Ayuda me! We lost all of our pictures:(

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he beholds

Puritan Board Doctor
Does anyone know how to retrieve items that are hidden somewhere in the depths of computerland?
I have tried a few free downloads, like undelete-plus, but to no avail. I don't know if I simply don't quite know how to retrieve them or they have already been overwritten. I can't imagine that all have been overwritten, though.

Our computer crashed, so we had to re-install the OS. I chose the option of the lesser re-install, where things would maybe be retrievable, and many programs were...but none of our pictures or documents.

I have most pictures backed up on CD and the newest ones are on facebook, so all hope is not lost. However, facebook makes them smaller when you put them there, so they are no longer of great printing quality.

Any help is appreciated.

Shalom,
jessi
 
Before you give up, there is always a computer shop hard-drive recovery service. But this would cost, although I'm not sure how much.
 
if you haven't - do a search on the drive(s) for *.*gif and *.*jpg as a start and see what turns up.

Where do I search for these? Click Start, expand that, and then use the "seach" tool?

And do I type *.*jpg

with the asterisks, just as above?

Or .jpg without the asterisks?


Or is that what you are suggesting I search for when using undelete-plus?

Thanks!!!
 
We were able to pull up about half of our pictures using the search function. I had to have my computer tech pull up the rest with his miracle recovery software.

Ahem. Backing up is so easy. I just never backed up all my pictures. Now I do.
 
Well, I did it first as .gif, then did *.*gif, then *.jpg, then *.*jpg and I can see the names of my missing files in the Searching C:\My Backup--08-12-13 0433PM\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\2007\...(names of smaller folders)

So I see that those folders are there, but no pictures are turning up:(
The first time I did it with .gif a lot of clip art-type symbols did show up in the search. But no pictures. And these last ones (with the various asterisks) are coming up with: "Search is complete. There are no results to display."

-----Added 12/15/2008 at 02:34:57 EST-----

It is an XP Media Center Edition 2005 Operating System Disc Dual-Core that came with our emachines computer in 2006
 
We were able to pull up about half of our pictures using the search function. I had to have my computer tech pull up the rest with his miracle recovery software.

Ahem. Backing up is so easy. I just never backed up all my pictures. Now I do.

Yes. Everyone should factor in about $50-60 in the cost a new computer for an external hard drive. It is not if a hard drive will crash, but when.
 
YAY!! I'm finding some! Can I save them directly onto a CD, so I don't overwrite? Or onto a memory card? Or I can wait until my husband gets home with a flash drive, if I must. I know I've read not to re-save onto harddrive, b/c that will overwrite some.
I cannot make a new section right on my computer where they can safely go, can I?


Oh, I am sooooooooo happy! Thank you guys soooooo much. We could not afford going the professional route, so I was trying to resign myself to the loss of these pictures!
 
YAY!! I'm finding some! Can I save them directly onto a CD, so I don't overwrite? Or onto a memory card? Or I can wait until my husband gets home with a flash drive, if I must. I know I've read not to re-save onto harddrive, b/c that will overwrite some.
I cannot make a new section right on my computer where they can safely go, can I?


Oh, I am sooooooooo happy! Thank you guys soooooo much. We could not afford going the professional route, so I was trying to resign myself to the loss of these pictures!

I would wait for the flash drive. Easiest, less chance for a problem.
 
We were able to pull up about half of our pictures using the search function. I had to have my computer tech pull up the rest with his miracle recovery software.

Ahem. Backing up is so easy. I just never backed up all my pictures. Now I do.

Yes. Everyone should factor in about $50-60 in the cost a new computer for an external hard drive. It is not if a hard drive will crash, but when.

OK, so that's how you really back the computer up? Not just saving on CDs...
What should I type in to seach for documents? .doc?
 
We were able to pull up about half of our pictures using the search function. I had to have my computer tech pull up the rest with his miracle recovery software.

Ahem. Backing up is so easy. I just never backed up all my pictures. Now I do.

Yes. Everyone should factor in about $50-60 in the cost a new computer for an external hard drive. It is not if a hard drive will crash, but when.

OK, so that's how you really back the computer up? Not just saving on CDs...
What should I type in to seach for documents? .doc?


I'm definitely no computer expert, but I back up all my family photos on 2 (duplicate) external hard drives. The typical cheap writeable CD isn't so durable and may not keep you data intact for very long. External hard drives are very simple to use, and memory is super cheap these days.
 
We were able to pull up about half of our pictures using the search function. I had to have my computer tech pull up the rest with his miracle recovery software.

Ahem. Backing up is so easy. I just never backed up all my pictures. Now I do.

Yes. Everyone should factor in about $50-60 in the cost a new computer for an external hard drive. It is not if a hard drive will crash, but when.

OK, so that's how you really back the computer up? Not just saving on CDs...
What should I type in to seach for documents? .doc?

Yes, that is how you back it up. You can set it to automatically backup with the right program.

When searching for documents, I would think you would search for *.doc (unless you have Office 2007, then you would also search for *.docx
 
Jessica, got to Google, and download the Google desktop. It goes through your computer and turns it into a mini Google, and you should be able to find everything. I use it to find stuff like pictures, lost emails etc..

And while you're at it, Google's Picassa 3 is a great, free way to edit, upload, organize etc.. your pictures. It's what I always use.
 
Well since I am of no help with technological issues, I figured I would assist with your spanish lol its not "ayuda me," its actually "me ayudan" :)
 
Jessica, got to Google, and download the Google desktop. It goes through your computer and turns it into a mini Google, and you should be able to find everything. I use it to find stuff like pictures, lost emails etc..

And while you're at it, Google's Picassa 3 is a great, free way to edit, upload, organize etc.. your pictures. It's what I always use.

concur
 
We were able to pull up about half of our pictures using the search function. I had to have my computer tech pull up the rest with his miracle recovery software.

Ahem. Backing up is so easy. I just never backed up all my pictures. Now I do.

Yes. Everyone should factor in about $50-60 in the cost a new computer for an external hard drive. It is not if a hard drive will crash, but when.

concur - I have half a terabyte...and I still backup online, too :lol:
 
Ayudar is the verb to help, and if you want some one to help you, you say what Jessica said ayuda me. If you're asking more than one person, you can say ayudan me, but what she said is fine. Me ayudan means they help me.

(Ayuda me is a phrase tree surgeons with Hispanic employees need readily on their lips in case of emergency, believe me)
 
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Jessica, got to Google, and download the Google desktop. It goes through your computer and turns it into a mini Google, and you should be able to find everything. I use it to find stuff like pictures, lost emails etc..

And while you're at it, Google's Picassa 3 is a great, free way to edit, upload, organize etc.. your pictures. It's what I always use.

I also have all my pictures in "My Pictures" and know I need to back them up. So Picassa 3 keeps them online for you? That would be great! Is there a limit as to how many you can store? I am ashamed to admit it, but I have pictures a year old still on my camera memory card!
 
Well since I am of no help with technological issues, I figured I would assist with your spanish lol its not "ayuda me," its actually "me ayudan" :)

Gracis, pero creo que si es la palabra correcta. (Pero olvido mucho espanol.)

Ayudar is the verb to help, and if you want some one to help you, you say what Jessica said ayuda me. If you're asking more than one person, you can say ayudan me, but what she said is fine. Me ayudan means they help me.

(Ayuda me is a phrase tree surgeons with Hispanic employees need readily on their lips in case of emergency, believe me)

Gracias, amigo! I thought so. I have used that phrase in Spanish speaking countries before and did receive help.
 
Yes, Janis, you can do it with their web albums or another host. I use pbase, which is 2 dollars per month. I suppose for high quality pictures it would be better to back them up, a when you upload picture to the net they can lose a bit of quality, although normally not enough to notice.
 
Jessica, got to Google, and download the Google desktop. It goes through your computer and turns it into a mini Google, and you should be able to find everything. I use it to find stuff like pictures, lost emails etc..

And while you're at it, Google's Picassa 3 is a great, free way to edit, upload, organize etc.. your pictures. It's what I always use.

Jessica, got to Google, and download the Google desktop. It goes through your computer and turns it into a mini Google, and you should be able to find everything. I use it to find stuff like pictures, lost emails etc..

And while you're at it, Google's Picassa 3 is a great, free way to edit, upload, organize etc.. your pictures. It's what I always use.

I also have all my pictures in "My Pictures" and know I need to back them up. So Picassa 3 keeps them online for you? That would be great! Is there a limit as to how many you can store? I am ashamed to admit it, but I have pictures a year old still on my camera memory card!

Does Picassa re-size the pictures? Does it also just go in and take them all, if I have now downloaded google desktop--which is really cool looking, by the way. I have to try to figure out what all there is to do with it.
Thanks!

I think I found all of my pictures by doing that search and when I found one, I clicked on properties, which told me where that picture was coming from, and I copied that address (C:\My Backup--08-12-13 0433PM...) and put it into Run and found all of the folders still in tact!
Thank you all so much!!!
 
I tried both Fred and both Mozy and Carbonite were incredibly slow and/or unreliable.

I like the idea that they fix the space at 150GB for $4.95/month (which is an awful lot). Their software always works and the uploads are very fast.

PLUS (and this is a big plus), you can back up multiple computers with each account. In other words, Carbonite and Mozy theoretically offer unlimited storage but it is on a per computer basis. Thus, if you have multiple computers to back up in a home then iDrive is much better.

I'm certain that Mozy and Carbonite have improved since I left Carbonite about 1 year ago and then Mozy about 6 months ago but I've been very happy with iDrive so far.
 
I tried both Fred and both Mozy and Carbonite were incredibly slow and/or unreliable.

I like the idea that they fix the space at 150GB for $4.95/month (which is an awful lot). Their software always works and the uploads are very fast.

PLUS (and this is a big plus), you can back up multiple computers with each account. In other words, Carbonite and Mozy theoretically offer unlimited storage but it is on a per computer basis. Thus, if you have multiple computers to back up in a home then iDrive is much better.

I'm certain that Mozy and Carbonite have improved since I left Carbonite about 1 year ago and then Mozy about 6 months ago but I've been very happy with iDrive so far.

Thanks. That is good to hear. I'll likely try it at least as a free version to start with.
 
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