I am devastated, and probably angrier than I have ever been in my life!

[Elle]

AI am completely devastated, and at the same time, angrier than I have probably ever been in my life!

 

I have been collecting patterns for a few years now. I have a lot of them in print, but I had many, many patterns, some out of print, on our desktop computer. I was gradually copying them onto disks and transferring them to my new laptop, but there were still well over 100 patterns on the desktop computer waiting to be transferred.

 

When I got home from work a few hours ago I was in the mood to start working on a doily. I had spent an hour or so looking at the thread show and tell posts, drooling over the gorgeous doilies. So I decided I would start one. I had bought a copy of the pattern for the doily with the flower bouquet in the center and the white border all around it. Some of you probably know the one I mean. It has been posted here before.

 

I had the patterns stored between my personal filing cabinet in my email and various folders on the desktop. I went to sign onto AOL to check my personal filing cabinet to see if it was there, or if I needed to look in one of the folders on the desktop. There was no AOL icon on the desktop! I figured I would check my doily folders on the desktop for it, and there were no doily folders on the desktop either! I asked DH what was going on, and he told me that some friends of ours had stopped over a week or so ago and had brought the latest updates for some game called "World of Warcraft" that they were trying to get in involved in playing with them. When the guy sat down at the computer to download the game, HE DELETED THE AOL PROGRAM FROM OUR COMPUTER AND HE DELETED ALL OF MY PATTERN FOLDERS!!!!!!!

 

I went BERSERK! Words came out of my mouth that I didn't know I knew! I asked DH whatever gave this idiot the idea that he could determine what we had on our computer and what we didn't! I had spend OVER $300 on patterns, and now everything is GONE! There were dozens of doilies and all kinds of afghans and sweaters and I can't even begin to remember what all there was!

 

I called the guy up and asked him WHY? WHY did you feel it was OK to delete AOL from our computer? He replied, "well, the program was running all the time. It would slow down the game. And the more things you have on your desktop, the slower your computer runs, so I deleted all the folders from the desktop that weren't needed." I asked, "Weren't needed by WHOM?????" At this point I was screaming at him HOW DARE YOU DELETE ANYTHING FROM A COMPUTER THAT ISN'T YOUR OWN?????" He couldn't think of anything to say other than if he came over, he MIGHT be able to find some of the things he deleted. I told him that he had better pray that he can find them, because I am holding him responsible for those patterns, and I am GOING to get the money I will now need to buy them again!

 

I have just spent the last two hours crying my eyes out, because I don't even know where I got half of the patterns from! They came from various websites over the years and I don't even remember which sites they were! How the devil am I going to find them all again?? All of my beautiful doily patterns are GONE, not to mention copies of photos of my late parents that were sent to me by someone that I no longer have a way to contact!! Let me stop now because I'm just making myself cry all over again. This has been one of the worst nights of my life!

[cdschlea]

Oh my!!! I'm afraid I would be homicidal in your shoes! Is there a computer repair store in your area? Maybe they ran recover them if you take your tower in. Is the file by chance still in the recyle bin?

 

I hope someone can help you!

 

Colleen

[unicorn37757]

Oh what a truly tragic thing to happen!:cryI would be wanting to hang someone myself Sure hope he can get them back up & going for you

[shifio]

sometimes you can recover files but need an expert to do it, im sorry how frustrating, and how dare he do that, who does he think he is,

[oldbonboys]

I would be ready to kill him myself - with my bare hands. I am always telling my boys to never delete anything UNLESS I KNOW!!!

[moggy]

Oh no!!!! I do feel for you as they take a LOT of time / money to collect!

 

 

Can you not go back to one of the safe dates stored on your computer and restore the harddrive back to that date? If you have XP or Vista they are on there. It should restore everything that was on it.

 

If that is gobbldegook to you / DH then take your computer to a BIG computer store - they should be able to run a recovery programme for you and get them back (and I know where I'd send the bill for that!). While you are at the store I'd get an external harddrive and copy all of your photos, music, patterns etc etc on it so you know you have a back up in case it happens again or your computer decides to fall ill. They come with MASSIVE storage capacities and don't have to be too expensive - certainly cheaper than the stress of losing all of your favorite stuff!!

[rashidah]

I am sorry for your loss I feel your pain.

[Priszm]

Was your AOL file cabinet something stored on the AOL servers? If so, you should still be able to access that! Just log in - it doesn't have to be via the AOL icon. Go to http://www.aol.com and log in from there. Good luck getting your patterns back.

[yarnjeannie]

hope you get your patterns and photos back. I know the feeling.

[Amy]

[quote name=moggy;1495636

Can you not go back to one of the safe dates stored on your computer and restore the harddrive back to that date? If you have XP or Vista they are on there. It should restore everything that was on it.

 

 

Going back to an earlier system restore data will replace all system files that were removed with any computer update' date=' but I don't think it will replace regular files that have been deleted.

 

Here is a link to a site that explains how you can recover deleted files yourself, using a free program. This program is apparently pretty successful at recovering lost data.

 

However, for the best chance to recover the data, you need to stop using your computer. When you delete files from your computer, they're not really deleted. They're still there. What the computer deletes is the information that "tracks" those files and keeps track of where they're located. This essentially frees up that storage space so it can be used to store other, new files. So the more you use your computer and save things to the hard drive, the more you may be writing on top of the things you want to save. In addition to saving new files, I think when Windows boots up and shuts down, it also writes things to the hard drive, potentially writing over some of your files.

 

Hope this helps!!!

[YankeeMom]

I hope you get them back. This makes MY blood boil!!

[Ldyjarhead]

Ohmygoodness, I can't even imagine someone doing that! Why was he even on your computer in the first place? That's like going through someone's house and throwing away thinks you think they don't need. How bizarre. What does your husband think about it?

 

I agree, there should be a way to recover them. If the file is on your AOL account, there is a possibility it will still be there if you log back in on AOL. If not, maybe AOL can restore it for you.

 

If it is a separate off-line file that just happened to be in that folder, I'm sure some techie can find it and get it back. I'm hoping for that very thing.

 

At the very least, this man should pay for whatever it costs to find and restore your system to what it was. I still can't understand what would possess someone to do that. Does he even realize what he did? Is he showing any amount of remorse?

[Ashley3121]

My hubby is really really good at computer stuff and I feel for you so bad. I was so mad when we lost a good portion of our family pictures that were all digital and hubby got almost all of them back. If you would like any help please just pm me I will let hubby read your post and see what he can do.

[Ninn]

OMG, and I thought I was homicidal after my dh deleted a research paper I was editing....lol. There is good news, though. If, at any time before this idjit got his hands on your computer, you did a system back up on a cd rom, all your patterns will still be there. If the idjit knows anything at all about computers, he would have done this before altering your unit -- FOR JUST THIS REASON! You can load the cd rom that holds the back up and transfer everything that is on it back to your hard drive. Hope this helps you.

[Sylviaf]

This really stinks. I lost an entire machine embroidery program when we upgraded to XP a few years ago. I was furious and it wasn't even anyone's fault, but it cost $500 to update the program. When it was deliberate, you had every right to be angry. I hope he can retrieve everything.

[benthyrdeeders]

SYSTEM RESTORE!!!!....I've been there (not to your extent) and I feel your pain. Give it a try...it can't hurt

[siminsc]

My husband is a computer tech. He told me a long time ago that anything that is put in a computer is still there somewhere even if it's been deleted. That's why police and others confiscate computers to find evidence against people. I hope some of the advice given here has helped you recover your patterns. Please post again and let us know how it's going. Lots of hugs and I'll say a prayer for you to find them.

[stitchgirl]

I've also had to do a system restore. If you take it back to a date just before that moron got hold of your computer, you should be able to get it back to the way it was. I can't believe someone would take it upon themselves to do that. Imagine - thinking it was okay to delete programs and folders not knowing what was in them just so a dumb game would run faster. I think I'd be more mad about that than losing the patterns.

[Addey]

You have every right to be upset. I'd have done unspeakable things to both DH and the "friend".

(Although, I did have to chuckle a little when you said some game called "World of Warcraft", as I'm a gammer myself and know that game, even though I don't play... I didn't think anyone hadn't heard of it...) I'm sorry that one stupid WoW player has caused you so much heartache.

[lhasaapsolady]

I feel so bad for you. The lose of the patterns was bad, but the photos of your parents is terrible. :hugcoming your way.

[faedragon]

One simple thing would have prevented this: BACKUP.

No matter how "safe" you think the things are on the computer, anything you need to keep, don't want to loose, must have, needs to be backedup( copied) onto a cd, or zip drive or some other device, that is not stored on the hard drive. Most people learn this the hard way.

[happy stitcher]

I would definitely take it to a professional, and give him the bill!

 

How inconsiderate was he??

That's just incredible!

 

Any chance he just deleted the shortcut from your desktop and not the actual program?

[Darsa]

Amazing that someone would feel free to just do what they want with someone else's computer. I'd be devastated as well! You've got some good advice here, though; it sounds like there may be the possibility of getting your files back. I'm hoping for you! And be sure to let us know what happens!

[Cliffnote]

I am so sorry to hear that! I would have been ripped beyond belief too. I really hope you are able to get them back!

[ZoeZoesmom]

Holy crap! I would strangle him! Hope there is a way to get your patterns back!