[Archived] Hard Disc Wiped on Laptop

[Paul]

So this is not one of those disguised I've screwed up but I'll pretend it's someone else threads!!

My wife works for the NHS and is issued with a laptop for all her computing needs. I've seen this machine from time to time but never taken much notice of it other than trying to help Mrs Paul with any problems she has using software. From memory it is (well was!) running XP Pro with MS Office 2000. I'm certain it was Outlook 2000 because I once had to help with setting up mailing groups by saving a mailing list from a received e-mail and it was very different from 2007 which I know quite well. When I say it was running it isn't running anything right now!

Mrs P tells me all staff save their work to a shared drive which I presume updates to a central server which also makes routine backups. Users can save to the Desktop and the local C drive but these files are not on the shared central drive. In Outlook 2000 e-mails in the Inbox (the one at the top of the folder tree apparently) are archived centrally. My wife had another "In Box" below the main one in which she "archived" (I don't think this is correct) e-mails she still had to work with. Apparently the main Inbox capacity is very limited and users have to empty it regularly during the working day. Mrs P is convinced this second Inbox is an archive. My experience tells me this cannot be so but I've tried having that discussion!! I have always understood secondary folders in Outlook are only archived if the user sets up the necessary procedures.

On Monday Mrs P accidentaly pressed a Function key which she says is "the one which restores the laptop when you have a problem." I don't know about this but it seems to me a function key which does an automatic restore is very dangerous and unlikely to exist. The result is her local hard drive has been completely wiped meaning all work saved to the desktop, local HD and crucially 100s of locally "archived" e-mails have been lost.

The tech support guys say they have never seen anything like this and it is not possible to rescue the HD at all.

So two questions - is it really possible to have a single key which can wipe the HD or a combination of accidental key strokes which have this effect? Secondly I've always believed, and have seen, a HD can be rescued even after a total failure of the machine, am I right or wrong?

Any comments or ideas my wife might be able to put to the tech support people would be much appreciated.

thanks...............................

[Ste B]

So this is not one of those disguised I've screwed up but I'll pretend it's someone else threads!!

My wife works for the NHS and is issued with a laptop for all her computing needs. I've seen this machine from time to time but never taken much notice of it other than trying to help Mrs Paul with any problems she has using software. From memory it is (well was!) running XP Pro with MS Office 2000. I'm certain it was Outlook 2000 because I once had to help with setting up mailing groups by saving a mailing list from a received e-mail and it was very different from 2007 which I know quite well. When I say it was running it isn't running anything right now!

Mrs P tells me all staff save their work to a shared drive which I presume updates to a central server which also makes routine backups. Users can save to the Desktop and the local C drive but these files are not on the shared central drive. In Outlook 2000 e-mails in the Inbox (the one at the top of the folder tree apparently) are archived centrally. My wife had another "In Box" below the main one in which she "archived" (I don't think this is correct) e-mails she still had to work with. Apparently the main Inbox capacity is very limited and users have to empty it regularly during the working day. Mrs P is convinced this second Inbox is an archive. My experience tells me this cannot be so but I've tried having that discussion!! I have always understood secondary folders in Outlook are only archived if the user sets up the necessary procedures.

On Monday Mrs P accidentaly pressed a Function key which she says is "the one which restores the laptop when you have a problem." I don't know about this but it seems to me a function key which does an automatic restore is very dangerous and unlikely to exist. The result is her local hard drive has been completely wiped meaning all work saved to the desktop, local HD and crucially 100s of locally "archived" e-mails have been lost.

The tech support guys say they have never seen anything like this and it is not possible to rescue the HD at all.

So two questions - is it really possible to have a single key which can wipe the HD or a combination of accidental key strokes which have this effect? Secondly I've always believed, and have seen, a HD can be rescued even after a total failure of the machine, am I right or wrong?

Any comments or ideas my wife might be able to put to the tech support people would be much appreciated.

thanks...............................

Many manufacturers, rather than supply disks create a recovery partition where if you press a function key will bring up a set of options that would allow you to restore the system to factory settings. It should not just be a case of press the function key and it will automatically wipe it, but should give you enough warning.

There will be very little you can do to get any data back.

I always save to the "My Documents" folder when working locally, and copy that to either an external disk or onto the work network.

[Paul]

Many manufacturers, rather than supply disks create a recovery partition where if you press a function key will bring up a set of options that would allow you to restore the system to factory settings. It should not just be a case of press the function key and it will automatically wipe it, but should give you enough warning.

There will be very little you can do to get any data back.

I always save to the "My Documents" folder when working locally, and copy that to either an external disk or onto the work network.

I was afraid this might be the case.

I can't count the number of times I've told her about backups at home and work. In the office we have a single folder with multiple sub-folders which everyone saves to. That main folder then backs up every eight hours to an external drive. It ain't difficult but people only seem to learn the hard way.

[LeChuck]

There are ways of possibly retrieving data after it has been formatted. I think there are specialist companies who can do it, and there is also a bunch of software around on the internet that claim to be able to recover lost data.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk - that's an open source (free) one you can try. I don't think it'll an easy point-and-click job though.

[dave birch]

If the drive has been wiped, it may still be possible to reclaim it, but at a cost.

Whether you are prepared to pay is another matter.

[SuperCat]

I recommend you look at the following programs:

MiniTool Power Data Recovery

Piriform Recuva

Shouldnt be a problem.

You need to take hard drive out of laptop and add it to a working Windows rig.

Make Windows find the drive and then you can run one of the above programs to scan and see what you can recover.

[SuperCat]

Just to add

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition - 1Gb free recovery

[Paul]

Thanks for all the help people.

It looks as though any locally saved docs have gone as the IT people have formatted the drive, re-installed etc but the GOOD NEWS is Mrs P has found recently backed up copies of much of many of these which are only missing revisions for the last week or so. Even better the department stores all e-mail on some sort of web based "server" and she will be able to download all of this when she has the time.

Hopefully I'll be able to emphasise the need to back up every day at some point in the near future.

[thebigguy]

After Format you can still get files from the hard drive just not all of them so if the IT guy has told you that he is mis-informed.

Easy way to explain is you have a set muddy coins scattered all over a table. You pick them all up so its clear of coins(reformat/delete) but there is still some mud there(file information) and they never actually vanish from that area until you have put something else into the same spot wipe clean(computer terms = put a new file into the same section).

This is the reason if you chuck a hard drive out after a reformat the criminals/media can still get at the information

Also if there is no partition on the hard drive you can still recover the information from the hard drive.

First task for recoverying information is to attached the hard drive to another computer(Never recover the hard drive thats actually currently being used to run windows/programs)

Then run a program like Zar recovery program. Can take a few minutes to a couple of hours to find all files. then its a case of highlighting ones you want to copy over.

[roverandout]

i have had to reset my laptop to factory settings 4 times in the 3 years i have had it, my laptop cost me £750 as well.