A number of the root dll’s in in windows (xp) on my comp got corruptted so I did a partial system restore where it was just supposed to restore the windows componets. Sadly it ended up wiping EVERYTHING on my computer and restored it to the factory settings. All my music, programs, samples, documents are nowhere to be found. I downloaded a couple freeware data recovery programs but they dont seem able to find anything. Am I completely screwed? Is there anything I can do?
I suspect you are either screwed, or into a no guarantees, and very expensive, specialist data recovery company. Some or all of your data may still be present on the hard disk, but you have probably lost the pointers to its distribution around the disk.
I suggest that you look at one of the methods of protecting your data better in future, and that if possible you also don’t keep any of it on your system drive. RAID, ghosted second HDD, DVDs, or one of the many variants of backup systems/software. As you have found, the single basket approach is risky.
External hard drives are amazingly cheap these days. I saw a 750 GB one for $279 at Fry’s. For under $100 you can get at least 160GB. Can’t afford $100? That’s good, because that means your files aren’t worth that much to you.
The above is a generic statement, not intended directly for anyone. Sorry about you data disaster! Sounds like you had three major problems:
Files not backed up
Something corrupting your root DLLs
Partial System Restore appears to have somehow turned into a full system restore.
I’ve never used Windows System Restore but if a full one is performed (returning system to factory defaults), there’s a good chance it started by formatting the HD. But this is often not a “full” format, may have just been the kind that “zeroes out” your master boot record. Most of your files might still be sitting there.
But if that were the case, your data recovery software should be able to find something. As these were freeware programs, you may need to try something stronger.
Local to me there is a data recovery company that promises “No data, no charge.” But they can probably find anything that hasn’t been overwritten, and the charge is probably significant.
Ask yourself how much your lost data is worth. If it’s equal to or greater than the price of a second HD (could be internal or external), buy one now to help prevent this from happening next time. There’s always a next time.
Also try to find out what corrupted your machine in the first place. Was your anti-virus/anti-malware software up to date?
Did you do a repair install from the original Microsoft XP CD as described here, or here, or here?
Or did you do a restore from an OEM supplied restore CD or recovery partition?
If it was an OEM restore CD or partition then call their support and find out what the particular restore option actually did. If you are lucky (very lucky) it may have copied over your user settings to a backup and created a new user. The support people will know. OEMs all do things differently in their own way so there are no general rules.
