In many cases, you will get the best results by using the Quick Search and selecting the disk number (such as Disk 0) in the Look In box. This search, if successful, will recover only the required files. If necessary use the Long Search, which may also recover defunct files of no interest to you. (See "Quick versus Long Search" in Chapter 6.)

Windows® was reinstalled (possibly from a Recovery CD)

Windows® may have been reinstalled accidentally or intentionally. Files in such folders as My Documents and Desktop are lost after the reinstallation.

Many computers come with a Recovery CD from which you can boot to restore the computer to the original state. If this procedure is performed, all data files on drive C will be lost.

Follow the procedures described in "Chapter 4: Recovering Files from a System Drive." The Long Search must be used because the original file system structure has been overwritten.