That being said.

There are many different levels of file recovery, they extend from the “Oops I didn’t mean to delete a file” to the “Um.. I turn on my PC and I see a black screen or it tells me I have no Hard Drive.”

If you managed to delete a file:

This is going to sound silly, but check the recycle bin, if it’s not there and you are using some versions Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can right click on the folder the file was in and go the Previous Versions tab, this is a snapshot backup, and it only goes back so far. If you are using Windows XP, you can try NTFS Undelete, it’s an open source program made to recover files from an NTFS partition.

If your hard drive is making weird noises or you see a message when you turn on your PC that said something about a SMART error:

If you can still get into your hard drive you should back up immediately. Usually a noisy drive (meaning one that makes a loud clicking noise) is a sign the drive is failing, there is hope but not much. Drives are cheap, recovering your data from them is not.

If you are having the above problem and windows WON’T Boot.. you still have some options:

#1 Boot to a windows cd and enter recovery mode, it may ask you your administrator user password.  at the console type “chkdsk -r” this will test it and in some cases repair file damage.

#2 Boot to a Linux recovery CD (like or) and plug up some kind of USB storage and get your stuff off asap.  Some of these also include drive recovery utilities. Alternatively you can slave the hard drive in a known good PC and boot to that PC’s operating system and see if you can recovery data.

#3 If you are STILL having issues pulling off data, if it comes off garbled and unreadable, before you give up hope, give SpinRite a try.  I’ve been able to use Spinrite a few times. Let it work on automatic, then give #2 a try again.

#4 Nothing worked? or maybe the pc doesn’t recognize the drive as a drive. If you data is super important, you have to take the drive to a data recovery place.. they will rebuild the drive at great expense to yourself, and upfront they will guarantee nothing.

The Chastise part.

You need to backup. It’s not expensive. You can purchase for very little an external hard drive or even a second hard drive to do so, there are also paid online backup from places like carbonite.com and mozy.com

The drive snapshotting in Vista and above are only good for you messing up a file on the drive, not the drive itself messing up.

If you are wondering when you can get Windows 7 you have to wait to actually BUY it later this year (no date set). I’m using whats called a “Release Candidate” which means it’s out of Beta, and this *might* be the finished product.  Not that many of you know it, Microsoft has a good track record of giving pre-release versions to the General Public as part of the development process.

The first thing you’d notice about 7 is it’s Fast.. alot faster than Vista.. I’m using it on a 1.6 ghz laptop that i call “The Beater” and it’s running smooooth.. so it would be at home on an older machine (as long as they make it cheap enough)

The second thing is the change to the start bar, in Vista the “Start Button” was replaced with just the windows logo, same here, except they melded the old “Quicklaunch” toolbar, and the startbar, and made something that amounts to a Dock.. (COUGH… OSX….. COUGH)  Still I love docks, i use Rocket Dock on Windows machines, and AWN on Linux… and I’d rather if they were gonna steal somthing they’d have made it look the same lol

Drivers in the RC are spotty, some old ones have to be downloaded, it’s good at locating some that are compatible once it has internet.  The Beater is a Dell D600 laptop, so it’s not some weird piece of equipment.. still tho.. no sound yet.

I’m only going to use this OS for a week.. then I’m done.. Linux Mint 7 RC1 is out and thats my personal fav now.

-Todd

Step 1: Identify What you are using:  If you are running Windows XP or Vista you should patch, however.. if you are using a Haxed version of Windows (and you have that Genuine Advantage popup nag thing on your system) You either need to a. Upgrade your windows (and purchase a legal copy this time you dirty thief), or b. Install Linux. If you are using any OLDER version of Windows (2000, ME, NT, 98, 95) please.. please.. switch to linux. You are probably already infected with who knows what by now considering the fact that you might not have been able to update in some time.

Step 2: Check if you are infected! visit http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html If you see all 6 images on the top portion of the page you are fine. If you see 3.. your infected. You should then download a removal tool on another PC and remove the virus. This is specifically for the Conficker work.. and if you “aren’t infected” it doesn’t mean you Can’t be infected.. continue reading!!

Step 3: Patching Windows; Even if you use Firefox, you will have to use Internet Explorer for this Task, as the site uses Active X. Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and install any software it asks you to, it’s as safe as it’s going to get.  If it makes you reboot, do so, then revisit the update page until ALL of the patches have been downloaded and installed.

Step 4: If you already aren’t doing so.. please use FireFox as your web browser.. it’s just as good as IE and is far far more secure.

Step 5: Recently serious vulnerabilities have been found in the Flash player applications and in Adobe Reader. These can be upgraded by visiting http://www.adobe.com

Step 6: Antivirus.. if you can’t afford one.. or yours is old.. There are Good Free Ones available. I use AVAST. http://www.avast.com you do have to register once a year, but that is also free.

As far as installing Linux to replace windows.. I’m on a campaign to do that for a few family members.. and in my opinion, it’s a safer and better alternative. I’ll write more about how to move over later.