Hmm...I think you lost them dude. I had this happened to me once but when I reinstalled the Win2k another time without reformatting I told the installation program to install to Winnt2 folder. That way from that second installation, I retrieved all the important documents and transferred them to another computer on Network. Afterward, I reformatted the HD and did another installation of Win2k again. From what I understand, once you delete that WinNT folder, you lose all your stuffs inside My Documents folder. Unless that "Single Folder" you are talking about is outside WinNT folder, I am afraid you lost them. I might be wrong though...

Stop using that hard drive IMMEDIATLY. Stick it in another computer as slave with an OS that supports reading NTFS drives. Use a program that can recover deleted files from NTFS partitions.

DosFreak's correct, STOP using that drive now. Anything you do will write to it and reduce your chances of recovering your data. You should look up some of those companies that specialize in HDD data recovery (there's lots of adds in the back of the computer mags, also check the yellow pages) and get a price estimate from them. It may be expensive but you'll have to decide if it's worth it to recover your data. You could also try something like Norton Clean Sweep (run it in DOS only) to recover your data, it may work. I had luck using it on a friends computer to recover some deleted files and it got alot of his stuff back even though the drive had been written to a little. Good Luck!

If it was me I would Stick it in another computer. Make an image of the drive with Norton Ghost. I would then try different recovery programs to recover the files. (There are doezens of recovery programs out there and you don't know which one's are the best.)

I'm not sure on this...I'm not up on recovering deleted files but if the directory is deleted I think it would be alot harder to recover your files....

How much are they worth to you?
 
There are businesses that make their living trying to recover data lost like yours. If your documents are THAT important, give one of 'em a jingle. I had to do that over a bad set of backup tapes, and they charge. Boy, DO they charge, but they were successful. It's been a while, and I have no recollection which service I used, but for me it was well worth the bucks.
 
One thing's for sure: they aren't going to be able to recover any sectors you've completely overwritten. Which means to completely STOP using that HDD first, like DosFreak and a few others have suggested.
 
No lecture on the importance of good backups necessary...you now know firshand that horrible, sinking feeling at first realization that the accumulation of years has been instantly erased. Pow!
 
Good luck.
 
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"Being married to a programmer is like owning a cat. You talk to it but you're never really sure it hears you, much less comprehends what you say." -DeadCats, 1999
"Talking to DeadCats is like talking to a dead cat." -MrsDeadCats, 2001
 
 
[This message has been edited by DeadCats (edited 25 March 2001).]

There are programs that you can find that can recover data. One program that comes to mind is Easy Recovery. I have used it before and it got what I needed back. If you want a copy, give me an email (busby1218@charter.net) and I'll get ya a copy. But, as everyone else has said, stop using that HD.

Thanks to the Easy Recovery utility sent to me by Busby, I was able to recover roughly 85% of the data I lost. I ran every search mode the program offered, but was still unable to recover my coveted journal file... most probably the file that will agonize me the most... Thanks for your help, everyone. I really appreciate it.
 
- Grimesby

A program called file scavenger works really well.