Windows

in XP under c:\Documents and Settings
in Vista under c:\Users

if the old folder is there, post back (along with your OS) and we can help further. Likely the data is accessible, just need to know where to look.

Another option is to use the search tool and do a search for the files.

If I am reading you correctly, it sounds as if you used the recovery partition to overwrite the OS partition which for all intents and purposes has obliterated your files. You would have been nuch better off if you had purchased a new disk and reloaded Windows on it. Then you could have taken your original disk and installed it as a second device. With a bit of luck, you could have then copied your files to the new disk.

You opted to use the Recovery partition to return the Computer to As New condition by reinstalling the entire OS again.

If this is the case and you simply must Recover the Data and don't have a current Backup you only have one option here. Remove the HDD Immediately Do Not use the computer again till it is removed and then send the HDD off to a specialized Data Recovery House who can perform a Forensic recovery.

The more you use the computer now the less likely you are to recover your data as it gets overwritten. And the less likely you are to have a successfully recovery performed.

However it if would just be NICE to get that data back you can use one of these Data Recovery Applications and attempt to perform a Recovery. But you first need to replace the HDD with another one and fit this HDD to some type of External Enclosure and then run the Data Recovery Application over this Drive with another HDD as the working OS Drive and you save all the data recovered to a different HDD to this one. You do not write anything at all to this HDD till after you have recovered everything possible off it.

Here is a short list of the better ones but it is by no means a complete list of all the available software.

http://tinyurl.com/273ay5

http://tinyurl.com/rmvrv

http://tinyurl.com/yvrsl

http://tinyurl.com/yyk8cm

http://tinyurl.com/382vm

http://tinyurl.com/ynwnel

http://tinyurl.com/nc4kx

http://tinyurl.com/2wox7l

http://tinyurl.com/374d8b

http://tinyurl.com/djw6u

http://tinyurl.com/f73se

http://tinyurl.com/8bd3f

http://tinyurl.com/afu2j

While the last 2 are from the same company they are very different products. Win Hex should only be considered for use by someone who knows Hex Inside Out while Davory is a great cheap General Purpose Application.

Personally I prefer the On Track Option but it's anything but cheap. However because I use this type of software a lot it's paid for itself many times over by now, for a cheaper option Spin Rite from Gibson Research or Stella have both very good reputations by other TR members.

Col