Because of repeated errors I decided to reinstall Windows XP Home SP2
through a set of recovery CD's provided by the PC manufacturer. (I do not
have a regular installation CD.) I backed up my My Documents folder to my
external hard drive in a cut and paste operation in Windows Explorer that I
have performed successfully in the past.

I selected a so-called destructive recovery and, as expected, was warned
that a full format would be conducted with the loss of all data. (I doubt
that any such format occurred, but that's another issue.) I proceeded as in
the past umpteen times I have had to use system recovery.

I set about reinstalling and updating my most important applications. Then
I transferred the contents of my backup to the new My Documents folder. It
went as expected. Next, I set about reinstalling my other applications.

One of those was Google Picasa. I had it search "My Documents" for photos
and other images. It found and indexed some images that I didn't want in
Picasa. This was expected. However it didn't find any of the more than 3000
photos in "My Pictures."

I opened Windows Explorer/My Documents/My Pictures and found that the
subfolders I had set up were present. All were empty. I checked my other
document folders and found the correct folders, which also were empty. I had
backed up my "Bookmarks" folder. While the subfolders were there, none of my
over 1000 bookmarks were present either.

It looked like a complete disaster, or so I thought.

A few days later I opened Picasa. To my surprise and delight, Picasa found
and indexed all of my missing photos! I concluded that they had to be on the
drive, just not accessable in Windows Explorer. I confirmed this by
searching for individual photos by name in both Google Desktop Search and
Windows Search. Both found the photos sought.

Next I searched for music files by the name of the artist. They also were
found. I repeated all of these searches on my external hard drive with the
same results.

I believe that all of my missing files are on both hard drives. I don't
know whether to blame Windows for screwing up the back up and restore
operations or the manufacturer's recovery software for screwing up the
reinstallation of Windows.

This is the worst PC screw-up I have ever encountered in 15 years of using
most of the Windows versions available in that period.

BTW, I could perform another system recovery, but in light of my latest
experience I am somewhat reluctant to use it.

I would appreciate some advice about this unacceptable situation and what I
might do to correct it.

Can you move the photos from Picasa to My Pictures Folder?
"sleeplessinnewjersey" <sleeplessinnewjersey@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote in message news:8B41355F-C6E4-4DF7-88A4-F2831918D9C3@microsoft.com...
> Because of repeated errors I decided to reinstall Windows XP Home SP2
> through a set of recovery CD's provided by the PC manufacturer. (I do not
> have a regular installation CD.) I backed up my My Documents folder to my
> external hard drive in a cut and paste operation in Windows Explorer that
> I
> have performed successfully in the past.
>
> I selected a so-called destructive recovery and, as expected, was warned
> that a full format would be conducted with the loss of all data. (I doubt
> that any such format occurred, but that's another issue.) I proceeded as
> in
> the past umpteen times I have had to use system recovery.
>
> I set about reinstalling and updating my most important applications.
> Then
> I transferred the contents of my backup to the new My Documents folder.
> It
> went as expected. Next, I set about reinstalling my other applications.
>
> One of those was Google Picasa. I had it search "My Documents" for photos
> and other images. It found and indexed some images that I didn't want in
> Picasa. This was expected. However it didn't find any of the more than
> 3000
> photos in "My Pictures."
>
> I opened Windows Explorer/My Documents/My Pictures and found that the
> subfolders I had set up were present. All were empty. I checked my other
> document folders and found the correct folders, which also were empty. I
> had
> backed up my "Bookmarks" folder. While the subfolders were there, none of
> my
> over 1000 bookmarks were present either.
>
> It looked like a complete disaster, or so I thought.
>
> A few days later I opened Picasa. To my surprise and delight, Picasa
> found
> and indexed all of my missing photos! I concluded that they had to be on
> the
> drive, just not accessable in Windows Explorer. I confirmed this by
> searching for individual photos by name in both Google Desktop Search and
> Windows Search. Both found the photos sought.
>
> Next I searched for music files by the name of the artist. They also were
> found. I repeated all of these searches on my external hard drive with
> the
> same results.
>
> I believe that all of my missing files are on both hard drives. I don't
> know whether to blame Windows for screwing up the back up and restore
> operations or the manufacturer's recovery software for screwing up the
> reinstallation of Windows.
>
> This is the worst PC screw-up I have ever encountered in 15 years of using
> most of the Windows versions available in that period.
>
> BTW, I could perform another system recovery, but in light of my latest
> experience I am somewhat reluctant to use it.
>
> I would appreciate some advice about this unacceptable situation and what
> I
> might do to correct it.
>
>
>
>