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Resolved Question

XP restoring backed up data

Nov 9, 2011 12:10AM PST

My wife's computer is an EMachines W3644 running Windows XP SP2. AMD Sempron 2.21 GHz. 896MB RAM. HD is Western Digital 143GB. Right now she's using 23GB with 117GB free.

She got error messages that she was running low on virtual memory and that she had 0 (zero) hard drive space left. This is plausible because she saves everything on her computer and cleans off nothing - like a hoarder. All of the Program folders in the start menu showed "Empty" and everything on her desktop was gone. She was able to access her Desktop items and programs via Window Explorer.

My first thought was to clean up the computer. I had her back up all her docs and files onto an external HD. I emptied 3.5GB of stuff from the recycle bin, removed unused software. This didn't fix it.

Someone told me to run System Recovery from the vendor CD. It backed up files and programs, then restored the system to it's "out of the box" setting/software/etc. It created a backup folder on the C: that has all her software, documents, etc on it. It also has a new "Documents and Settings" and "Program Files" folder. I copied and pasted all of her docs from the backup folder into the 'new' folders. Still that didn't fix anything.

What makes this bad is that the stuff she needs most were in Outlook Express. OE backed up with the rest of her software. But no matter how she tries to open up OE, it's empty. Everything. All her emails and contacts on Outlook Express aren't showing up. XP's backup feature wasn't turned on so there's no way to go into System Restore and restore from a backup. Safe Mode didn't do anything either, I guess since the OS is fine.

The question: If it backed up OE, why can't we retrieve her data? How can we retrieve her data?

Discussion is locked

agavegrove has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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One of your statements has triggered a ...
Nov 9, 2011 5:08AM PST

question.

Your statement - "All of the Program folders in the start menu showed "Empty" and
everything on her desktop was gone. She was able to access her Desktop
items and programs via Window Explorer"

My question - did you perform any virus scans and malware scans PRIOR to trying to revert to factory config?

What your statement indicates is that quite likely your wife encountered a bit of malware that was going around a while back.

This link might help you out but since you already tried to revert to factory setup it might no longer apply but it is worth your time to try anyway:
http://hateadub.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/start-menu-folders-are-empty-start-menu-programs-are-empty/

Ask her if she had this Windows Recovery program that she installed (or allowed to install) as shown in this link's screen shot.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-windows-recovery

Do read the entire link as it, although lengthy, contains some good information that might help you out.

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One of your statements has triggered....
Nov 12, 2011 10:45PM PST

I keep the security on the computers pretty tight. So I didn't even think of malware. Therefore, I didn't do any virus scans. Based the messages and her trends of use I thought it was a legit error message.

The System Recovery is used in conjunction with the CD that game with the machine. I've used it before on my computer so it's legit.

unhide.exe didn't turn up anything. I just got back from being away at work so I haven't checked the other thing in the article.

Got a feeling I"m screwed on this one.... Thanks for your non-judgmental help

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Answer
Re: Outlook Express data
Nov 9, 2011 12:19AM PST

You write "I had her backup all her docs and files onto an external HD." Do I understand correctly she didn't understand that her address book and her mail folders also belong to 'all her docs and files' and she forgot to include those?

And do you also mean to say the when the "recovery from the vendor CD backed up 'files and programs' and while it created a backup folder on the c: with "all her software, documents etc" it forgot her address book and mail also?

And finally do you imply that she never made a backup herself of the stuff she needs most? Why not?

All you can do: search the external HD and the backup folder that was created for those files.
- The address book has the extension .wab.
- The mail folders have the extension .dbx
So you search for *.wab and *.dbx on those locations.

If found, copy (NOT: move) them to the place where Outlook Express expects them (that is, over the currently empty files that were created).

Kees

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wth
Nov 12, 2011 10:43PM PST

"Do I understand correctly she didn't understand that her address book and her mail folders also belong to 'all her docs and files' and she forgot to include those?"

Yes you understand correctly. "Docs and files" being the documents, photos, and stuff she saves on there. She didn't know to go deeper into the OS for anything else.

"And do you also mean to say the when the 'recovery from the vendor CD backed up 'files and programs' and while it created a backup folder on the c: with "all her software, documents etc' it forgot her address book and mail also?"I mean to say everything I said. I'm certain the backed up files are in there. I'm just trying to find them.

"And finally do you imply that she never made a backup herself of the stuff she needs most? Why not?"

Why not? Because she's a basic end user. Not a power user. Not a techno geek. Not a mod on a tech help forum. She didn't know how or what to do outside of what she did - copy stuff she knew from a location she knew to a backup device.

"All you can do: search the external HD and the backup folder that was created for those files.- The address book has the extension .wab.- The mail folders have the extension .dbx So you search for *.wab and *.dbx on those locations."
Thank you for the information. I'll try it out.

You know, that's really all you had to say. Whether or not you intended the first few of your questions came off sounding like an d0uche. Askers on here are looking for answers to a problem. Not some techie off in Internet-land interrogating us to boost their ego. Understand some people just get on their computer, check mail, use the word processor, play games and that's it. I don't appreciate you asking questions to make my wife sound like a dumba**. If helping a poor, simple end users on a tech-help board insults your capabilities that much, find something else to do and let someone who wants to help help.