Screwed up royally & deleted critical folder -- HELP

[Ken90630]

Oh, man, what a mess.

I screwed up royally tonight. I used the factory recovery utility (restoring the machine to the way it was outta the box) on a client's laptop today. I backed up everything EXCEPT the Outlook.pst folder. Naturally, he uses Outlook 2007 as his e-mail client and had hundreds of e-mails in various folders he'd created. :'(

Sadly, he installed Outlook himself awhile back and apparently checked the box to delete messages from the server once they're moved from his Inbox. So everything is gone from the Webmail side as well (except his Sent Items).

Despite my recommendation awhile back, he wasn't backing up his data, so no dice there.

I assume my only shot is some data recovery software. Any suggestions re the best one? I know of Recuva and File Scavenger and a few others, but I have no idea which is best to try here. I've never had to do this before. Free is not a requirement -- I'll pay for an app that'll work.

I assume the HD was reformatted during the recovery process, but I don't know that for sure. And there's no Windows.old folder after the recovery. This is a Windows 7 Home Premium machine with one HD.

I'll prolly be up half the night, so any suggestions at any hour would be much appreciated.

 

[HendrixFan]

Well, if the areas of the drive that contained the outlook.pst were overwritten during the recovery install you have no hope of getting the data back.

Try out the two programs you mentioned and cross your fingers.

 

[d33pt]

i think you're screwed on this one. that's going to be a fairly large and fragmented file. many parts of it have been overwritten by your re-image. anything you're going to be able to recover from it is not going to be usable.

 

[masteryoda34]

you're screwed.

On the other hand, realize that the hard drive could have just randomly died, and he would also have been screwed. If you keep important documents in only one place you're bound to lose them sooner or later.

 

[klinc]

try uneraser 5. but use a cold boot. more you boot into windows more it screws up your chances

 

[Ken90630]

try uneraser 5. but use a cold boot. more you boot into windows more it screws up your chances

OK. What's a "cold boot"?

 

[klinc]

Boot from a disk. use PE builder to make one in a windows enviroment

 

[Ken90630]

Boot from a disk. use PE builder to make one in a windows enviroment

OK - I've never used PE Builder before. Will I be creating a CD or DVD or ???

 

[klinc]

Do you have a windows XP disk?

 

[Ken90630]

Do you have a windows XP disk?

Yeah. I have a Pro and Home, never used, as a matter of fact. Both are Upgrade versions if that matters. Can I use them in some way here?

They're retail, however, not tied to the laptop I'm working on. There were no operating system discs with this machine. It's a Toshiba Satellite A505 using factory installed Win 7 HP.

 

[Aikouka]

You use Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment) to build a Windows-like environment that you run from RAM. Windows PE exists on the Windows XP install disc and is used when you build things like the Windows Ultimate Boot Disc. That's why he's asking if you have one.

 

[iluvdeal]

Yep you are screwed. To be fair, he was playing with fire in the first place since he didn't have any backups. This could have happened sooner or later when his HD failed. BTW I think Outlook's default is to delete email from the server, which I hate, so I wouldn't totally blame him for that one. If you are managing people's IT, you really gotta institute regular backup procedures on all your client machines as hard drive failure is one the biggest and most damaging risks they face.

 

[Ken90630]

Yep you are screwed. To be fair, he was playing with fire in the first place since he didn't have any backups. This could have happened sooner or later when his HD failed. BTW I think Outlook's default is to delete email from the server, which I hate, so I wouldn't totally blame him for that one. If you are managing people's IT, you really gotta institute regular backup procedures on all your client machines as hard drive failure is one the biggest and most damaging risks they face.

Oh, believe me, I try. I practically beat them over the head with the subject. I specifically recommended -- forcefully -- to this client that he get Acronis True Image and an external HD to back up to. I did that a year ago and he & his wife declined. All I can do is explain the importance -- if they choose to decline, there's nothing I can do.

Plus, he bypassed me and installed Outlook himself a few months ago and didn't check the box to "keep mail on the server for ___ days." So that's obviously his fault (he didn't know to do it, of course).

Reason I didn't check to see if he was using Outlook as his e-mail client was I remembered what his machine came with, software-wise, and it was MS Office Standard (trial version), which doesn't come with Outlook. He then got his hands on Office Enterprise and installed it himself sometime in the last year, and I knew nothing about it. So I didn't even think to check to see if he was using Outlook as his e-mail client 'cuz I didn't even know he had it.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Given that you live in the US, I would expect a lawsuit. Hire his worst enemy.

If you are very, very, very lucky, you can recover the data. At this point, I would start looking at professional data recovery options. It might be worth your while.

 

[Ken90630]

Given that you live in the US, I would expect a lawsuit. Hire his worst enemy.

If you are very, very, very lucky, you can recover the data. At this point, I would start looking at professional data recovery options. It might be worth your while.

Well, he's actually a really nice guy, so I don't think it'll quite come to that. And his wife & daughter are really good clients as well. Hopefully I'll be able to recover some or all of the data with the recovery apps available. I started Recuva a couple hours ago, and it has an hour to go. If that fails, I'll try Uneraser 5 and whatever else I can throw at it. Of course, if the data was overwritten, it's gone forever.