Windows 7: "Startup Repair" deleted my files!

Hi all



I have a problem that, whenever the power goes out and comes back on, Windows Startup Repair launches. I disabled that now; however, yesterday after startup repair finished about 1.6GB of executable files were gone from my computer. These are important files that I downloaded for a customer, and they were virus-free.

I really don't want to re-download them all with South Africa's crap internet bandwidth; and since I can't imagine that Microsoft would be stupid enough to build something that will delete files without confirmation, I'm hoping that maybe they were just moved to some sort of "quarantine" folder... Can anyone confirm this, and maybe tell me how to get my files back, please?

Hello lotster, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums!

Do you have an Uninterpretable Power Supply (UPS) connected to your computer? If not, and if I understand your power outage situation correctly, then Microsoft or Windows 7 is not likely the cause of your lost files. Disconnecting the power from a computer Operating System is never a good thing. If the computer is locked up, then the damage is already done and the only choice left is to shut off and power up again. But doing that ALWAYS takes the chance that files and data can be damaged. The same thing is true if you are moving data to or from a USB flash drive and it gets unplugged. What is left of the file system is unreadable by any computer.

If you have enabled "Restore Point" and have a Restore Point saved when the files were in tact, then restoring to that point in time might bring back the lost files.

Otherwise, you might be able to recover some of the lost data with hard drive recovery utilities. They are mostly expensive. It would most likely take less time to download them again. If your customers data is that valuable, then a $50 USD UPS is a must investment.

Cheers!
Robert

Similar Experience...possibly

I have just begun to roll out a few Windows 7 machines. Had a user either have a hard lockup or loss of power while away from the office. When he powered back up startup repair ran, he indicated that it took about 15 minutes.

Looking at the machine today for the first time. It is no longer on our domain and there are no programs installed. Folders for all apps are still there however all (or most) .exe’s are gone.

I say possibly because I am still in the process of investigating this. It does not appear at this point that a virus is the culprit.

I have experienced this exact same thing: Windows 7 "startup recovery" deleted many many exe files (and I think vxd files) in a variety of locations including:

1) all files in the downloads folder including chrome install, firefox install, tvu player install

2) all executables in program files (chrome and firefox folders were there but no .exe)

3) all executables in driver locations including c:\dell and Nvidia drivers on the desktop

4) all shortcuts on the desktop (probably due to a registery restore)

I have started a new thread on reddit.com about this problem:
I'll just run Windows 7 startup repair. Since I have all my drivers and essential program installers downloaded getting going again will be a snap. Wait, WTF?!!!!!! : geek

Pretty odd.

If you have a shadow copy of before the event, you can find your files and ( export) copy them back with the truly excellent free ShadowExplorer