deleted everything when I did a disc cleanup..recoverable?

[Meghiddo]

I just got this sytem a few weeks ago. I have already done a lot on it though. I went under accessories in the start menu and did a disc cleanup, which I have done before on my old PC with XP and had no problem, but for some reason this time it deleted every thing on my hard drive, drivers, programs, everything. When doing the disc cleanup I checked a box for "System queued windows error repor..." which I guess must have been my mistake. After doing this I tried the system restore but all it did was reset my pc after a while and cause me to have to re install Vista, and the only system restore point I have now is from when I just now installed the OS. Is it possible for me to recover all my stuff or do I have to start from scratch here?
I have a file called windows.old right now that contains 6.5 gb of info so I am hoping I can get a lot of it back from there? I also do not know what I need to do about drivers. My graphics card is listed below and I think i also have a CPU CD but I am afraid to do anything else rightr now.

[rwt325]

I doubt that erasing Error Report old files had much to do with your problem. I do it regularly on my system. Is your system OEM or boxed CD?. If it is OEM restoring to factory condition your drivers are already there. If it is a purchased CD then I should run Windows Updates and install all the ones you don't have. If your 6.5 GB folder is Vista backup you should be able to restore it and have your data back.

For the future, it pays to have a separate data partition on your hard disk, and back it up to a DVD or an external drive. Lots of backup programs will do it for yuo automatically.

[Meghiddo]

how can I tell if my drivers are not working? I have never built a pc from scratch so I am taking this as a learning experience so I can build one next time. I have already decided just to start from scratch on everything so I don't want to restore anymore. I am just wondering if I should re install my driver cds AND if I am ok to erase that windows.old file? I don't know exactly what you mean when you say OEM but it was a pc I had built on cyberpowerpc.com if that will tell you, I didn't purchase the vista cd individually.

So what I really need to know is how to tell if I need to re install drivers I have and if I can erase that windows.old file?

Thanks a lot

[Meghiddo]

OK I went to the device manager and clicked on update drivers for each of the devices I was wondering about and they all said windows has determined you have the latest driver info.
so does this mean I do not need to install drivers? I had to install the driver for my video card to get the GeForce graphics center to appear so does that mean I need to do it for all? i tried doing it with my wireless network card but it seemed not to work and said it caused a problem but the solution it gave was to update the driver. when I did it said I have the latest driver for that too.
The drivers I am still unsure about are for my CPU and my wireless and wired network cards. Is there a way for me to tell if anything is wrong with them?

[Winkerbie]

I feel so sorry for you I did the same stupid mistake! It wipes out your hard drive, deleting everything apart from the files that are in use. I lost all my important documents. Don't ever use Disk Cleanup of Vista. I also checked the one of the error report things. It is non recoverable. Reccomend reinstalling vista.

Windows.old contains files from your prevoius operating system (probably xp) or what ever was left on the hard drive before installing vista, its no use!

[Meghiddo]

Its weird, disc cleanup with XP did nothing like this, what the hell is up with that?
Oh well I just started over, luckily I keep all my data files on a second hard drive so I kept all that, I just lost my drivers and programs