Will upgrade from Win 7 to 10 delete any data files?
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Thread: Will upgrade from Win 7 to 10 delete any data files?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
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    burnaby
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    Will upgrade from Win 7 to 10 delete any data files?

    Just help a friend to upgrade her desktop from Win7 to Win10 before it is charged. After the successful upgrading, she log in and found the data files (folder, pdf, xls) etc stored on the desktop previously all disappeared. Also, MS Outlook seems never been setup. When we opened it, it shows the setup wizard, but she has 5 accounts under outlook and used it just hour before upgrading.

    I browse around the Desktop folder, users desktop folders; just can't found them. So I went into the Document folder move some pdf files onto the desktop under her name. Then I restart the computer and suddenly found the Outlook opens without asking the setup and all 5 email accounts are there, all messages are there. However, the moved folders and data files disappear again.

    I don't know what happens. As it is late to figure the situation, I left. After carefully analysis the situation, I think (too late to confirm with her) that her user account name might be changed after she purchase the computer. It is a HP computer. It has a folder "Owner" in the user folder. Her current user name is something else. Would it be possible that the first re-start after upgrading, Win10 creates a new user folder under her name and the files in desktop folder under "Owner" just not be visible? If this is the case how can i make it visible and be copied? Can I take the hard drive out and connect to a laptop via a SATA adapter to find the files?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
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    Sheboygan, WI
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    Look in the hidden windows.old folder for what is missing. I hope you have not deleted it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
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    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
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    The "upgrade" should not have deleted any files. However, if the user name under Windows 10 is different, then the files did not disappear, they are just under the old user name. Check the C:\Users\ folder for other user names, and copy the files from there to the same subfolders under the new user name.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
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    burnaby
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    Thanks. I'll go to try the old user's folder.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
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    Albuquerque, NM USA
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    In the future always have a backup available.
    Jim
    WIN7 Ultimate SP1 64bit, IE 11, NTFS,
    cable, MS Security Essentials, Windows 7 firewall

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Go back to the owner folder, still couldn't find the files.

    Agree to Welshjim, always have data files back up.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
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    For a new user, Outlook might need to be set up again even though it is already installed.. Likewise, a new user will not have any Desktop files initially, other than the ones Microsoft sets up. The Desktop files for a previous user should still be there, usually in the C:\Users\{UserName}\Desktop folder. However, the Desktop is not really a place you want to store files, especially during an "upgrade" of Windows, since you never know what Microsoft might decide to do.

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