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All my programs and data are gone!

H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
Hello,

I have been using Boot Camp and Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit on my rMBP 2012 for two years. Few hours ago, when I tried to launch Windows, I got a message saying that Windows needed to repair the system. After awhile, I got another message saying that the system could not be repaired. However, I could continue. Once Windows was launched, it was like a newly installed Windows. All my programs and data are gone. The except is that in Documents, there is a folder Autodesk with some files, an empty CrashDump and an empty NativeFus_Log. What happened? Is there any way to return to the system before the problem started? I am running VMware Fusion 5.0.4. Thanks.
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
I'm not sure what happened there, but it doesn't sound good. Do you have a backup of your Windows installation you can restore from?
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
Chances are then that you've lost everything since that last back up - not a good thing to hear. It's important to keep the backup schedule regular to prevent massive data loss.
 
sjinsjca

sjinsjca

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2008
2,238
555
hajime said:
...when I tried to launch Windows, I got a message saying that Windows needed to repair the system. After awhile, I got another message saying that the system could not be repaired. However, I could continue. Once Windows was launched, it was like a newly installed Windows. All my programs and data are gone.
Click to expand...

I had something similar happen with my Win7 VM recently, though not with quite such comprehensive loss. Sympathies. Fortunately I have a habit of keeping my current work in my Dropbox folder, so it's always backed up, and what was lost was only "local" stuff in the VM. ...That's probably not too helpful to hear for your current situation, but developing a similar habit might mitigate against future disasters of the sort. If you don't trust Dropbox, there are other cloud services such as SpiderOak or Bittorrent Sync, or you can spin up your own with something like OwnCloud.

Even folks with continuous, layered backup strategies on their Macs often neglect to make provisions for their Boot Camp partitions, which are NOT backed up by Time Machine. (Non-Boot Camp virtual machines stored in your main partition are backed up by Time Machine, though.)
 
chrfr

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,520
7,043
H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
So, my ONLY way is to restore the system that I backed up a year ago? What caused such problem? Windows was supposed to repair it not to erase all (99.9%) the files and settings and then reinstalled a new Windows by itself.
 
chrfr

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,520
7,043
hajime said:
So, my ONLY way is to restore the system that I backed up a year ago? What caused such problem? Windows was supposed to repair it not to erase all (99.9%) the files and settings and then reinstalled a new Windows by itself.
Click to expand...

It could be. You may do better to ask on some Windows forums.
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
hajime said:
So, my ONLY way is to restore the system that I backed up a year ago? What caused such problem? Windows was supposed to repair it not to erase all (99.9%) the files and settings and then reinstalled a new Windows by itself.
Click to expand...

Prior to the data loss, did you apply any Windows updates? There was an update, I forget which one, a couple of months ago, where, under certain circumstances, would cause a PC to crash and/or lose everything. It wouldn't even let you restore from the builtin Windows backup and recovery software. It happened to two of the PC's at my office and I wasn't very happy about having it happen to the bosses computer.
 
H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
SandboxGeneral said:
Prior to the data loss, did you apply any Windows updates? There was an update, I forget which one, a couple of months ago, where, under certain circumstances, would cause a PC to crash and/or lose everything. It wouldn't even let you restore from the builtin Windows backup and recovery software. It happened to two of the PC's at my office and I wasn't very happy about having it happen to the bosses computer.
Click to expand...

No. On the same day, I downloaded a CAD file sent from a student. Hope it is not virus.
 
H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
I found that my files are still in Bootcamp (c:)>Users>(my userid folder)
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
hajime said:
I found that my files are still in Bootcamp (c:)>Users>(my userid folder)
Click to expand...

That's good, that is the normal location for windows 7 (and 8) for your home folder.

I'd be quick about backing up your data, just in a case.

Also I like using winclone, its worth the money as it backs up your entire bootcamp partition - kind of like Carbon Copy Cloner.
 
H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
Thanks all for your advice. I moved all the files from the original desktop and MyDocument to the current ones. However, I have to reinstall all the software. There are also over 100 windows updates. It seems that those Bootcamp drivers might have gone. Where can I download the latest versions? I think there was a Bootcamp driver update option when I clicked START. It is not there. When I clicked on NVIDIA Control Panel (previously downloaded the driver from Nvidia website), it reads "Nvidia Display settings are not available. An NVIDIA graphics card was not detected in your system." In Device Manager->Display adapters. Only VMware SVGA 3D shows up. Does that mean all those Bootcamp drivers are gone suddenly?
 
H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
Thank you. When I tried to install it to Windows, I got an Installation Error. It reads that "This version of Boot Camp is not intended for this computer model." It should work as it is a rMBP 15" 2012. Any idea?

I also tried "Download the latest Windows support software from Apple" from Boot Camp Assistant several times. After the downloading, I got the same error.
 
Last edited:
chrfr

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,520
7,043
hajime said:
Thank you. When I tried to install it to Windows, I got an Installation Error. It reads that "This version of Boot Camp is not intended for this computer model." It should work as it is a rMBP 15" 2012. Any idea?

I also tried "Download the latest Windows support software from Apple" from Boot Camp Assistant several times. After the downloading, I got the same error.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to install the drivers through VMWare Fusion? You can only install them when actually running Windows directly.
You may need to reinstall the VMWare tools in Fusion, though.
 
H

hajime

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
7,745
1,220
chrfr said:
Are you trying to install the drivers through VMWare Fusion? You can only install them when actually running Windows directly.
You may need to reinstall the VMWare tools in Fusion, though.
Click to expand...

I found that I could not install the latest Nvidia driver through VMWare as a Nvidia graphics card was not detected. I succeed the installation when running Windows directly.

Actually I am not certain about the current state of my system. How can I tell if I have succeed in installing all the bootcamp and windows drivers?
 
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