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Dial-a-fix deleted c:\documents ... wtf


rjm

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Posted

Using the empty temp folders feature, it deletes c:\documents, can anyone tell me why this is? I've had a customer's 7 years worth of data deleted. It'd be great to have an answer.

Thanks;

rjm

Posted

I guess it shouldn't do that.

Perhaps your %TEMP% variable was set to C:\Documents or something?

Hope you had backups of the data, you or your customer should have.

  • Administrator
Posted

Do you happen to have the log from this event?

As Eldmannen has said, this was also an issue with CCleaner where %TMP% and %TEMP% were incorrectly set/modified. The fact these files were deleted is not the fault of Dial-a-fix.

Posted

This bug is exhibited on any computer, create c:\documents on your root, and check for yourself

  • Administrator
Posted

I stand corrected. I tested this on my Windows XP machine and it removed the documents folder. I'll forward this to the developer.

To recover the data I would recommend using Recuva and keeping usage of that hard drive to a minimum.

Posted

I stand corrected. I tested this on my Windows XP machine and it removed the documents folder. I'll forward this to the developer.

To recover the data I would recommend using Recuva and keeping usage of that hard drive to a minimum.

The customer already received their computer, turned it on and did a few things, the data in question was documents, small enough to be over-written by just powering on an browsing the internet for a bit.

It's all lost, it was a huge amount of data for the customer.

rjm

Posted

The customer already received their computer, turned it on and did a few things, the data in question was documents, small enough to be over-written by just powering on an browsing the internet for a bit.

It's all lost, it was a huge amount of data for the customer.

rjm

WOW Not good I have not tried this YET but I seem to remember some sort of confirmation of exactly which files were to be deleted. Don't have an XP machine to try it on now. There is a good chance at recovery if they did not write to the disk too much with a higher end recovery program I use r-studio

My deepest sympathy to you.

GL

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Just happened here as well..

Mom moved a bunch of her documents from the desktop and other locations.. to C:\Documents.

i didn't notice it before hand (so mainly my fault since i knew about this bug because of this thread), ran the temp file cleaner and 8 years of documents gone..

Now i'm in the process of file recovery.. yay! lol. Hopefully it hasn't been too long.. My guess is the data is gone since it was 4 days ago, Service Pack3 download + upgrade and lots of myspace activity...

Posted

First it was "a customer's 7 years worth of data" gone.

Now it's "8 years of documents" gone.

What?? What?? No backups since the year 2002 or the year 2001?

I know that this does not excuse the problem with DaF, but if the computers are that old, you are overdue for a hard disk failure, or something equally catastrophic, anyway.

Please, please BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP.

Posted

First it was "a customer's 7 years worth of data" gone.

Now it's "8 years of documents" gone.

What?? What?? No backups since the year 2002 or the year 2001?

I know that this does not excuse the problem with DaF, but if the computers are that old, you are overdue for a hard disk failure, or something equally catastrophic, anyway.

Please, please BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP.

luckily i had backups for most stuff as i did a format 2 years ago. The problem is, is that most people don't backup anything.. so everything backed up was stuff i backed up for them. My server has folders for every member of the family, all mapped drives, and shortcuts on the desktop.. Nothing but what i backed up for them 2 years ago was in there.. even after telling them.

I don't hold anything against DAF, DjLizard or Lunarsoft over this as i knew about the bug and just forgot about it. I just wish it was fixed to prevent this for future users.

Posted

You should set everybody up with an automatic backup program, they'll never remember to do it manually. It doesn't have to cost a cent, there are good free ones, like Cobian Backup and Karen's Replicator.

  • 5 months later...
Posted

You should set everybody up with an automatic backup program, they'll never remember to do it manually. It doesn't have to cost a cent, there are good free ones, like Cobian Backup and Karen's Replicator.

I did a data recovery operation after a local business hired the WORNG computer repairman to "fix" their XP machine. He siad it was gone forever, ran a format and installed something called "XP Black Edition". Please note this was done on the primary accounting machine for a local business. (Software anti-piracy people have a special place in their hearts for people using pirated software to MAKE MONEY. This move jeapardized the entire business.

I come in, tell the bad news, advise the customer to order a replacement O/S installation disk from Dell ($25.00 and it arrived within 3 days) while I took the machine home and ran "GetDataBack" for NTFS. Note, this was after a reformat and reinstallation and several days of use.

I not only found ALL the data that was originally lost, I also found some "nudie pics" that had been deleted over a year before. The (female) customer was (her words) "mortified". I played stupid and said I had no idea what was on the HD, I just recovered everything that could be recovered without even looking at it (a lie). She wasn't all that attractive. I kept that to myself also, lol...

My point, is that data is a lot more recoverable than people may think. A HD is a vast ocean, and the chances of data overwriting other data is sometimes pretty remote, plus most data is trash and it doesn't matter if it gets overwritten. So the likelyhood of something valuable getting overwritten is pretty low when considering how much space modern hard drives have. So a few days of use shouldn't discourage one from attempting to recover the data.

Obviously, not backing up the data is the primary cause for this problem, and not so much the bug. That HD was due to crash and the OP is lucky it lasted as long as it did.

I posted because easy alternatives to data recover is an interest of mine. What I do is get a HD the same size as my primary, and occasionally use XXClone to clone my entire primary to the secondary, so not only do I have the "data" "backed-up", I can flip a switch in BIOS (boot order) and have my secondary working exactly as my primary in the time it takes to do a reboot.

What would be nice is if there were a good, clean and light (no stupid toolbars, download accelerators, nag screens, crippleware, updater .exe's running constantly in the background, numerous components installed in Add/Remove Programs when one simple entry would suffice (hello Norton SYMANTEC, you piece of trash!), or any other inconvenience, and Oh, yeah, it needs to UNINSTALL CLEANLY, and on demand, quickly and with no arguement. Oops, /Rant

...software that would automatically run a logical cloned image of the entire drive on a scheduled basis.

  • 1 year later...
Posted

I know this is an old topic but just for clarification is this the C:\Documents or C:\Documents and Settings folder?

I'm assuming that since this topic is a couple years old there that D-A-F development has stopped and there will be no fix.

  • Administrator
Posted

C:\Documents. And Dial-a-fix 1.0 is in the alpha stages.

Posted

I'm sorry to all who have lost data, I really suck.

I have returned from the grave and I am working on Dial-a-fix 1.0 which is rewritten from scratch and will not contain this bug.

Edit: no to freepascal, this is being rewritten using Turbo Delphi 2006.

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

C:\Documents. And Dial-a-fix 1.0 is in the alpha stages.

Please start a list of people that would like to be beta testers, then add my name to the list, lol.

I love this tool and am glad to know it is still being developed. Is there are article, thread, stickie, etc... describing is has happened, is happening, will happen, etc...?

Archived

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