Windows Backup overwrote all my files. HELP!

[cscooper2000]

For a few years my wife has resisted using any kind of backup solution — even the built-in Windows backup. She has simply made her own backups on the root of an external drive. She simply copies all the files she wants to backup into a folder with the same name as her computer. G:/COMPUTER_NAME/.

Well, yesterday, she decided to start using Windows backup to simplify her life.

I've used Windows backup for years, but when we set up her machine, I was unaware that she had this folder called "COMPUTER_NAME". Well, perhaps you've guessed, Windows backup created it's backup on the root of the drive, calling it "COMPUTER_NAME".

She cried for hours, fearing that 10 years of family photos she's taken are gone forever (they were saved in the folder "G:/Computer_name", but they were not part of her local computer files, and therefore, not saved in the "computer_name" backup file created by Windows).

My first thought was to use some Photo/File recovery program. But after sleeping on the problem, it occurs to me that perhaps the files aren't really gone, since the folder had the same name, perhaps Windows did not overwrite the directory's structure and files, though because the name of the directory and the name of the backup file are the same, the directory is simply not accessible.

Can anyone point me in the best way to try and restore the directory (before trying photo/file restoration programs). Or maybe restoration programs are my only hope...?

MUCH appreciation in advance!

 

[mart44]

....it occurs to me that perhaps the files aren't really gone....

I'm no expert but if I suspected that, I'd see if the exact file names of one or two of the missing photos could be remembered, then search the entire disk for them. If found, it seems that's where the rest would be. If not, it looks like the file recovery option.

 

[Tinkerdog]

For a few years my wife has resisted using any kind of backup solution — even the built-in Windows backup. She has simply made her own backups on the root of an external drive. She simply copies all the files she wants to backup into a folder with the same name as her computer. G:/COMPUTER_NAME/.

Well, yesterday, she decided to start using Windows backup to simplify her life.

I've used Windows backup for years, but when we set up her machine, I was unaware that she had this folder called "COMPUTER_NAME". Well, perhaps you've guessed, Windows backup created it's backup on the root of the drive, calling it "COMPUTER_NAME".

She cried for hours, fearing that 10 years of family photos she's taken are gone forever (they were saved in the folder "G:/Computer_name", but they were not part of her local computer files, and therefore, not saved in the "computer_name" backup file created by Windows).

My first thought was to use some Photo/File recovery program. But after sleeping on the problem, it occurs to me that perhaps the files aren't really gone, since the folder had the same name, perhaps Windows did not overwrite the directory's structure and files, though because the name of the directory and the name of the backup file are the same, the directory is simply not accessible.

Can anyone point me in the best way to try and restore the directory (before trying photo/file restoration programs). Or maybe restoration programs are my only hope...?

MUCH appreciation in advance!

Have you looked in the G:\COMPUTER_NAME folder yet to see if the files that she had placed in there were still there ??

The folder is set by the Backup program to not allow you to see the files inside, unless you tell it you really want to see the files inside...

Holy …! My Win7 backup folders are empty!

So, go back and be sure that the folder is really empty... the files may yet still be there.....

 

[bigmck]

If you are backing up files, do not put them on the same drive as the originals. If the drive is fried, so are your backups. Try this for backing up files Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

 

[whs]

Windows imaging creates a VHD (in the root of the target disk). You have to click yourself thru 4 levels and it may ask for permission. I would mount the VHD (in Disk Management - top left under 'Action') and have a look what's inside.