Help recovering files after Vista install

March 9, 2010 7:00 PM

Is there any way to find files that were deleted during a Vista reinstall? (more inside)

I reinstalled Vista Home on a laptop after a virus infection and just discovered that I need some of the files from it. I'm going to assume that it did a format since I deleted and recreated the partitions during the install. Is there anything at all that I can use to recover this? I've used Recuva a few times but saw in the FAQ that it doesn't work for formatted drives.

Thanks!

posted by Raichle to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

There may be a folder somewhere on your computer (probably in the root C:\ directory) called Windows.old. If it exists, and it does by default when doing a reinstall, you should be able to get your files out of it. If not, then no. Unless these files are of life/career threating importance, kiss them goodbye and let this be another lesson for all to back up your data.
posted by sophist at 9:50 PM on March 9, 2010

TestDisc and PhotoRec (in this case, TestDisc) is likely your best bet. I have successfully recovered files (an outlook .pst file) from a reformatted drive which then had a different OS installed.
posted by TomMelee at 5:24 AM on March 10, 2010