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My Windows 8 broken down - after the blue logo showed, the screen was just black. I decided to refresh the installation, it went well and the Windows started as a fresh installation (no configuration there, etc.)

All files were moved to Windows.old. There were all directories I had on C drive - Downloads, Program Files, etc. I run one app in directory Windows.old/Program Files to ensure it works well.

I set the PC to sleep, and when I woke it up, I found out that almost all directories from the Windows.old are gone (I didn't do anything). And it seems that all directories which were in Windows.old moved to C drive, so now I have back my Downloads directory in C, my desktop icons, settings, etc.

That should be great, but programs from Program Files are gone. It was somehow deleted, but I don't understand why, because before it worked ok. Is it possible to recover those files that were in windows.old/Program Files/ ..?

They aren't in recycle bin, I'm trying to recover them somehow now.

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    Did you run Disk Cleanup by chance?
    – Ramhound
    Mar 5, 2015 at 11:48
  • I didn't do anything like that - I just run that fresh installation, run the accounting program to ensure it works, and then I put it to sleep. Mar 5, 2015 at 11:49
  • The thing is Refresh wouldn't have moved your files to that directory. Are you sure they are not located in the Program Files directory?
    – Ramhound
    Mar 5, 2015 at 12:00
  • No they are not there, I've also searched for them. And now I have like 100GB more of free space than I had before. Mar 5, 2015 at 12:07
  • a behaviour like this is mostly a virus, do you suspect some source ?
    – niceman
    Mar 5, 2015 at 12:38

1 Answer 1

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the best bet is to use a recovery program, there are many many programs but basically they all do the same and rely on the same technique.

if those programs didn't find your files then I'm sorry to tell you they are gone.

Recommandations:
1-get a portable recovery program, if you install a one , your files may go away.
2-your computer might be infected so you should get an antivirus program and scan your pc.
3-don't copy anything to C, the reason for this is that windows doesn't really delete the file physically but what it does is marking the file as deleted in files table so that they can be replaced by other files, the recovery programs simply remove the deleted mark but if windows already replaced them with new files then they are gone forever.

hope this solve your problem

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