does reinstalling windows erase old data?

Question

to start, i changed the password on my computer and the new one was not required until afteri restarting my machine. whe ni went to type in what i thought was the new password, it wouldn't work. in conclusion i forgot my password to log into windows on my computer.
okay, so i reinstalled windows and my copmuter is fine, except i'm not sure how to find all of my old data [files, pictures folders, programs, music ETC.] i'm at a MAJOR loss and i really need help. i'm pretty sure that my old 'stuff' was not overwritten, if anyone has ANY IDEA on how to help PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me. THANKSSS.

to start, i changed the password on my computer and the new one was not required until afteri restarting my machine. whe ni went to type in what i thought was the new password, it wouldn't work. in conclusion i forgot my password to log into windows on my computer.
okay, so i reinstalled windows and my copmuter is fine, except i'm not sure how to find all of my old data [files, pictures folders, programs, music ETC.] i'm at a MAJOR loss and i really need help. i'm pretty sure that my old 'stuff' was not overwritten, if anyone has ANY IDEA on how to help me find out how to get my old information back, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me. THANKSSS.

i just need to know HOW to get my information back !

Answer 1

ur data may be gone for good ... try this out ...
http://www.pcperformancetools.com/recovermyfiles.htm

.

Answer 2

What you did was a re-format, which erases the Hard Disk Drive of ALL files and folders, including programs that you had installed. I am afraid that you will need to re-install all the programs that were stored on the HDD. All the music, picture, video files, if there were any that you saved, are now "POOF" gone. There is whats called a fresh install where you open the CD-ROM drive, insert the disk and re-start the computer with the drive open. When re-started the drive closes and the autorun command starts the Operating System, and starts the fresh install. I have had to do this myself several times, and had to perform windows update including service pack 2. I don't know if this is how you went about re-installing the OS. So sorry for your loss.

Answer 3

Did you reinstall windows while windows was running or did you install it from the cd at boot up? If you installed it from boot up you had two choices something like, repair this version of windows or install a clean copy...(paraphrasing).. If you selected the latter, did you select reformat?

The others are telling you that you reformatted, but you dont have to reformat to reinstall windows. If you selected repair a copy of windows during the start up or if you reinstalled from windows desktop your files should be there.

YOu can go to start, my computer and look for or search for your files.. or go to start, run, type in ... explorer ... and look or search for you files under the folders you think you stored them in.

It amazes me how anyone can operate a computer without knowing how to use the windows file manager.

Answer 4

Reinstalling Clears out the record of your old files. the only way to recover them is to use a data recovery company which is expensive. Even then there is not certainty of recovery as the new install may write to different parts of the disk
Do you not have a back up?

Answer 5

you will ought to pull thechronic out and placed it in an enclosure or in the present day right into a different laptop. Then obtain Partition Wizard and do achronic format in yourchronic. Do a 7 bypass format with random 0's and a million's

Answer 6

It only erases old stuff if you tell it to do so. If you selected the "format" options, your old data has been over written. If you didn't it will still be there.

Try recuva or just restore from your backup.

Answer 7

YES, but absolutely NOT with this one:
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400897