Member Avatar for edreese58

I recently ran F10, system recovery, when I meant to run F8, start in safe mode (I know, I know, stupid). Now I'm wondering if there's a way to recover my data. Any takers?
Ed Reese

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Short answer: whether your files can be recovered depends on what the OEM “System Recovery” actually did. Windows’ built‑in System Restore (the rollback/restore‑point feature) normally leaves personal files alone, but an OEM “System Recovery” / factory restore invoked from the boot menu typically reinstalls the factory image and will overwrite the system partition and user folders on C:. Confirm which behaviour you saw (the recovery screens usually warn if they will erase the drive). (support.microsoft.com)

Practical next steps (do these in order): power off the machine and stop using the drive; do not run Startup Repair, CHKDSK or reinstall Windows yourself (those actions write to the disk and reduce recovery chances). Create a bit‑for‑bit image of the drive and work only from that image — imaging and write‑blocking is standard forensic practice because it preserves the original state. (minitool.com)

A safe DIY workflow (what and hinted at, plus the missing details): attach the disk to a second computer or boot a Linux live USB, use a tool built for failing disks to make a resumable clone (GNU ddrescue is ideal because it keeps a mapfile). Example (run from a Linux live environment and change device names before you press Enter):

ddrescue -n /dev/sdX /media/backup/image.dd /media/backup/image.log

After you have an image, try partition‑level recovery first (TestDisk) and, if that fails, file‑carving from the image (PhotoRec) — partition recovery can restore filenames; carving recovers file content without names. If the disk is an SSD with TRIM enabled, chances fall sharply because TRIM typically erases freed pages quickly. (gnu.org)

Realistic expectation: if the recovery overwrote the exact sectors where your documents lived, those files may be gone; if it only replaced system files there’s a decent chance some user data can be recovered. If the data is irreplaceable, stop and consult a professional recovery lab — repeated DIY attempts can make recovery harder. (sciencedirect.com)

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Member Avatar for jak0b

I would try with GetDataBack
You might not get it all back, but with a little luck it can recover some of it.

And stop using the hdd/pc that you need to recover data from - best to use another pc, since windows will randomly use any space on the hdd for temp files (possibly over-writing some of your old files).

Member Avatar for gerbil

Expensive. It should be good. Free are Restoration.exe and Recuva. The first can run from a floppy disk or flashdrive which saves you installing and possibly overwriting some data. Download them to another machine [using a browser writes a lot of data to a hdd].

Edited by gerbil because: n/a
Member Avatar for EdwardMalotte

Performing a system restore will erase all of your personal files.But they are not gone for good and you can recover your files with data recovery software.Tenorshare Data Recovery is one of such kind of software that can recover data after deeply scanning your hard drive to look for lost data due to drives crash, system restore,system sabotage, virus attack etc.You can download it and scan your hard drive for free to preview whether your files can be recovered.It will show you the file name,type,date and size of your files and thumbnails for your pictures that it found on your drive.Here is a tutorial will help [snipped advertising/promotion]

Edited by Ezzaral because: n/a
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