user account on xp=lost data

[big jacko]

hi all
i have accidentally deleted my administrator account on xp pro and all data has gone - i am totally up the left on what to do.
i went to system restore but on going back 24 hours it doesnt show any of my documents, just files but nothing in them, although the programs such as dreamweaver etc. were ok.

does anbyone know whats going on and how to either get back 24 hrs properly, or recover my data from my main admin account???

sever appreciation to anyone who can help....

 

[ekÆsine]

did you store the data in the my documents, my pictures, ect? if you selected to delete the user and all their files you may have lost that data in those folders. when you said there are files but nothing in them do you mean text files that are blank when opened?

there are some recovery programs that can get back the data lost, but i think there may be some people here that have a simpler solution.

 

[Narf!]

You can try PC Inspector File Recovery. It's free at http://download.pcinspector.de/pci_filerecovery.exe

I've recovered data with it even after formatting a hard drive. However, as you save new files/downloads on your computer those lost files will be overwritten and become unrecoverable. You don't want to make any changes to the disk until after you get your files back. If possible, install PC Inspector on a seperate partition. If you can't, then you can install it on the same partition, but run the risk of it overwriting some of your lost data.


-Narf!

 

[ekÆsine]

narf i was about to reply to him with the same exact thing, but i see you beat me to it, you are quick!

 

[Apokalipse]

when you delete something, it doesn't delete the actual file it just removes it from the File Allocation Table. As narf said, if you put new files into it then it will overwrite some of the deleted files.
the recovery programs search the actual data part of the hard drive (not the FAT) to retrieve "deleted" files

 

[big jacko]

ok guys, here goes for inspectore file recovery. top guys for helping me out, ill let u know what happens...

 

[elcoh]

pc inspector found my file ! It was in its search file but when I click on it nothing happens. how can I restore the file or is there a way to just open it?

 

[elcoh]

I RESTORED THE FILE. pc inspector was great but I just had to copy the file to cd and open it up on a different computer because they suggested not opening it on the same hard drive.