Go Back   Cyber Tech Help Support Forums > Operating Systems > Older Windows Versions > Windows Vista

Notices

Windows Vista Problem solving for the Windows Vista Operating System. Please remember to state which edition of Vista you are using - Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate etc. and whether you are using the 32-bit or 64-bit version if you know.

Reply
 
Topic Tools
  #1  
Old March 29th, 2008, 10:23 PM
Meghiddo Meghiddo is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: Austin , Texas
Age: 41
Posts: 243
deleted everything when I did a disc cleanup..recoverable?

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.

Last edited by Meghiddo; March 29th, 2008 at 10:27 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old March 30th, 2008, 04:18 AM
rwt325 rwt325 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
O/S: Windows Vista 32-bit
Location: Virginia
Age: 91
Posts: 125
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.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old March 30th, 2008, 04:54 AM
Meghiddo Meghiddo is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: Austin , Texas
Age: 41
Posts: 243
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
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old March 30th, 2008, 06:52 AM
Meghiddo Meghiddo is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: Austin , Texas
Age: 41
Posts: 243
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?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old April 2nd, 2008, 06:00 PM
Winkerbie Winkerbie is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 57
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!

Last edited by Winkerbie; April 2nd, 2008 at 06:02 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old April 2nd, 2008, 08:31 PM
Meghiddo Meghiddo is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: Austin , Texas
Age: 41
Posts: 243
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
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Topic Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Topics
Topic Topic Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Disc cleanup papalagnaf Windows XP 18 November 5th, 2007 04:24 PM
Disc CleanUP cesari Windows XP 7 November 4th, 2005 09:45 AM
disc cleanup kenphelan Windows XP 8 June 27th, 2004 03:12 PM
Disc Cleanup yourhighness420 Windows XP 10 June 17th, 2004 01:50 AM
Disc CleanUp Stalls cadvantag Windows XP 1 June 2nd, 2004 06:17 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:35 AM.