In the process of upgrading to XP from ME I seem to have deleted the "My documents" folder that I had on ME. Is it stored somewhere on the computer where I can recover it or is it gone for good. Also some programs that I liked i.e. photo shop, and CD creator

 

I would hope that you intentionally deleted these files.

Upgrading by installing an operating system on top of an existing one is never a good idea. If you had done this I would be recommending you install again.

The proper way to install a new OS is to completely reformat the hard drive and start over. This sounds like what you did. However, you have to save any files you need before you do this. It sounds like you didn't do this.

Your files are probably gone. Chalk this up as a lesson learned and remember to save your files the next time you install an OS.

As for the programs, reinstall them from the original CDs.

 

I suspect that these are gone for good.

 

You're will need to upgrade most of the programs anyway. Much of the ME software won't run on XP. If they do work, you'll find that not all of the functionality is there. Some of the upgrades you can get from the manufacturer's web sites. Some - just download the new versions at no extra cost.

 

Understand, I think I mispoke (a little) the XP was an upgrade not the full version so the way I understood it I had to leave ME on there. At any rate the first time I did it everything was still there, however in cleaning up some stuff I guess I deleted a couple of .dll files I needed. In order to get the system to work I had to reinstall from the safe mode it was during this process "my documents" and the other program files were deleted. Like I said there wasnt anything there I cant live without or replace just looking for the easy way out.

Still have the problem with the bad quality on my monitor I posted below in "poor video quality" any suggestions to solve that?

Thanks for the replies from all, you guys are a great help!

 

You understood wrong. You do not need to leave MyEnemy installed. The upgrade will want proof that you have MyEnemy (or a qualifying OS to upgrade from) installed, and at that time you would be able to place the MyEnemy (or other) CD into the drive and it would use that CD as proof that the other OS is installed.

Your files are gone. Acknowledge that you have learned your lesson. Now do the smart thing and install this OS the correct way. Installing over another OS, especially MyEnemy, is the absolute worst thing you could have done.

 

Upgrading should not have deleted "my documents". Did you set your username the same as it was previously set in ME?

Try a file search on a file that you know was in there if you haven't already done so.

 

Wreckwriter is likely onto it. "my documents' locations are based off of user names that you type in when you logon. When you installed XP and if you used a different username, it created a new 'my documents' fold that was empty.

You old stuff is under the folder with the old username...unless you removed that username or formatted the drive.

It's likely there somewhere. Search for your old username.

 

Upgrading Me to XP without a reformat andfresh install is just plain wrong. XP is not on the upgrade path of ME.
Just because you can do something, doesn't make it right or ok. IMHO, ME was the worst OS ever developed and I've seen lots of OS on all types and sizes of computers. You really don't want any part of it left over!
There are other reasons to do a reformat. It cleans the HDD and system of any viruses that may be lurking. It gets rid of old spyware and other accumulated crud.

Now do the right thing. Get the XP versions of your software.

Next time, back those files up to cd or dvd.

 

If you cannot find the files, there is a chance they can still be recovered. When a file is deleted or a drive is quick formatted, the data is still physically on the disk, windows no longer knows how to access it. As long as the old data wasn't overwritten with new data, it can be recovered. There are alot of programs out there that can recover this data. I have used one in the past with good success recovering a lot of data on a drive that lost its partition data when it was moved from one pc to another. I do not remember the name of the program. When I get home after work today I will look it up. If you do a google search for file recovery, or look on tucows.com or cnet.com, you should be able to find some.

-Mike
"Its not until you lose everything that you are free to do anything."

 

The My Documents folder in ME and in XP is in different places. When you loaded XP all references now go to the new location.

Start up Windows Explorer and start with the root of the C: drive. You chould find it a c:\My Documents. The XP location is at C:\Document and Settings\[user]\My Documents

You may just be looking in the wrong place.