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IT help - Laptop files disappeared

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by mad dawg, May 30, 2011.

  1. mad dawg

    mad dawg Member

    My laptop is about 4-5 years old and has had its shares of issues, but what happened the other day baffles me. The battery died and it wasn't plugged in, so the laptop turned off. When I turned it back on, all of my files were gone. Even Word was not installed anymore. And of course I don't have stuff backed up on a cd somewhere.

    Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can recover my files or any advice?
     
  2. SpeedTchr

    SpeedTchr Well-Known Member

    from a help site:

    A place to look

    In Windows XP, files containing music, pictures, Word documents, internet shortcuts, and the like, are all stored in a folder that is usually found in the path C:\Documents and Settings\useracct, where useracct is the name under which the user logs in to the computer. Every user on the machine has a different folder, and if, for some reason, the user is logged in under a name different from the one they’re accustomed to, it can appear as though personal files are gone, because the desktop shortcuts they're used to will no longer point to the correct places on the hard drive.



    Have your relatives do the following:



    Right-click the mouse over the Start button and select Explore.
    This usually opens an Explorer window to the Start Menu under the active user account.
    Above that, in the list pane to the left, the folder hierarchy for Documents and Settings should appear
    Under that folder, all of the accounts that have been set up on the system should have their own folders. Even a deleted account will have a persistent presence there.

    User specific data is stored in a hidden folder called C:\Documents and Settings\useracct\Application Data

    Music is stored in a folder called C:\Documents and Settings\useracct\My Documents\useracct’s Music

    Pictures are stored in a folder called C:\Documents and Settings\useracct\My Documents\My Pictures



    They should look for the missing files and folders in that hierarchy.
     
  3. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    Have you tried turning it on again? Mine does that intermittently, where it opens basically in safe mode, and all my stories/photos/applications are gone. I restart a few times, and they're back.
     
  4. mad dawg

    mad dawg Member

    Thanks for the tips. We did find it all in the user account file.
     
  5. Lorenzo B. Echols

    Lorenzo B. Echols New Member

    I Have the same problem with my laffy and i lost all of my files...the only way to do is reformat.. ;D

    cold sores on lips
     
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