), go to properties, click the security tab, then click advanced, then click the owner tab. Click advanced - make sure your current login name is in the "change owner to" box (you can get the users in the "other users or groups" button). Make sure to place a check mark in "replace owner on subcontainers and objects" - then click apply.

You will take ownership of all files and folders under the user folder.

I guess I forgot to mention which OS I'm on, it's an XP. After clicking on Properties, all I get are options for General, Sharing and Customizing. Only the General tab has Advanced, which only lists Folder Ready for Archiving, Allow for Index Service and Compress Contents to Save Space, with only Index Service being check-marked while the other two come with blank boxes. The only other user folders I have are All Users, User Data and User Mode.

 

[ronintexas]

Here is where the data should be: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6083.windows-xp-folders-and-locations-vs-windows-7-and-vista.aspx

 

[ronintexas]

Security settings for XP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308419

It has been a long time since I have messed around with XP......

 

[Wye]

Here is where the data should be: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6083.windows-xp-folders-and-locations-vs-windows-7-and-vista.aspx

Well, I don't know what to tell you. I compared the MS site and where it says the files should be with my own computer's listing and it doesn't really sync up the same way. I've got the Documents and Settings and subfolders All Users, Default User and Owner but not $USER$. Nevertheless, checking in the folders that I do have, Local Settings and its subfolders appear only under Default User, while Owner seems to have a number of files in its Temp folder, 7 GLF-named files, 3 DLLs, and several other different system file types, but nothing really that indicates that files are stored in any of them - the files are too small in size for it. The other Temp folders have nothing in them. So, I don't know. Short of any other possibilities, I think I just might have to do major surgery on the computer and do a complete reformatting of it factory default settings tomorrow. At least that should erase all the invisible personal data I think I still have on it but can't access, which would restore the hard drive to its full 160 GB state. Ya think?

 

[ronintexas]

Owner is probably the user that was created (this was default for Windows XP I believe). Make sure you take ownership of the folders in the documents and settings folder.

Next - try a search for the files (i.e. *.JPG, *.DOC, etc....) and see if you can find anything in there.

 

[ronintexas]

The folder %USER% or $USER$ is shorthand for the user name (instead of $USER$ - replace it with OWNER or the login name).

 

[Wye]

The folder %USER% or $USER$ is shorthand for the user name (instead of $USER$ - replace it with OWNER or the login name).

When I click on the OWNER folder to bring up the Properties, I get the same options as I mentioned before, General, Sharing and Customize, with only General having the Advanced tab which gives me options for Archiving, Index Service and Compress Contents. So it kind of looks like I'm going around in circles. But I thank you for your time and patience with this, if you think this is far as you can go with any solution for this. Fortunately, the invisible files are duplicates that I was using to create some order out of disorder before archiving them on disks, so all won't be lost if I reformat the computer tomorrow, just the time I spent creating some order out of the disorder on those files. But I'll still hang in till about noon to see if something fix for this available before I go that route. - I mean, if some fix for this becomes available before I go that route. I think I'm getting sleepy.

 

[kellie moak]

I think I just might have to do major surgery on the computer and do a complete reformatting of it factory default settings tomorrow.