Unable to see save files.

[Nickyct]

I was unable to boot to one of the PC that my friend asked me to look at.
I got corrupt or missing files. He wanted me to format the hard drive anyway and see if
I can save some file from there first.

I removed the hard drive and hook it up to my machine.
I went into all users folder and copy document and settings folder
which contains administrator folder and all users folders inside.
and put that on my thumb drive.

After formatting the his hard drive and install XP
I copy the folder back to the desktop.
When I open the all users folder all I see was
ntuser.dat file in there.
the file that I saved is about 1.54GB but when I
opened all the folder in there it said empty.
Are those files all hidden?
there were some pictures files in there but how
can see and access those files?
I'm lost.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

The "All Users" folder would contain stuff that all the user accounts share, not the stuff that an individual user account owns (such as their My Pictures folder and stuff). Can you double-check the name of the folder, did you mean the Documents And Settings folder? Is it definitely 1.5GB now?

 

[Nickyct]

When I double click on All users folder all I see was ntuser.dat file in there that's it.
When I do the properties of Documents and settings (which contains Administrator and all users folder)
the file said 1.54GB.
I would assume all the stuff would be under all user which in this case he probably didn't create multiple account
that's why there only one file when double click on all user.

 

[mechBgon]

Go to the Documents And Settings\Administrator\ folder. I think that's where you'll find the stuff you want.

 

[Nickyct]

Yeah, I did that all I see was just empty folders and short cuts.

 

[mechBgon]

That's interesting. In the Documents And Settings folder, are there any folders besides Administrator and All Users?

 

[Nickyct]

No, there's only two.
I should have gone in further when I drag the files over to my flash key.
I think I messed up saving them.
But what puzzle me was that a lot of folder was empty but
the folder said 1.54gb.

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, that does seem strange. You could expand the folders and keep checking their sizes until you find where all that 1.5GB of stuff is located.

On WinXP, the account named Administrator is normally hidden and not used by anyone. It belongs to the system itself. You can only see it by booting in Safe Mode. That's why I was asking if there was another folder in Documents And Settings. But there are situations where people end up driving around in the system's own Administrator account sometimes