I am in deep ****. Help please.

bledd. said:
Rybo, one thing I always do before a format, is take a Macrium Reflect image of the drive. Store this on some extra storage you have somewhere, just incase you get an 'oh ####!' moment :o
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This, this, a million times this.

Like (I guess) most people here, I've reformatted/reinstalled other people's machines a fair few times, and early on I learnt the hard way that no matter how many times you say "Are you sure everything important is backed up? Absolutely sure? Really, really sure? I mean, completely, 100% sure?" you can almost guarantee that it won't be. Furthermore, simply copying the data folders yourself or even the entire user profile to a safe location is no insurance, because you can bet your life that an irreplaceable video clip of little Johnny taking his first steps will be squirrelled away in some stupidly obscure location.

The only way to be confident (well, reasonably) of avoiding those looks of complete and utter horror is to image the entire system drive and keep the image until you're sure (well, at least as much as you can be) that nothing of any value has been lost - I tend to keep images for at least a month before deleting them. It also makes life easier if the image is browseable, and Macrium is ideal for this, unlike some other alternative solutions like Clonezilla.

Of course, a better method might be to just avoid getting involved in the first place... :D
 
I read the first post and really did feel sorry for you, glad you got it sorted.

And as others have said, set up SkyDrive/Dropbox or something similar and tell her to keep two copies of all her important files (saving elsewhere, such as a USB stick, as well as her SkyDrive).

Therefore her data should be safe.

I wouldn't call her anything except ignorant, hopefully lesson is learned now and well done to her for doing her courses. :)
 
Recuva from the same people who make ccleaner seems to help when things like that happen.. well when the files are where you think they were.
 
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