I goofed! Upgrade problems

[snowman]

OK, I goofed, I didn't back up my relevant data before trying an upgrade from ME to XP Prof. So, the upgrade itself was mostly a failure. I did get it to work, but slowly. Long story short, a good excuse to replace an obsolete maching. But, my assumption that the data wouldn't be lost in an upgrade install seems wrong. I've attached my old hard drive to my laptop and can't find my data from "My Documents" even though the folders are there.

Is there any hope or did the new OS overwrite my data.

Mike

(who doesn't know as much as he thinks and feels stupid right about now)

[pip22]

I've never installed a newer version over an earlier one so I can't say what's supposed to happen to your old 'My Documents' folder. I've always backed up 'my documents' first, then wiped the partition and installed the new OS onto it, cos that's always the best way to do it -- it avoids any conflicts with old system files and leads to a more stable system. I'm guessing that the 'My documents' folder you now have is the one that Windows XP has created, over-writing the previous one that had your files in it.
If that's the case, I think you've lost them permanently. Even if your upgrade method is not supposed to over-write your documents, it would have been (and always is) wise to copy them first to another partition or to a CD-R. A lesson learned -- the hard way!

[insertcg]

i know if you reinstall windows it will show the my documents folder of the old user and it will show that there are no files inside of it, but it will not allow you to open it. if you boot up in safe mode and log in as administrator and change the permissions of the folder you can open the folder and get your documents back

[snowman]

Originally Posted by insertcg

i know if you reinstall windows it will show the my documents folder of the old user and it will show that there are no files inside of it, but it will not allow you to open it. if you boot up in safe mode and log in as administrator and change the permissions of the folder you can open the folder and get your documents back

That would be great. Will this work the same if I am now using my HD connected to my laptop as an external HD via a USB connection? ie, I can't boot to my HD.

Mike

[insertcg]

im not positive about that but it may give it a try and if it doesn't work let me know and ill check around

[snowman]

Originally Posted by insertcg

im not positive about that but it may give it a try and if it doesn't work let me know and ill check around

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried as much as I can to find hidden files. I can open all of the folders and have hidden folders and files displayed.

Yesterday I finished running a trial version of Stellar Phoenix recovery. Took forever just to scan, but there is some stuff still there. I think I definitely lost my outlook .pst file and a MS Money file that will be tough to recreate. Live and learn, though I knew better.

Anyone know of any recovery apps that are supposed to be better than others?

Mike