Can you recover data after a system crash?
Can you recover data after a system crash?
We lack the full record of all interactions with the company, so no one here can confirm whether you're correct, incorrect, or somewhere in between. Good luck. If a trustworthy firm, they would return your system without charge. If you approved their actions, expect resistance. No matter, it appears you face an unresolved issue unrelated to your data concerns.
It is exactly this situation of losing data irreversibly that makes me urge a friend to maintain several copies of his cherished family pictures. Instead, they remain stored on an outdated 500GB hard drive running Windows 7 from 2009 (no internet access).
I repeatedly advise him to invest in some inexpensive USB drives or a portable hard disk. He refused to return a spare spindle of blank DVDs, claiming he "never used them." Although he has a functional DVD writer, the time needed for backups feels excessive.
Returning to your issue: there seems to be a faint possibility that some files you deleted might still exist in software such as Recuva, even after the OS is reinstalled. No guarantees, but it’s worth trying.
Regrettably, the person at the repair shop might have assumed you had backups of all your vital files, while you believed they wouldn’t risk your sole copy of essential data. Unless you directly communicated with the technician fixing your device, his team may not have shared any instructions from you.
Concerning the meaning of "empty" when referring to a drive, people often interpret it differently based on their familiarity with data storage. Most non-experts believe that deleting files makes the drive "empty," which is accurate for new storage. However, old files remain until they are overwritten by new ones. Even reformatting doesn’t always erase all information—every sector must be overwritten with fresh data to completely wipe a drive.
If a drive fails, the safest move is to cease using it immediately and unplug it to prevent further complications. If it’s the drive you start from, replacing it and reinstalling Windows is the optimal solution. You’ll then need to extract data from the old drive, which could be straightforward, challenging, costly, or even impossible.
Sorry if you’ve learned this the hard way—computers are fragile and can fail unexpectedly. Always keep backups in mind.
I got my computer back. The employee claimed the computer is working now and although there's visual distortion due to the graphics card. I haven't tested it yet. I asked him to demonstrate it in the store, but he couldn't power on the computer.
I asked him why they wiped my drive and he basically started lying to me and coming up with all sorts of excuses and contradictory explanations. Some people are scam artists. He had a smirk on his face. I just grabbed my computer and walked out without paying.