System Recovery

[hhhs_webmaster]

I have recently had an issue with and Hp Pavillion 511w Desktop running Windows XP. Somewhere along the way a friend encounterd a virus that would not allow the system to run. In order to reclaim the software I had to run a Sytem Recovery. My question is this: is there any way I can retrieve the saved documents that exsisted before the recovery ( I did this as I went along, I had never done a System Recvovery before and was not certian what the outcome would be). Any kind of information on this subject would be a terrific help. Thank you    
                              
                                           Yours in Software

[GX1_Man]

A system restore does not do anything to your documents, but you may have done a  system restore with a CD that came from the nmanufacturer? What kind of machine is this? Usually these programs format the drive and then reinstall Windows, etc. so the data is probably long gone. There MAY be ways to recover it, but it may be expensive.

Let us know the particulars on the machine, what it said on the CD used, etc. for further advice.

[hhhs_webmaster]

The computer is an HP Pavilion 511w.  I bought it in 2002.  I'm completely positive, but I think a virus got ahold of my computer.  The ironic thing is, I was running a virus scan when it shut down.  After restarting it, a black screen popped up and gave four different options for restarting (restart normally, restart using last good known configuration, restart with command promt, and I can't think of the last one), but all options led to a blue screen that told you how to fix the problem, but it never worked.

I ended up on the HP Support website and it said when starting up, to press F10 repeatedly and it will lead you to perform a system restore.  We finally got it to work, and it took my computer back to factory settings, but without my documents.  It's been several months since I copied my files for safekeeping, so I would really, really like to have my most recent files.  If you can help in any way possible I would really appreciate it.  Let me know if you still need more information; I'll get it to you.

Thanks again!

[GX1_Man]

Here's a person with a similar problem, and some success apparently.

http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1149933330

[hhhs_webmaster]

I tried several of the programs, and they all brought back files.  Unfortunately, I'm looking to restore my documents and my pictures.  They may have been restored and are listed under different names, but I haven't been able to find them.  Are there any certain places that I should be looking, or do these programs not retrieve documents and pictures??  And if that's the case, are they long gone?

[GX1_Man]

They were probably still there, but as the machine is used and new data is writeen in the areas where parts or all of existing files were it makes it incredibly more difficult to recover. That is why any attempt at retrieving lost items should be done ASAP, preferably with the afflicted drive slaved into another working machine if possible.

[hhhs_webmaster]

Am I using the right program, or do I need a different one for documents?  I haven't come across any of them, unless they're named differently.  Can you point me in the right direction, please?  I'm not great with this stuff.

[GX1_Man]

A file is a file. As I said it may be too late, and the more you use that actual drive with the operating system on it....