Hi, the backstory (short version) My husband was using one of my computers to work from home during quarantine. He saved everything to the desktop and did not back anything up (!).
So, when Windows 10 blackscreened and stopped functioning, and none of the usual Windows tools to fix it worked. We were trying to do the various fixes that would result in him keeping his files, but nothing worked. Windows Repair, System restore etc. At that point, if it was just for myself, I'd just reinstall Windows but since he didn't back up his files, and I don't know how to retrieve them, we had to call a "repair guy."
We asked the repair guy to retrieve my husband's files and reinstall Windows. You would think that was a very easy task for someone whose job it is. However he took several days (despite many 5 star reviews on Yelp) and kept saying he was "almost there" -- it was a bit worrying.
Well, he finally returned, claimed that we were good to go, except he gave a garbled explanation of how he had "moved Windows to your SSD drive" ( it only has an SSD drive, right? Where everything goes on C, and then there's a D partition for the backup of Windows, right? )
He said, "your C drive looks full but dont worry, I put Windows there. It's faster that way." I didn't know WTF he was talking about, but I figured if it worked during quarantine, fine, I'll worry about setting it up a better way after the pandemic. My kid is supposed to take her AP exams on this computer next week! I was just glad to have it back, with his claim that it's working.
However, it is not working at all, and now I need to be pointed in the right direction to fix it. My husband's files are there on his desktop, he's now backed up what he needs, so now I can start over and try to fix what this guy did -- but I need advice.
When I look at the computer, the files are there, but our programs are not -- no antivirus, no Windows Office, no Acrobat, no SpiderOak, no nothing.
And the storage looks like this:
This PC (C
13.4 GB used out of 13.4 GB
Windows (D
108 GB used out of 930 GB
What did he do, right?
So in order to do his work, my husband tried to put his Office 365 on there. Nope. Obviously it wouldn't save to C, because C is full, and it wouldn't allow us to change locations in the storage settings, and save to D.
Edited to add: Repair guy replied: He says " The only reason why this is not behaving is because I kept the drive as is. Usually during a resinstall the drive must be cleaned and everything backed up but it doesn't like any remnants of old Windows. I thought we couldmake it work and be able to retain the old structure but it doesn't want to connect like I wished it would...There is no charge for the [second] restore I'm offering because it is part of the same job. I'll justreplace everything fresh and put your files there. All you will have to do is reinstall the programs. I'll have it ready in 2-3 hours."
But if this would have worked the first time, why didn't he do it? None of my programs are there now either, and everything is on the D drive and he made it completely inaccessible.
Does this make sense to anyone?
So...I'm at the level where I am pretty good at following instructions and making my own minor fixes and re-installations, but faced with a problem like this, I have NO idea what the heck is wrong. Can you please point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
So, when Windows 10 blackscreened and stopped functioning, and none of the usual Windows tools to fix it worked. We were trying to do the various fixes that would result in him keeping his files, but nothing worked. Windows Repair, System restore etc. At that point, if it was just for myself, I'd just reinstall Windows but since he didn't back up his files, and I don't know how to retrieve them, we had to call a "repair guy."
We asked the repair guy to retrieve my husband's files and reinstall Windows. You would think that was a very easy task for someone whose job it is. However he took several days (despite many 5 star reviews on Yelp) and kept saying he was "almost there" -- it was a bit worrying.
Well, he finally returned, claimed that we were good to go, except he gave a garbled explanation of how he had "moved Windows to your SSD drive" ( it only has an SSD drive, right? Where everything goes on C, and then there's a D partition for the backup of Windows, right? )
He said, "your C drive looks full but dont worry, I put Windows there. It's faster that way." I didn't know WTF he was talking about, but I figured if it worked during quarantine, fine, I'll worry about setting it up a better way after the pandemic. My kid is supposed to take her AP exams on this computer next week! I was just glad to have it back, with his claim that it's working.
However, it is not working at all, and now I need to be pointed in the right direction to fix it. My husband's files are there on his desktop, he's now backed up what he needs, so now I can start over and try to fix what this guy did -- but I need advice.
When I look at the computer, the files are there, but our programs are not -- no antivirus, no Windows Office, no Acrobat, no SpiderOak, no nothing.
And the storage looks like this:
This PC (C
13.4 GB used out of 13.4 GB
Windows (D
108 GB used out of 930 GB
What did he do, right?
So in order to do his work, my husband tried to put his Office 365 on there. Nope. Obviously it wouldn't save to C, because C is full, and it wouldn't allow us to change locations in the storage settings, and save to D.
Edited to add: Repair guy replied: He says " The only reason why this is not behaving is because I kept the drive as is. Usually during a resinstall the drive must be cleaned and everything backed up but it doesn't like any remnants of old Windows. I thought we couldmake it work and be able to retain the old structure but it doesn't want to connect like I wished it would...There is no charge for the [second] restore I'm offering because it is part of the same job. I'll justreplace everything fresh and put your files there. All you will have to do is reinstall the programs. I'll have it ready in 2-3 hours."
But if this would have worked the first time, why didn't he do it? None of my programs are there now either, and everything is on the D drive and he made it completely inaccessible.
Does this make sense to anyone?
So...I'm at the level where I am pretty good at following instructions and making my own minor fixes and re-installations, but faced with a problem like this, I have NO idea what the heck is wrong. Can you please point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram