changing OS from 32 bit to 64 bit.

and i dont think you realise , alot of people using these forums are not techno wizards so you have to make things uncomplicated. what you may find uncomplicated is someone elses headache !

We try to write as simple as possible, always providing illustrated tutorials in the blue links if they are available.

But we also rely on you to ask back any questions to be clear on each procedure before proceeding. We don't know how much you understand until we hear back.

I've repeatedly asked you to start at the top and check off every step we've given you since I'd estimate more than half are being skipped or ignored. When we don't know what you've done yet then we are not able to help you best.

Now, would you please answer my questions about where your data was stored exactly?

alot of your instructions i have found not easy to follow and the blue links that i open are sometimes very confusing. take for example the, Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version, option 4... which i am supposed to follow and do... i do not understand how its done ... are they asking me to re install twice ? ive only just learnt how to find me bios and how to boot to disc and use a snipping tool !!

Well then we can take all the time you need. There is no rush if you are learning and need more time to adjust to troubleshooting. The concern is that so many steps are left behind without realizing they might have provided your solution. Can you see how this becomes frustrating to us?

Again, what are the answers to my questions today about your data?

gregrocker said:

Was F a partition on the OS drive which you cleaned? You were warned this would wipe everything off the disk so your data must be backed up. If you Cleaned it then it has since been formatted to install Win7 so the data is not recoverable.

If F was on the other hard drive then it should still be there if you didnt' clean it. If you cleaned it and have not yet formatted then it is recoverable using the method I gave you yesterday - when I asked you these same questions and you ignored them again.

did you get the disk management shot ?

Yes, and we went through this yesterday with no reply that I saw:

Where exactly was F located? Was it on DISK0 the data drive? If so it's labeled D in this reinstall.

If it was on DISK1 the OS drive then it was wiped with the Clean Command and not recoverable since it's been formatted over.

gregrocker said:

phant0m2012 said:

before i attempt all this i would like my other drive back though. before i began messing with my laptop i had drive: local disk (c) , drive (D) HDD2 , the DVD RW drive (E) and drive (F) where i used to store all my music, photos, etc.. DRIVE(F) has gone !
all i have now is local disk (C) the HDD2 DRIVE (D) and the DVD RW drive (E).

The drives may have changed letters during the reinstall. Are all of you files on D now? If not then where was drive F previously? Was it on DISK0 or DISK1? Remember that you cleaned DISK0 to reinstall. So unless you have an external HD, wouldn't your files have to be on Disk1? Is there more than one partition on Disk1?

To better help you please post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image . Make sure to show everything in the drive map scrolling area. There may be other drives when you scroll down that need a drive letter assigned to be seen.

the files that are on drive D are: neil-PC. Where i can restore files from.windows image backup. MediaID.bin.
local disk drive(C) IS where my windows 7 is. this drive used to be 116 GB. now it is 232 GB ???
drive (e) is the DVD RW DRIVE

F DRIVE was seperate. it was 116 GB. thats now gone and drive C IS now 232 GB . it was always 116 GB.

Was F on the same drive as C, before you cleaned the drive? Did you have two partitions on that OS drive, C and F? You may have cleaned the drive which had F on it wiping out the data.

This is why you are warned to back up your data first. The files could have easily been dragged to the other hard drive. There are extensive steps for backing up your data and not leaving anything behind in the first half of Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Would the files you've lost be in the Backup Image stored on D? If so we can help you extract them out of the image without having to apply it. Virtual Hard Disk - Create and Attach VHD

NO, i have not lost any files. i took everything off drive F and i have them stored elsewhere. drive F WAS empty. drive F and drive C Where seperate.