Solved Desktop not working: I need my hard drive back!

[BinkerNate]

SUPERdelete is part of SUPERAntiSpyware, it cannot be uninstalled unless I completely uninstall SUPERAntispyware.

Also, here is what PW looks like when I have my HD highlighted. But, what is it that you want me to do with PW?

 

[Slartybart]

Please forget the window capture and stop posting the Cmd prompt images. I've already looked at the output file from the dir cmd.

If you wouldn't mind editing posts 98 and 101 to remove the cmd prompt images, I'd appreciate it. They are not useful and make the thread difficult to read.

Keep the PW image in post 101 - that is useful.

Open an elevated cmd prompt (Run as admin)
type the following cmd
powercfg -h off
exit
Restart your machine
Post another PW main window
edit: Don't highlight the drive - it obscures the information.

Thanks.

 

[Slartybart]

Then yes, uninstall SUPERAnti-Spyware.

 

[BinkerNate]

Open an elevated cmd prompt (Run as admin)
type the following cmd
powercfg -h off
exit
Restart your machine
Post another PW main window
edit: Don't highlight the drive - it obscures the information.

Thanks.

I don't know if it went through or not, as after I typed and hit enter, the system32 address that appears when cmd pops up reappeared again, no other message(s). Also, what is powercfg -h off? What exactly did I just do?

Then yes, uninstall SUPERAnti-Spyware.

And also, why uninstall that? That has never given me problems.

Anyway, here is PW:

 

[Slartybart]

SuperAntiSpyware is an unknown at this point - you can put it back on afterwards if you like

powercfg -h off turns off hibernation, restarting will delete the file
you can turn it back on afterwards if you like

did you restart your machine?

I also want you to turn off System Protection, as a test. you can turn it back on after wards.

However, don't just turn stuff off and the turn it back on again. First see if turning it off returned disk space. If it does, you can create a new partition and get HD2 off you c:\ drive.

If you don't get more space. a lot more space, then you can turn it back on.

If this doesn't reclaim the disk space, I'm out of options.

Did you read my suggestion about a new external HD? That would make this really simple.

 

[Slartybart]

thanks for cleaning up the extraneous images.

getting late - I might check your thread once more before hitting the sack.

 

[BinkerNate]

SuperAntiSpyware is an unknown at this point - you can put it back on afterwards if you like

powercfg -h off turns off hibernation, restarting will delete the file
you can turn it back on afterwards if you like

did you restart your machine?

I also want you to turn off System Protection, as a test. you can turn it back on after wards.

However, don't just turn stuff off and the turn it back on again. First see if turning it off returned disk space. If it does, you can create a new partition and get HD2 off you c:\ drive.

If you don't get more space. a lot more space, then you can turn it back on.

If this doesn't reclaim the disk space, I'm out of options.

Did you read my suggestion about a new external HD? That would make this really simple.

I did restart the machine, and it was 80GB from 73-74GB I had earlier. Then, I turned off system protection, then it went up to 83.5GB.

Also, you do know HD2 is a good folder. As in, no problems, right? I wouldn't get rid of it, unless you meant moving everything from inside that folder inside my documents, etc. then deleting it.

I will be getting an external hd in the near future to avoid all this again. Was that the question asked?

 

[BinkerNate]

It is weird: on My PC, under Windows it says 83.6GB free of 465GB. Yet, when I went inside Windows, and highlighted every folder inside, it came to 115GB total.

 

[Slartybart]

The final solution!

1) Boot with Lucid Puppy and make sure that you can still read the old files.
2) Shut down the machine
3) Disconnect the external drive
4) Boot with the iBUYPOWER Windows Reinstall disc
5) Select Reset from the Recovery options
6) After the machine is Reset, run Windows Update manually until nothing more is offered
7) Shrink your C: drive by 200 GB
8) create a new partition in the 200 GB of free space, format as NTFS
9) Boot with Lucid Puppy
10) Copy your old files to the new 200 GB volume you created, NOT your C:\drive
11) Restart Windows
12) You should be good to go.

That's all I have on the issue, good luck

Bill
.

 

[BinkerNate]

Okay, I saw that you deleted your posts, which I did saved onto my "7forums post" doc, so let me at least reply to everything you had, ending with the recent one.

Okay, here we go.

Was Super AntiSpyware uninstalled?

Yes it was, and still is until further notice.

Some updates: I did try safe mode, which didn't do any differences.

I also went along and tried disk savvy, followed by another app that can find duplicate files/folders. Savvy found alot of "found" data that was corrupted, and some of those were files(?) or memory datas(?) I tried but couldn't recovery from the old HD. I deleted them, as did the duplicate files, but it didn't make a dent, with only getting back 1GB.

I'd like you to try and shrink C: by 20 GB. This is my very last shot at trying to preserve HD2

There might no be enough space to shrink it percentage wise, but give it a shot
If Windows gives you any amount - take it.

Then create and format a new partition

Sadly, it can only give me 16MB (that's not a mistake: MB instead of GB). I know you said take whatever, but that's not going to make a difference, is it?

Grab as many folders from HD2 that will fit in the new partition and MOVE them to it Say for instance Windows allowed you to shrink C: by 20 GB, then the new partition would be 20 GB and the data you move to it would be 20GB

Moving the data will free up disk space on c: and you can repeat this 3 times until you have move all of the data in HD2 to the new partitions.

Okay, just recently, I had move all of the files from HD2 into their respected places: Documents, Music, and Pictures. After that, HD2 was deleted as there was no nothing there as I took everything from inside and moved them.

And as I mentioned, the new partition would only be 16MB.

Back to suggested options:
What about that refresh/reset(?) from that picture I posted from post #91?
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...i-need-my-hard-drive-back-10.html#post2793396

I can tell you that I would like to refresh my PC. But if that doesn't work, and reinstalling is the next option, then I want to take the files from the computer and temporary move them to my laptop, which has enough storage for the contents from both the new machine and the 80GB HD2 folder. Once that is all safe, then I can start; hopefully it won't lead to huge problems, because this computer is still new and I don't want to risk anything at this point, or if ever.

I don't know if you read the very last post I made before yours, but C: says 83GB, but inside it's 150GB. I'm starting to think that, because of the recovery, something messed up and it says one thing when it's another. That, and maybe the files I tried to recover are actually inside and need to be removed. I could be wrong, but those are still possible theories.

Think about doing this or tell me the near future for that ext drive is this week.

No, I don't think getting the ext. drive will be this week. In fact, I don't think it'll be that soon. Unless something were to happen, I would guess I would get the ext. drive by the end of the year. All because I cannot afford it now. Also, as I said above, there is my laptop.

Now...

The final solution!

1) Boot with Lucid Puppy and make sure that you can still read the old files.
2) Shut down the machine
3) Disconnect the external drive
4) Boot with the iBUYPOWER Windows Reinstall disc
5) Select Reset from the Recovery options
6) After the machine is Reset, run Windows Update manually until nothing more is offered
7) Shrink your C: drive by 200 GB
8) create a new partition in the 200 GB of free space, format as NTFS
9) Boot with Lucid Puppy
10) Copy your old files to the new 200 GB volume you created, NOT your C:\drive
11) Restart Windows
12) You should be good to go.

That's all I have on the issue, good luck

Bill
.

Okay, I have some concerns with this solution.

1) The original C: free space before I used Lucid Puppy that started this was 422GB, and after the changes it would around 345GB, and I would want that instead of 200GB. Now if that is the case here, okay but it just didn't sound like as such. Afterall, the whole plan (post-Lucid Puppy) is to undo the damage it did.

2) Given my idea I have above, wouldn't that be a better option instead of this?

 

[Slartybart]

Yep, I deleted two posts of mine that I deemed a waste of time. You proved that - Windows only gave you 16 MB of shrink space.

You can do your plan and move the data from one machine to another, not a bad idea.

The only way to make your new machine new again is to do a Reset, not a refresh.

I've offered everything I can think of to help you solve the issue. You recovered the data. Something along the way caused another issue. I offered a way to resolve that.

Your copy to the laptop idea preserves your data, so you don't have to use Lucid Puppy and the old HD.
The Reset restores your new machine to factory condition.

I'm not going to chase this issue any further. The next steps are up to you.

Good luck,

Bill
.

 

[BinkerNate]

STATUS 6/8/14

Okay, I first did the file transfer from my computer to my laptop, and that was successful. While I was doing that, I was able to finally see the found folders that I either couldn't find or thought I deleted. I did delete them while transferring the files, making it go from 79-80GB to 88GB.

Then I went to the reset and reinstalled Windows, and that was successful too. There is 1-2 changes here and there compared to what it was like before, such as during the start page, search and power are not next to my screen name so I have to go to touch the right side for one thing to appear, and click settings to do the other. I also got back Firefox, filehippo, and flash, so you know.

As for the GBs left on my hard drive: I have 193GB left of 465GB. I would have to classify this as failure because, a) when I got this computer, 20GB were used already because of things already inside/installed. And b) the files I transferred; the ones that were still on my computer after the transfer and before the reset are gone because of the reset, and I haven't transfer them all back. But I did some math, and when I do get them back on here, they were be 98GB total. Subtracted from the 193GB remaining, and you have 95GB remaining, which is 7GB more than the 88 I had before this started.

So I'm still dealing with this problem.

One last thing: I highlighted the folders inside C:, and its 10.2GB right now as of this posting.

EDIT: I transferred the files from my laptop back to my computer. 90GB remaining currently.

 

[Slartybart]

Here's the thing Nate, a reset would have made your machine like brand new. I don't know what you did or how much disk space was available after the reset because you didn't say.

You do say that there is 193 GB on you machine - I'm guessing that is after the reset.

There seems to be something wrong with the options you selected for the reset. I don't think filehippo is part of the Win8 reset set, I could be wrong.
I also got back Firefox, filehippo, and flash, so you know.

See: Reset Windows 8
Make sure that you select
Remove everything and reinstall Windows
and
Fully clean the drive

You might want to open a thread on eightforums.com asking for help with a Reset. Forget about the data recovery part, just ask for help on the Reset.

Your machine should have been just as it was when you took it out of the box two weeks ago if you did the reset correctly.

Don't transfer the old files around until you get the Win8 machine back to factory condition.

Good luck.

 

[BinkerNate]

See: Reset Windows 8
Make sure that you select
Remove everything and reinstall Windows
and
Fully clean the drive

You might want to open a thread on eightforums.com asking for help with a Reset. Forget about the data recovery part, just ask for help on the Reset.

Your machine should have been just as it was when you took it out of the box two weeks ago if you did the reset correctly.

Don't transfer the old files around until you get the Win8 machine back to factory condition.

Yes, that is what I checked: a fully clean reset.

And umm, I brought the files back. The copies are still in the laptop, so if I fully delete them here, I could get them back.

There is a forum member I've been talking to at Eight Forums who suggested similar ideas like you, and I had a thread about this whole issue. But no one has been commenting on it, and I wonder if they're as dumbfounded as we are. I may have to do another one, but as for another reset, I don't think I could do that. I got so use to how this machine functioned compared to the old one that after the reset, things were a bit different and I don't understand why. Plus, the reset was functioned correctly, so doing it again is pointless.

The fact that my C: drive says one thing when inside its another still bugs me. There are alot of theories, and we used most of them.

If forums sites don't help me, I wonder if I have to go a different route.

 

[BinkerNate]

Okay, I called iBUYPOWER, and found out something. Remember that image I posted with the "refresh/reinstall" on it? That's not where I was suppose to go. Because Win8 caused that confusion, I actually refreshed my computer, not actually reset it, even though the steps were very much like how I saw them when I first got this thing. As I told them and I will say it here: I will do the reset, even call them so they can help me and be safe, but I'll have to do this tomorrow or Thursday, as I'm going to be away tonight until tomorrow. I will have to redo the transfer from this to my laptop to save what was here. Hopefully this'll work this time.

 

[Slartybart]

Thanks for the updated information. That's what I thought might have happened.

Before you put your recovered data back on the machine, I suggest that you isolate it from your OS volume.

This should be an easy task and take very little time since your disk is GPT.

Post after the Reset but BEFORE transferring the data back. It's worth the effort to separate the OS and user data.
There are some features that make accessing the data really easy.

Great news Nate.

 

[BinkerNate]

Do you want me to take a picture of what it says after the reset, before the re-transfer?

I don't know how to isolate the volume,l unless it was something I tried before.

 

[Slartybart]

That would be great, follow this tutorial:
See: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Having this information makes it easier to a discuss the course of action.

Thanks

 

[BinkerNate]

Sorry for the delay: I know you're waiting for an update, but the truth is that I haven't even done anything yet. I want to find the right time so I can completely focus on this, with no other things happening on that day too so the focus isn't off (if that makes any sense). Plus, iBUYPOWER offered to help me as I'm doing it, so that's a factor too.

But if I were to do this anytime by myself, here is the instructions I was given: put in the Windows reinstallion DVD then restart, press F11 and boot from the HLGT DVD selection and "press any key to boot from dvd" to continue, setup: next then install now, agree to the terms and enter product key, click "custom installion" and delete each partition from the HD. If successful, it should fix the problem. If I missed anything, please tell me before the time comes to do this.

 

[Slartybart]

Nate,

I really don't understand the iBUYPOWER instructions.
HLGT DVD ??
setup: next then install now ??
custom installation ??
delete each partition ??

A Reset should do all of that automatically. I could be wrong tough.
Reset Windows 8

The tutorial above basically shows the steps I think you should be taking, after the machine is Reset, you go into personalization.

It sounds as though iBUYPOWER is directing you more in a clean install fashion. That would work too, I think.
Here's the eightforums tutorial on a clean install:
Clean Install - Windows 8

A reset is "better" and slightly faster than a clean install.

The objective of this exercise is to make the machine exactly as it was when it left the iBUYPOWER warehouse. For that, you use the RESET feature.

You posted an image a long time ago showing the RESET option, I don't understand your reluctance to a RESET.
It might be unfamiliar, but it's an easy thing to do. You can't hurt the machine, you have the disk.

I think you should wait and take advantage of iBUYPOWER support, but make it clear to iBUYPOWER that you want to RESET the machine.