My GF upgraded from 7 to 10 - almost all files lost!

[san-holo]

Hi to all,

 

I'm a long time LTT fan, but this is my first topic here, so sorry for any mistakes.

 

Basically what happened: my girlfriend has a laptop (Acer, few years old) and Windows suddenly decided to automatically update from Win 7 to Win 10. She never wanted to upgrade, but it happened, so screw it. The update went smooth, everything seemed fine after. Except the desktop wasn't the same. Folders and program shortcuts were not there anymore. There was nothing in the "My Documents" and "My Photos" folders in explorer. Shortly after we found all the files in /Users folder and moved them to the empty "My Documents/My Photos", so she could access it faster.

It seemed like at this point that Windows had created a new (temporary?) default account when it upgraded, that's why nothing was there.

 

Everything seemed normal now... until the first restart.

 

Windows wasn't done upgrading. After the system booted up, the desktop was normal again (as it was in Win 7), all shortcuts were where they should have been the first time. The only problem - all the previously moved files were GONE!! No documents or photos anywhere.

 

Naturally I tried data recovery with EaseUS Data Recovery program. I knew there were at least about 15-20GB of files that have gone missing. Found nothing. Soooo... files were not deleted?

Okay, I ran WinDirStat, to see what files were on the PC. Turns out that the C:\Windows folder takes up 30% of the PC (40GB). Half of that is in the "winsxs" folder. Is this even normal? Most of the files are small sized - just like photos - but they are mostly .dll.

 

Is it possible that those .dll files are the lost files? And how to get them back? Has anyone had a similar problem?

 

I hope you guys can help me out, because I'm running out of ideas. Also took it to a Tech store, they couldn't do anything. Please help, I'd really like the files back

 

 

TL;DR:  win7 upgraded to win10, files went missing, loads of (probably) new .dll files created in C:\Windows folder while upgrading, need files back, please help

 

[vanished]

I would say check in the "Windows.old" folder (I think it's called).  Otherwise just restore from backup.

[san-holo]

Forgot to mention: I downgraded back to Win7 now... "Windows.old" is empty. There is sadly no backup or restore point.

[vanished]

Just now, san-holo said:

Forgot to mention: I downgraded back to Win7 now... "Windows.old" is empty. There is sadly no backup or restore point.

oh.  Well sorry you had to learn the importance of backups in this manner  

[samcool55]

There might be a way tho, no idea if it will work out for you.

https://www.piriform.com/recuva

The free version should do the trick.

Now it isn't as easy as it sounds.

What you need to do is take her hdd, connect it to another computer that has a lot of free disk space, the more the better, you will need it.

Install the software on that system and try to let the software recover as much data as it can.

Restore the recovery NOT on you gf's hdd! Put it on your own computer or somewhere else, but keeping the amount of stuff that gets written to her HDD to an absolute minimum, that's the only way to keep up the chance to get something back.

[san-holo]

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

oh.  Well sorry you had to learn the importance of backups in this manner  

Yeah I'd be happier if the HDD just died or something. But this thing that happened with Win 10 is just so bizzare...

[san-holo]

2 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

There might be a way tho, no idea if it will work out for you.

https://www.piriform.com/recuva

The free version should do the trick.

Now it isn't as easy as it sounds.

What you need to do is take her hdd, connect it to another computer that has a lot of free disk space, the more the better, you will need it.

Install the software on that system and try to let the software recover as much data as it can.

Restore the recovery NOT on you gf's hdd! Put it on your own computer or somewhere else, but keeping the amount of stuff that gets written to her HDD to an absolute minimum, that's the only way to keep up the chance to get something back.

 

Thanks for the idea sir I will try it on my desktop PC.

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 minute ago, san-holo said:

Yeah I'd be happier if the HDD just died or something. But this thing that happened with Win 10 is just so bizzare...

I had a windows 10 upgrade cryptolock over a TB of family photos and movies. 

[vanished]

1 minute ago, san-holo said:

Yeah I'd be happier if the HDD just died or something. But this thing that happened with Win 10 is just so bizzare...

For future reference, in hopes this doesn't happen again, it is actually very easy to make sure Windows doesn't "automatically" upgrade to Windows 10.  There are lots of news articles about this happening to people but as far as I can tell, it's not like windows actively went against their will; they just let it happen.

 

In order to not let it happen, follow these simple steps:

1. Be careful and use common sense when installing updates.
   • This means set it to notify you of updates but not automatically download or install them
   • When updates are available, look through the list, and don't let it install anything that you don't want.
2. Do not let it install "Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3035583)"
   • Contrary to its name, this is just the little windows 10 upgrade icon that sits in the system tray
   • I believe it is the gateway to future pressure to move to Windows 10, since I have not let it install and have never been pestered, reminded, offered, or anything automatically changed on me.
   • A reminder now to follow point #1 - this little guy will sneak its way back into the offered/recommended update list from time to time so keep an eye on things!

Follow those simple rules and you should be perfectly safe from the aggressive advances of Windows 10 in the future