Hello all,

It's a huge shame that I have to put a post up like this. Please do take a read through and give me some suggestions with what to do next.

Background Information:

I'm an ICT - Software Engineering Student away at university. Mother phones up says that her laptop has a virus - I say "Don't worry will be back on the weekend". Mother says that she can't wait till then as she needs it and can't wait. I say if she must take it to the 'Tech guys' at PC world.

Laptop booked in to have a back-up made of all files, virus removed, fresh install of windows and Kaspersky installed instead of Norton.

Events:

Laptop taken in and 3 days later a phone call. "Mrs Shaw, I'm just putting a fresh install of windows on now - Is it okay if I put your files on an external HDD?" - Fine please go ahead.

Laptop collected next day. Mothers phone call to me - "I can't see the files on the HDD". I think she is being stupid and head home to check it out. No Files on HDD + No Files on PC - Check to see if they put them as "Hidden" as it was Accounts information.... No.

In I go to PC world.

I first get told that no backup was requested or logged.

Why sell my mother an external HDD for no reason then? What was the daft phonecall about backup suggesting?

I then get - "We see from our log he wiped it on the 15th and called your mother on the 16th".

They wiped the machine and then phoned my mother asking for a backup? Pardon?

I then ask why the external hdd is blank?

It looks like the data has corrupted.

I then get a really odd look at the sales guy and ask him to confirm that - A laptop was booked in for a backup, fresh install of windows and to have kaspersky installed... Get a backup that wasn't requested but is done anyway the day after a machine is wiped and now is corrupted.

The best part was when he looked at me and said -

We can send the laptop and HDD off and get the data recovered. That will cost you £250 and take 5 to 10 days.

I asked for the store manager and managed to get the laptop sent off for free and all my mothers money back that she spent. I gave them a chance to restore my faith in them and let them send it away...

The problem is..... It's gone past 10 days. It's now 11 WORKING days and nothing.

Suggestions please,

Rob.

Edited 6 March, 201016 yr by Robshaw

I'm genuinely surprised that you think this is news. PC World and indeed the whole Dixons Group has a truly appalling reputation for support. I supply serious data/workflow systems for food businesses and the resistance to spending money on quality RAID controllers and proper 'safe' backup is unreal. I always spec a complete redundant system with a failover server and offsite backup and it's always the first thing to go when the price negotiations start. And I always make them sign a disclaimer that basically says "I told you so" for when they end up in the poo.

I think it's probably worth thinking about why the machine wasn't backed up regularly anyway - especially if it had accounts or personal/mission crfitical data on it. Why wasn't the virus checker up to date? Did it even have anti-virus on it? Backing it up after it's infected with a virus or it's become corrupted by a hardware failure is too late.

On the bright side, now your mum has her new external disk drive, you can get her a copy of Acronis so that she doesn't end up in this situation again.

Sorry if that sounds unsympathetic, but if you're supposed to be "in the business" then you need to get with the protection thing.

just call them and ask what is happening.

Disc recovery isn't an exact science... but then again doing a backup after you've removed the files, is also a good way to have the files wiped.

I just hope they didn't write too much data over the new disk or you won't have anything left to recover.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the chances of getting the data back are almost zero from either drive. I bet the external hdd never had the files on in the first places, and once the internal drive has been written to (which a fresh windows install will do) then data recovery is almost, if not impossible.

You may have to put it down to experience and remember to always backup your data onto another drive regularly. I mean what would have happened had the HDD failed then the files will also all be gone. For work I have replaced 3 laptop HDDs in recent weeks and each time the users have lost all their files because there was no other copy.

On the other hand, why did they want to wipe the laptop to remove a virus. Anyone who knows what they are doing should be able to remove it without going that far.

I didn't make myself clear sorry. I always back-up data and do have a back-up for that machine. It's just the most recent items that are missing and I wanted - I'm not that much of a tool... Honest.

Thanks for the help folks. I thought there wasn't alot that could be done.

www.geeksquad.co.uk

There is an agent at Cribbs in Bristol

Edited 7 March, 201016 yr by Decron

PCWorld are staffed by inbred monkeys, generally.

Try an indie computer shop (if you can find one, that is!)

Gary Gltter found them rather good though

www.geeksquad.co.uk

There is an agent at Cribbs in Bristol

Owned by the same group IIRC

Owned by the same group IIRC

Uhhh no...

Geek Squad is actually Carphone Warehouse/Bestbuy

My bad.... I'd still put them on the same level though.

My bad.... I'd still put them on the same level though.

I wouldn't. They are far more capable, I recruited half of them so I should know

I had to do a double take on the thread heading - I couldn't believe my eyes.

Surely this must be the only case on record of the words "PC World" and "Help" appearing in the same sentence.

Ok, I have software that can recover lost files from formatted hard drives, damaged ones etc, I hate PC World, truly I do, cowboys for want of a better word.

PM me Ill give you a link to my website so you can look at the software if you wish, it very self explanatory, as stated tho it is limited to the fact that if data has been written to the sectors then what was there is gone, but it really would surprise me if there werent any recoverable files...

Point to note....

1. Software will help you recover files from the internal hard drive....

2. It will also tell you if there was anything put on the external....

It looks for old partition information and allocation tables, if no particular table pops up and no data is found on the external, then they are talkin BS and no data was ever backed up....

Edited 10 March, 201016 yr by Nuriyan

I wouldn't. They are far more capable, I recruited half of them so I should know

I hope you didn't recruit the Havant office then, they were at best on par with PCW.

PC World ?,mate at works pc packed in,looks like processor cooler went awal and chip has fried. Took it to PC World ..Yes it broken sir you need to buy a new pc.Mate replied ok but can files on old pc be transfered to a new pc,as he had stuff he wanted to keep.Answer No cannnot be done sir was the reply...Muppets.

Never trust anyone in a PC shop unless you know them personally, I mean to be honest a simple test will tell all, if they cant answer a simple question on the spot walk away, always advised people to just ask what HTTP stands for, if they dont know walk away....

My first experience of PC wONDERS - I saw a CDROM ( few years ago ,I know) - marked down ,because it had a damaged box ,and bought it . Somehow ,the reciept got lost ,but CDROM had a production date on it .Suddenly it started to play up .So off to PC Wonderland I trotted - to start getting the runaround when it transpired that i'd lost the reciept . Funnily enough , mention of Head Office and Trading Standards produced a reply from the sales computer ,like "Sir - go get one from that pile over there -we'll change it " .

My last one was to buy an ex display scanner ,to which they couldn'yt find the box or install CD . Hoping I'd find drivers on the net (and at the price I could afford to take it back and argue) I bought it . I later contacted PC Wonderland HQ asking where I could find drivers to be told that I shouldn't have been sold it .However - I have drivers from te net -and Win 7 even recognises it .

But ,if asked about PC Wonderland -I'd suggest only go there if you're PC Savvy - else they're going to rip you off .

I still recall trying to buy a heat sink and fan for a PII system (back in the day) from the parts desk at PCW.

The bloke (well, acne infested hormone meat bag) looked back at me and said - "I dont think we sell heatseeking fans sir".

At least he was polite.

I left.

I hope you didn't recruit the Havant office then, they were at best on par with PCW.

We dont have agents in Havant, wasn't aware there was a Carphone in Havant. Nearest agent to there is in Commercial Road although he is brand new. All my experianced guys are moving to Best Buy at Hedge End

Edit: Oh they do... you learn something everyday! This is just a regular store though, no Agents on site.

Edited 11 March, 201016 yr by Decron

We dont have agents in Havant, wasn't aware there was a Carphone in Havant. Nearest agent to there is in Commercial Road although he is brand new. All my experianced guys are moving to Best Buy at Hedge End

Edit: Oh they do... you learn something everyday! This is just a regular store though, no Agents on site.

Might explain it, but I i'll have a look out for best buy at H/E as they can make an interesting alternative for last minute purchases.

PCWorld. Good for a laugh or a bit of salesman baiting but as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike most of the time.

PCWorld staff are either students on part time or gimps who only know enough to cause damage.

I agree that the data is probably gone for good. It was probably never backed up at all and will have been overwritten. You won't get that back with a £250 restore.

This blog post is unrelated - but might help you recover some data...

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918

He recovers data from a quick formatted refurb SD card and links the s/w he used.

The thing is, and like I have said already, it cant hurt to try some data recovery software, PM me if you wish to try it Ill point you in the right direction if you wish.

You may recover some, and the software will recover whatever it finds depending on the integrity of the file.

The thing is, and like I have said already, it cant hurt to try some data recovery software, PM me if you wish to try it Ill point you in the right direction if you wish.

You may recover some, and the software will recover whatever it finds depending on the integrity of the file.

Sorry but if the data in question has any value, then I have to say "don't be f**king stupid".

Playing with software tools is potentially going to wipe more data than it saves by writing to the disk.

The best thing here to do is to get an expert in and see what hasn't been overwritten by the new install.

Some data will almost certainly have been lost, however hopefully they did a quick format as that doesn't involve writing quite so much.