Any computer savvy folks out there?

KenziesMomma11

Last week I had to do a system restore in safe mode on my HP with Windows 7. I noticed today that alllll my photos are gone. I have an 8 month old little girl and I NEED those photos!!!

Please help!

Tanya761

I know a little about computers, but with a restore, they might be gone for good. IMO, I wouldn't try anything myself, but take your computer in and see if they can get them back. Back them up from now on!

NonchalantX

System restore should only affect Windows files/registry etc. If you can't find them maybe they're in a hidden folder? Anyone else have access to the computer who may have moved them?

kristilovescake

I don't know enough about computers or what you did to be able to know if they're gone for good, but a word of advice is to back up your important documents (especially pictures) MULTIPLE times from now on. Get a flash drive or external hard drive AND burn them onto a CD in the future.

If you completely reformatted your computer, they're likely completely gone. It might be a good idea to take it into a computer place to see if they can get it back. You'll pay out the nose, but unless you have a "tech guy/gal", I would take it to a pro.

slim_photographer

they may be gone for good. but try this
- hit "windows key" + E to open windows explorer
- then in the right top search box type *.jpg

this will search for all the images in your drive. it's unlikely that you have saved them as tiff or png but also try *.tif and *.png in the search just in case.

erxkeel

to the cloud!

jram70

If you put them on your computer after the date which you restored computer to then they will not show up. Restores are snapshots in time. If they were there before that then there is a problem with the restore image. You can try different restore points to see if you get them. FWIW, $59 a year will say you in the future. Check out carbonite.com. I use them and have never had a problem. They even have a phone app that you can get access to your backed up files from - came in real handy when I needed my son's SSN number one day.

magichatter06

System restore should only affect Windows files/registry etc. If you can't find them maybe they're in a hidden folder? Anyone else have access to the computer who may have moved them?

I think this too... I wouldn't think that a system restore affects your photos. With Windows 7 isn't there a search feature? If you remember what they are named maybe you can find them through that. I have done a system restore on my computer before and never lost pictures.

gracielee1

depends on the size of the restore.

KenziesMomma11

No, this is not a shared computer...except for with my Husband.

I was also thinking they shouldnt go anywhere with a system restore.

I am NOT computer savvy and have no idea where to look?

♥_Ellybean_♥

With Restore, if you did a total restore back to Windows MFg. than they are gone.

Consider an online storage for photos like Snapfish or Flicker, even Walgreens has it now. So in the future you won't lose anything.

KenziesMomma11

no, they were all on the computer before the restore. TONS of photos of my sweet little baby =/

Lorie66

I have done this before and the local geek shop told me the photos are on the hard drive and you have to take it in to have them restored..its no cheap but well worth the memories. Always have a backup system or burn your photos to a CD first...

mfpseven

System restore generally refers to a full restore to the point at which the operating system was installed, I assume you did this because you thought you had(or confirmed) a virus?

If you lost any of your program files as well, which you should have with a full restore, those files were erased. Including any photos not backed up to an outside disk before hand.

If you had any uploaded to imgur or facebook you can re-save the files from those sites, good luck.

KenziesMomma11

only found windows images (background, logos..)

KenziesMomma11

yes....

Levi_Hansen

If you are running windows Vista or 7 and do not yet own a hard drive, then you can't create a back up image of your computer. This is pretty important to do.

8gb flash drives are only like $8 and sold nearly everywhere. If you can't afford a hard drive to back up your music/movies/pics too, you can still probably afford a flash drive. Otherwise burn to discs!

KenziesMomma11

but things like skype that i downloaded before the restore are still available?

KenziesMomma11

again, some things like our bills we have saved in excel and that is still available, and skype that i downloaded...

yesiamaduck

System Restore does not and should not effect anything other then the computers registry (the files it loads up when it boots up) do you remember what any of the images are called?

May I suggest this

Press the windows key + e, this should open up windows explorer
In the search field (top right) type in .jpg this will search your entire computer for jpg files (make sure you select 'computer' on the left had side not c: d: or anything like that just computer)
All the results will appear in the windows explorer box once search is over
Try to locate the files
If you cannot find the files then they're no longer saved on the hardrive, seek out a harddrive recovery program
If you can find the files right click one of them and choose open file location, this will be where they're saved to

Having said that they maybe hidden, i got to go now but will give you more info soon

mfpseven

System restore should only affect Windows files/registry etc. If you can't find them maybe they're in a hidden folder? Anyone else have access to the computer who may have moved them?

I think this too... I wouldn't think that a system restore affects your photos. With Windows 7 isn't there a search feature? If you remember what they are named maybe you can find them through that. I have done a system restore on my computer before and never lost pictures.

I'm not sure what you are used to doing, but a system restore does exactly that, it restore the system to it's original state. wiping all non-essential data (files, malware, viruses) off of the hard drive leaving the base system intact. You then have to reinstall your program files and most of the time reset your settings. No files would be saved. That would defeat the purpose.

kevin3344

System Restore in Windows should only have effected your registry. Come to think of it the files might be hidden. Go to Control Panel > Folder Options > "View" tab > Look for "Show hidden files and folders". Then manually look for your files.

In the future you may want to use a free service called Syncplicity that automatically backs up your images and docs to the cloud. I think 2GB is free and have installed it a few times for friends.

KenziesMomma11

it gave me the option to restore to a date before the download of a program, which is what i did.

mfpseven

again, some things like our bills we have saved in excel and that is still available, and skype that i downloaded...

I'm not familiar with windows 7 but if you have any existing program files still present you very well may be able to find them, if you can th tech team might. You can take the computer in and have them do a restore but they may be corrupted which is why they no longer show up. Computers don't store all of your information in categories, any time you delete something the space it took of is used for new information, a lot of the time (especially with large files) that information is broken up. If the system restore effected any portion of the photos your computer would no longer be able to display that data

NonchalantX

System restore should only affect Windows files/registry etc. If you can't find them maybe they're in a hidden folder? Anyone else have access to the computer who may have moved them?

I think this too... I wouldn't think that a system restore affects your photos. With Windows 7 isn't there a search feature? If you remember what they are named maybe you can find them through that. I have done a system restore on my computer before and never lost pictures.

I'm not sure what you are used to doing, but a system restore does exactly that, it restore the system to it's original state. wiping all non-essential data (files, malware, viruses) off of the hard drive leaving the base system intact. You then have to reinstall your program files and most of the time reset your settings. No files would be saved. That would defeat the purpose.

We're discussing different things. The difference between System Restore and "PCRestore" effectively formatting it and returning it back to "factory" settings?

Levi_Hansen

We're discussing different things. The difference between System Restore and "PCRestore" effectively formatting it and returning it back to "factory" settings?

Yes. One is non destructive but not the other. I'm voting that she did a #2.

Saruman_w

Are there more than one user accounts setup on there? Perhaps you're browsing the files of the wrong one.. other than that you're probably searching the wrong areas. I'd try doing a harddrive-wide search of all images and sort the result by date to narrow down when you may have put them on there.

KenziesMomma11

i didnt name most of the photos but i did remember that i accidently named a folder of photos i uploaded from my camera "swining" instead of "swinging" and just searched that. it brought up the folder, i clicked on it, said folder is empty?!

KenziesMomma11

went into safe mode, went to to system restore, selected a date before the last download was done and everything seemed fine until i looked for a photo and realized they were gone =/

mfpseven

System restore should only affect Windows files/registry etc. If you can't find them maybe they're in a hidden folder? Anyone else have access to the computer who may have moved them?

I think this too... I wouldn't think that a system restore affects your photos. With Windows 7 isn't there a search feature? If you remember what they are named maybe you can find them through that. I have done a system restore on my computer before and never lost pictures.

I'm not sure what you are used to doing, but a system restore does exactly that, it restore the system to it's original state. wiping all non-essential data (files, malware, viruses) off of the hard drive leaving the base system intact. You then have to reinstall your program files and most of the time reset your settings. No files would be saved. That would defeat the purpose.

We're discussing different things. The difference between System Restore and "PCRestore" effectively formatting it and returning it back to "factory" settings?

Yes, that would explain it.

KenziesMomma11

what would explain what?

i selected a date that was just days before the virus or whatever crapped the computer out, so the photos were still there....