Vladi Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Justin, I might have a few suggestions, I have extensive PC experience, but can you first clarify the following: 1) Did you lose only this document that you have been writing for 6 months, or you lost all your files from 6 months ago? 2) Did you get a message by windows that said something like it restored itself to a previously know good point? 3) In the folder that your document was, enable "show hidden files and folders" from the tools-->folder options menu. If you are lucky, there will be a hidden file with your last saved version of the document, the filename will begin with ~$ and will be named differently depending on the version of word you were using. Do not run any disk management tasks at this point. Vladi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 1. lost everything from the last 6 months, including the time, it was set to february, so i guess that is 8 months. 2. no message just a weird start up, tried to do it... failed and automatically tried again. 3. the entire folder is gone. it was made w/ in the last 8 months. did a search for all word files, found 145, the newest is from Feb. 14, 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Justin said: FWIW, my disks are NTSC... no stupid, what is it? something similar. NTFS - NT File System. That is the filesystem that was introduced with Windows NT and is also used under Windows 2000 and XP. It is supposed to be a much better filesystem in performance, stability as well as capacity. However, I don't think it is a "journaling" filesystem, in that all changes are kept track, thus if a disaster happens (as in your case), it can roll back to the point just before the disaster (thus the only thing lost would have been unsaved data). I could be wrong. Somebody else knows? Fat32 was the filesystem intruduced with Windows 95 OSR 2. It was designed to get past the 2.1 gigabyte partition limit of the old Fat16 filesystem (DOS and early windows). It was about that time when the big 2 gig plus harddrives where becoming more common. BTW, Vladi is also correct. You may want to try his suggestions also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Now, this may be a stretch, but perhaps the NTFS filesystem is a "journaling" filesystem. Sounds like the CMOS got screwed up in your system, thus the wrong date. When windows attempted to start up, it detected that it was improperly shut down due to the powerfail. It then proceeded to "rollback" any changes in the filesystem up to the date set, thus anything created after that date was considered "invalid" and thus lost. Now, this is just a theory. Without doing some research, I don't know if it is right or wrong. This may be a pulling at straws here, but try this - set the date on your comnputer to the "correct" date (today) and than just pull the plug without doing a shutdown. Restart and see what happens. (cannot screw it up any worse than it is already screwed up). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 that is what I was thinking actually! problem though. when the computer started up, a window poped up saying "Microsoft has noticed that your time is incorrect, would you like to update it?" something along those lines. since i have broadband, it just did it, no connection to the net needed to be made, so it was instantly back to the right time and date Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vladi Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Well, NTFS is a rather complicated file system, it is miles and miles better than FAT and FAT32. If anyone is interested, I can point you to readings... Justin problem looks to me more like windows is confused, it did some kind of restore and it went kaput. It does not look like a disk crash, because disk crashes don't pick up on your doc files. So, let's try a few things Justin 1) Check the recycle bin -- what's in there? If not useful empty it. 2) Run disk clean up to free some space, delete temp internet files, etc. 3) Log on to windows as Administrator. If you do not remember a password, leave it blank, or type Administrator. Start up System Restore. Restore your system to about two-three days ago. Lets see if this goes thru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vladi Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 It is a VERY journaling system, unless Justin has "tweaked it" not to be as some amateur websites sugest. Unfortunately, it does not keep track of personal files, only system protected files. Example: if you delete a protected system file, next time you reboot, the file will be restored, as if you have not deleted it. But I do not think that the problem is with the time, nor the disk crashed. Justin, how many user accounts on this computer? If you have a .NET passport, you can ivite me to help you and then I can tell you more about what it might be. My .NET passport ID is vddobrev@hotmail.com, but this must be when I get home in about 4 hours, I am on the west coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 i do have .net i had two usernames... Justin Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vladi Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 OK, I am online on MSN messenger all the time, so if you want, I can try and help around 6pm pasific time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 so... 8 PM CST? sounds great. mine is justin_tx_16@hotmail.com (imagine that...hehe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Now I think about it, you seem to be correct, vddobrev. I was just "thinking out loud" here. My expertise is more in Unix than Windows (Windows to me is just something to surf the net or play games on - although my latest couple of projects have been Windows based, so I am learning more of the intricasies of Windows ). We both agree that something went horribly wrong on Justin's computer after the powerfail and is most likely due to windows not properly "restoring" its previous good state (as what it was just before the powerfail occured). Plus the fact that is was a particularly catastrophic powerfail (as evidenced by a non-functional sound card and mouse) did not help matters either. I still think the CMOS settings got screwed up and Windows got confused during the "detect bad shutdown and restore" phase of bootup due to the wrong time in the CMOS (Justin indicated his system time was set to February and the latest files he could find are dated in February). The time update would not occur until after Windows was fully booted up. That also indicates that Justin may want to find a program, such as SiSoft SANDRA and do a diagnostic check on his entire system. There is no telling what else may have been damaged. I'll have to get a copy of Windows XP to "play with". The latest version of Windows I have on any of my systems is Windows 2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 would you say Sandra is the best for this kind of stuff? i almost went to Microcenter and picked up norton systemworks. let me know what you think! i also need a new antivirus, that was el losto as well. i HAD norton antivirus 2002, not the newest i don't think but it worked. i have been in search of the best... fire wall diagnostic program antivirus etc I tried panda, i loved it before, but it sure hates my computer... wait, so do I... maybe we are on the same frequency after all... i am about to switch over to linux... i never had this problem there, ofcourse i never had this type of power surge. thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eq_shadimar Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Some random thoughts: You may want to try the HD in a different PC. I would try and put the HD in this other system as the second drive (make sure to change the master/slave jumper). This test system should be XP or W2K. You may be able to read information off it this way. If this test PC also has a hard time seeing the entire HD then the drive electronics could be damaged. Anyway XP has lots of rollback features depending on how it was installed and configured. Justin did you do a standard install? Hope this helps, Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Man, I'm really sorry Justin, that is a royal bytch! I lost a CD-RW with a years worth of MP3's via a 56K modem. I have ZIP 250's and CD-ROM's in our gun safe that I update every week or so. I also have the ZIP hooked up so I can save important stuff while I make it. I think I have put about 3,000 hours into my CAD work, and that is probably the most valuable stuff I have. It's on three HD's, 2 sets of ZIP's and 2 sets of CD's. I would consider following suit. How about a hi-end external (firewire or USB 2.0) HD that you can back up all your data on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Justin, If your hard drive is still in working condition(mechanical side is ok and the PCB not fried)you can recoup almost all(if not all)data with OnTrack Data Recovery utilities.I've used this many times and each time it worked great! If a hard disk does not spin,FORGET doing this yourself as the machanical part needs pro service and very few centers open hard drioves to remove discs and recover data($2000 and up).If the PCB is dead anyone with the same make and model(revision)can use the PCB from another drive to recoup the data on the damaged unit(i've don this several times,mostly Quantum LM and AS models). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Yes, data recovery is horribly expensive, unless: A person had a sales company. ALL the personal data he had was contained on a 2 HD RAID setup. There was a lighting strike and it fried both HD's. He was shattered, those two HD's WERE is lifes work. One of the data recovery compaies got it all back for about $3,000. That is a bargan!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 lol, you guys are some back up freaks. jeezus, once a week? I have like 1,000 mp3's not to mention all kinds of other stuff so this would take an entire day to do, which I just don't want to do. , not to mention about 20 blank cd's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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