Need Ballpark Opinion On Friends Computer

[mare_wbpa]

My friend has a Toshiba laptop.  It's about 3 yrs old.  I think it's running Windows 7 or possibly 8.  The computer wouldn't boot up but somehow she got it to run the "Back To Factory" option.  The computer is now running but has all kinds of problems.  The thing that has her most upset tho, is the fact that she lost all of her pictures, which weren't backed up.  I just need a guess, with the info I've provided, as to if there would be any way to retrieve the photos from the laptop whether if she does it or a pro? If you need more specifics I can get them from my friend, but I just thought I'd ask without getting her hopes up.

[mare_wbpa]

Pete, any suggestions for better location?

[plodr]

mare_wbpa, your post is in the correct place. Pete added a reply but it was intended for another topic so he removed it.

Unfortunately, doing a factory restore has overwritten everything that was on the hard drive. Advice is always to grab your files before you do anything drastic.

You can try a program called Recuva http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/recuva_portable.html
It would probably be better if the portable version was downloaded to another computer. The less writing done to the Toshiba hard drive, the better off the situation.
Put the program on a USB stick and put the stick into the Toshiba after windows has loaded. Run it and see if it can find any of the old photos.

Your friend might have learned the hard way that you never store just one copy of something on a computer. You always store important files in at least 2 places preferably off the computer. I burn my photos to a data CD as soon as I come home from a trip.

My mp3 files are stored on several microsd cards.

[Corrine]

Yup, Pete meant that he posted in the wrong location, not you.  :)

In addition to what plodr said, it depends on how your friend did the reset.  If there is a windows.old folder, the files can be retrieved (See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168).  Data recovery experts are very expensive.

[Pete!]

Yup, Pete meant that he posted in the wrong location, not you.  :) .....

OT - Correct, I had two topics open, and inadvertently replied to the other one here. This forum won't let a user delete his/her own post, so all I could do is edit it (within the time limit) to request deletion by a moderator or administrator.

[mare_wbpa]

Thanks so much for the advice everyone. Pete, no problem, I'm glad that my post wasn't somewhere it shouldn't have been.  My friend tried out the advice and unfortunately, it didn't work.  She knew it was a long shot as you all said.  I'm sure she learned a valuable lesson and her pictures will now be going to the cloud.  Thanks again.