End of year survey for how much storage you typically use for your Windows program files & program data

End of year survey for how much storage you typically use
for your Windows installed program files & program data

Happy New Year!

Here's my quick survey of space used (none of which needs backing up)
o https://i.postimg.cc/1z1YYcD5/app01.jpg ~28 GB installed apps
o https://i.postimg.cc/kMHspvm3/app02.jpg ~1 GB Program Data
o https://i.postimg.cc/L5S1c5NP/app03.jpg ~2 GB Program Files
o https://i.postimg.cc/tCHKcbyH/app04.jpg ~18 GB Windows files
o https://i.postimg.cc/rFVkmTHN/app05.jpg ~500 GB personal data

Note that I don't willingly store _anything_ in default Microsoft folders
o Which is something I learned in the Win95/WinXP days works rather well

Hence, _anything_ in any default Windows folder can be trashed
o When a new system is set up from scratch

Given I store everything that matters into C:\data, there's nothing
anywhere else on my Windows systems which needs to be backed up at the
annual EOY backup archive.

To be clear, I use a philosophy which, by design, enables this efficiency

For example:
1. All program installers are backed up at the moment they are downloaded
2. Such that they are easily re-installed on the new machine when needed
3. And where a USB-based syslog file is kept of each apps' setting changes

Given the menus and the syslogs and the installers are all maintained at
the time the program is first installed, there's nothing to back up other
than your own personal data (which I keep in, not surprisingly, C:\data).
o https://i.postimg.cc/rFVkmTHN/app05.jpg ~500 GB personal data

Specifically:
a. Syslogs are maintained on an external USB stick (for use with many PCs)
b. Data is the only folder that matters (it's all you need to archive)
c. Installers are saved at the time of download to external storage

All hierarchies on all machines match for complete consistency:
o https://i.postimg.cc/yY74z87s/taskbarmenu06.jpg

In summary, once a year (or so), you copy your "c:\data" & you're done
o Nothing else matters on a typical Windows system if you planned ahead

See also:
o Tutorial for setting up Windows in a well organized KISS philosophy
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.freeware/i9Cz3POZFCo
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to help others & to learn from them.

On 30 Dec 2020 16:20:26 GMT, Frank Slootweg wrote:

If the Restore Points are included in the SVI, then nearly all is
Restore Points, because the 'Current Usage:' of the Restore Points is
12.35 GB (according to the System Protection tab of the System
Properties control panel applet).

Hi Frank,

By way of providing another helpful datapoint, my RPs are about 16GB:
o Win+R systempropertiesprotection [Configure]

Unlike the trolls on Usenet, I don't bull**** (I prove what I claim):
o https://i.postimg.cc/FKkC2YjZ/app06.jpg ~16 GB restore point

In my case, that's only five restore points, which is odd, as I don't
remember deleting any, where I've noticed that whatever is labeled as:
o Windows Module Installer
is, perhaps, deleting all prior restore points (it may be one of my
cleaner programs, e.g., Revo, AdvancedUninstall, iOBit, ZSoft, etc.).
o Win+R systempropertiesprotection [System Restore] [Next]
o [x]Show more restore points

Whatever "Windows Modules Installer" is I don't know though...
o https://i.postimg.cc/hhFVQGJS/app07.jpg Something deleted my RPs!

In summary, I'm glad you brought up this system restore point space
o As I just noticed "something" is auto-deleting my many restore points!
--
Posted to learn from others and to disseminate knowledge to all who care.

Arlen Holder wrote:

End of year survey for how much storage you typically use
for your Windows installed program files & program data

Happy New Year!

Windows 10 1909, clean install 2 weeks ago. Installer somehow nuked my
storage drive; 20 years of downloads -- 4 TB! -- gone. (I have backups, but
the last one was over a year ago, and they're on a Mac-formatted drive,
because reasons.)

=Apps=
Program Files: 1.16 GB
Program Files (x86): 2.53 GB
ProgramData: 436 MB
Windows: 20.8 GB
Wintools: 5.23 GB
Win64tools: 2.9 GB
%USERPROFILE%\AppData: 1.84 GB (and increasing as I watch...)
TOTAL: 35 GB
=Personal=
Desktop: 21.4 GB
Books: 123 GB
Games: 28.2 GB
Movies: 8.84 GB (formerly more than 1 TB, dammit)
Music: 362 GB
Storage: 126 GB (and growing)
TOTAL: 671.6 GB

a. Syslogs are maintained on an external USB stick (for use with many PCs)
b. Data is the only folder that matters (it's all you need to archive)

That's similar to how I setup my *nix systems, with /home (equivalent to
\users) on one partition and everything else on another.

--
You're going to spend several years of your life in some cold dark cubicle
with a crazy boss who couldn't program a twenty out of an ATM.

On 12/31/2020 1:43 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:
o https://i.postimg.cc/hhFVQGJS/app07.jpg Something deleted my RPs!

In summary, I'm glad you brought up this system restore point space
o As I just noticed "something" is auto-deleting my many restore points!


Check the actual configuration of your restore points (how much disk
space you reserve for them). As new restore points are created the
oldest gets deleted if the allotted space is used up.

When a major Microsoft update occurs Microsoft may delete all of your
old restore points -IF- Microsoft determines they can not be used after
the update.

At least on the last few major updates Microsoft started leaving the
creation of restore points option turned on, if you had it on. In the
past, after a major update Microsoft quite often would silently delete
all the old restore points and not tell you they also turned the option
off entirely.

On Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:35:46 -0600, GlowingBlueMist wrote:

Check the actual configuration of your restore points (how much disk
space you reserve for them). As new restore points are created the
oldest gets deleted if the allotted space is used up.

Hi GlowingBlueMist,

Happy New Year!

Only a handful of people not only voluntarily offer purposefully helpful
advice, but even fewer offer _good_ advice (where I'm of the former, but
perhaps not even yet in the latter).

For 2021, I'm gonna keep a list of those who, like you, are well worth
reading since you offer purposefully helpful _good_ advice!
o Win+R usenet
Where in the Registry is the definition of what it does (opens a text file)
o HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
o Usenet.exe === c:\path\to\the\text\file\you\wish\to\edit.txt

Moving on to your suggestion of checking my Restore Point Configuration...
o Win+R systempropertiesprotection [Configure]
The "Max Usage" is set to the max possible, but that was a good guess
which _everyone_ should take note of (who _wants_ restore points).
o https://i.postimg.cc/FKkC2YjZ/app06.jpg ~16 GB restore points

I know Mayayana doesn't "like" restore points, but I find them fantastic
as I install a _lot_ of freeware (I test for the best); where sometimes,
they just maliciously screw up the system like you can't believe.

When a major Microsoft update occurs Microsoft may delete all of your
old restore points -IF- Microsoft determines they can not be used after
the update.

Hi GlowingBlueMist,

Happy New Year!
o What's great about your answer is that it will be archived for posterity!

This is interesting, as I don't remember the date I updated to
o Win+R winver ===Reports=== 2H02 (OS Build 19042.685)

Hmmm... how can I tell _when_ I updated to 2H02?
o Win+I Update & Security View update history

Bingo!
A. Notice all restore points prior to 12/14/2020 mysteriously gone:
https://i.postimg.cc/hhFVQGJS/app07.jpg All prior RPs are gone!
Notice a cumulative Windows update was on 12/14/2020 at 10:14:12PM
B. Notice a cumulative Windows update was on 12/14/2020 (dunno what time)
https://i.postimg.cc/bJ5BqRFD/app08.jpg Windows update history
C. Also notice a 12/ý27/ý2020 "Feature update to Windows 10, version 20H2"
Which didn't seem to be the culprit that destroyed my prior RPs
But notice _another_ mysterious "Windows Modules Installer" on 12/27!

Both "Windows Modules Installers" coincide with the Windows' updates!

I looked at what's in this cumulative update but it says nothing relevant:
o https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4592438/windows-10-update-kb4592438

In tentative agreement, it "could be" that the cumulative update on
12/14/2020 at 10:14:22PM is the mysterious "Windows Modules Installer"
which seems to have wiped out all my prior restore points sans asking.

Do others _also_ have a "Windows Modules Installer" timed to the same
date as their recent Windows updates? (That would help to confirm.)

At least on the last few major updates Microsoft started leaving the
creation of restore points option turned on, if you had it on. In the
past, after a major update Microsoft quite often would silently delete
all the old restore points and not tell you they also turned the option
off entirely.

This is _also_ a great purposefully helpful point to remember!

Come to think of it, I think more than once I have looked at my restore
point log only to find the entire set wiped out.

I'll start looking for this mysterious "Windows Modules Installer" to see
if it's always the last fingerprint left when the Restore Points are on.

Note: I'm trying to figure out a way to tell at what time of day I ran
the update, but it _could_ have been at 10pm so that information jives.
--
Happy New Year to the handful of purposefully helpful people on this ng!

On Thu, 31 Dec 2020 22:55:59 -0000 (UTC), Auric__ wrote:

Windows 10 1909, clean install 2 weeks ago.

Hi Auric,
Happy New Year!

Thanks for being purposefully helpful, which is a rarity on this ng,
and therefore very much appreciated is your Windows install survey data.
o People like you and GlowingBlueMist are how we get smarter every day!

Like you, I back up my claims with real world data, which is an improvement
over having just knowledge vs having knowledge _plus_ empirical experience!
o https://i.postimg.cc/1z1YYcD5/app01.jpg ~28 GB installed apps
o https://i.postimg.cc/kMHspvm3/app02.jpg ~1 GB Program Data
o https://i.postimg.cc/L5S1c5NP/app03.jpg ~2 GB Program Files
o https://i.postimg.cc/tCHKcbyH/app04.jpg ~18 GB Windows files
o https://i.postimg.cc/rFVkmTHN/app05.jpg ~500 GB personal data
o https://i.postimg.cc/FKkC2YjZ/app06.jpg ~16 GB restore points

Installer somehow nuked my
storage drive; 20 years of downloads -- 4 TB! -- gone. (I have backups, but
the last one was over a year ago, and they're on a Mac-formatted drive,
because reasons.)

Yikes. I'm sorry about that. I'm sure you tried the various recovery
options, where it has happened, at some point in time, to all of us.

Interestingly, a Windows update seems to have nuked all my prior restore
points, which, luckily for me, isn't anywhere near as bad as what it did to
you!
o https://i.postimg.cc/hhFVQGJS/app07.jpg Something deleted my RPs!
o https://i.postimg.cc/bJ5BqRFD/app08.jpg Windows update history

Note the loss of restore points coincides with "Windows Modules Installer"
o And note the "Windows Modules Installer" coincides with Windows' updates!

Program Files: 1.16 GB
Program Files (x86): 2.53 GB

Your program files are similar in scope to mine, particularly given you
likely haven't had a chance to install a lot of programs in just two weeks
(and where you likely spent a lot of that elapsed time on HDD recovery).
o I had about 2GB of Program Files, while you have about 3 1/2 GB

Note though that I've been running my system for six months
o Hence my "installed programs" are about 28GB but I install a lot of apps!

ProgramData: 436 MB

That's also about the same, as I have 1GB to your 1/2 GB Program Data.

Windows: 20.8 GB

That's also roughly about the same as I have 18GB to your 21GB Windows.

Wintools: 5.23 GB
Win64tools: 2.9 GB
%USERPROFILE%\AppData: 1.84 GB (and increasing as I watch...)
TOTAL: 35 GB
=Personal=
Desktop: 21.4 GB
Books: 123 GB
Games: 28.2 GB
Movies: 8.84 GB (formerly more than 1 TB, dammit)
Music: 362 GB
Storage: 126 GB (and growing)
TOTAL: 671.6 GB

Your total of about 700 GB of "personal stuff" is similar to mine at 500GB.

a. Syslogs are maintained on an external USB stick (for use with many PCs)
b. Data is the only folder that matters (it's all you need to archive)

That's similar to how I setup my *nix systems, with /home (equivalent to
\users) on one partition and everything else on another.

Like you, I come from the old school, which, in the olden days, was prior
to Linux (my immersion to computers was in the late 60s) so I weaned myself
from the IBM systems, to DEC VAX VMS PDP11, to SunOS & Solaris, etc., prior
to personal computers taking over (mostly Redhat & Ubuntu Linux's).

Hence, like you, I'm extremely familiar to organizing a system by putting
stuff "where it belongs", where we get to define "where it belongs".

I think all well organized systems keep the programs separate from the data
o Where Mayayana has an apt "tractor trailer" characterization

Mayayana describes the "tractor" as the programs (e.g., C:\apps)
o And the "trailer" as the data (e.g., c:\data)

You can have lots of trailers, whereas you often use the same tractor
o You can have many users, where you often use the same programs

In summary, thanks for your addition end-of-year survey of software needs
o Where yours is very similar to mine in terms of what uses how much space
--
Happy New Year to all those who are purposefully helpful on this newsgroup!

On Fri, 1 Jan 2021 02:56:02 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

Note the loss of restore points coincides with "Windows Modules Installer"
o And note the "Windows Modules Installer" coincides with Windows' updates!

Happy New Year!

To help us get smarter every day, here's some info on
o "Windows Modules Installer"
Which seems to be what is auto-deleting all my prior System Restore Points!

o Windows Modules Installer listed System Restore Point fails
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-modules-installer-system-restore-point-fails
"The Windows Modules Installer Worker or WMIW or TiWorker.exe checks
for new updates from the Windows server and installs them on your
computer system.

So this process may create a system restore point before installing
Windows Updates."

o What do "windows modules installer" restore point mean?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/94lfhc/what_do_windows_modules_installer_restore_point/
"Windows Modules Installer is the thing that installs Windows Updates,
so it's just Windows Update, basically."

o How to Disable Windows Modules Installer Worker
https://www.techcrises.com/tips-and-tricks-2/disable-windows-modules-installer-worker-windows10/
"Windows Modules Installer Worker (TiWorker.exe) is a system process
that is responsible for installing both Windows modules
and operating system updates."

According to this site:
o Windows Modules Installer Shown Instead Of Restore Points
https://forums.majorgeeks.com/threads/windows-modules-installer-shown-instead-of-restore-points.319160/
"Microsoft is phasing out Restore Points in favor of doing a system refresh"
--
Happy New Year! Let's strive to get smarter every day!

Auric__ wrote:
Arlen Holder wrote:

End of year survey for how much storage you typically use
for your Windows installed program files & program data

Happy New Year!

Windows 10 1909, clean install 2 weeks ago. Installer somehow nuked my
storage drive; 20 years of downloads -- 4 TB! -- gone. (I have backups, but
the last one was over a year ago, and they're on a Mac-formatted drive,
because reasons.)

=Apps=
Program Files: 1.16 GB
Program Files (x86): 2.53 GB
ProgramData: 436 MB
Windows: 20.8 GB
Wintools: 5.23 GB
Win64tools: 2.9 GB
%USERPROFILE%\AppData: 1.84 GB (and increasing as I watch...)
TOTAL: 35 GB
=Personal=
Desktop: 21.4 GB
Books: 123 GB
Games: 28.2 GB
Movies: 8.84 GB (formerly more than 1 TB, dammit)
Music: 362 GB
Storage: 126 GB (and growing)
TOTAL: 671.6 GB

a. Syslogs are maintained on an external USB stick (for use with many PCs)
b. Data is the only folder that matters (it's all you need to archive)

That's similar to how I setup my *nix systems, with /home (equivalent to
\users) on one partition and everything else on another.


There is TestDisk, if a partition got deleted (partition entry
removed from partition table).

Using an UnDelete utility, can sometimes recover recently
deleted files. On NTFS, only one byte per deleted file is
flipped, to mark they have a deleted status. Then the
$MFT entry storage space gets reused at the first opportunity,
and the clusters the file used are allocated when new file
writes call for them. There is an incentive then, to stop
using the disk when trouble is first detected. If you
continue to use the partition, the quality of the recovery
becomes poorer and poorer with time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuva

A good UnDelete utility, tells you how many clusters have
been overwritten since the "event". A file with a "Good" status
or a green dot, none of the clusters are damaged, and simply
flipping the byte in the $MFT entry, brings back that file.
Files which have a yellow dot or red dot could be suffering
severe damage, and some other file is using the same clusters
and has overwritten what the previous owner of the clusters
put there.

As for TestDisk, it requires that the user remember what the
partition setup looked like. Many times (in my experience),
the reconstructed partition table is not the same as the
original partition table. Using a "bad" reconstruction
would result in damage to the data. If you have a backup, it has
a copy of the protective MBR, a copy of the GPT tables (there is
a primary and a backup table), and those are some of the items
that a person might put back as part of data recovery.

It really depends on what happened, as to how close to recovery
the thing might be. For example, an innocent CHKDSK run on a
partition with problems, can erase data too. Windows 10 has
a background process that verifies structures on disk, but
with the lack of documentation, we don't really know if there
are any corner cases where that makes things worse.

If I had to guess, some feature like "Storage Spaces" or
"Storage Manager", some sort of rubbish like that, it
spots when a partition has only 5% space remaining. It
then prompts you with an "I can help you clean off this ****"
prompt. When the user doesn't think it's **** :-/

Now, the CleanMgr.exe utility (which might be what the Storage
feature uses), it has a *very dangerous* box, or what was
a box there at one time. It offered to *delete your Downloads*.
That's the Downloads folder in your home directory.

Any mechanism of that sort, is a terror. I'm always very careful
in that tool, to clear all boxes, before I start selecting the
boxes I'm thinking of using. A dead giveaway would be a box that
says "potential savings 4TB", as then you'd know "hey, wait a minute,
that's my Downloads!". If CleanMgr got them, then Recuva might work
for some of it (like if you stopped using the "empty" partition
immediately).

There are also file scavengers like Photorec. But as far as I know,
those would work best if the file clusters were sequential. Such as
if a very good defragmenter had put all the files in precise order
before the "event". It's a shame that it's so much hard work to
prepare volumes for "events", and as a result, partitions are
hardly ever ideal candidates for the Photorec approach.

Paul

On Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:23:12 -0500, Paul wrote:

There is TestDisk, if a partition got deleted (partition entry
removed from partition table).

Hi Paul,
Happy New Year!

You're one of the handful of purposefully helpful people on this ng
o Where people like you are what make this Usenet newsgroup worthwhile

Looking up the links for TestDisk to put in my software archive
TestDisk
o TestDisk & PhotoRec 7.2
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/4171-testdisk.html

Apparently this is the canonical URL (AFAICT):
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/

o TestDisk & PhotoRec 7.2
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/4171-testdisk.html

It's not easy to find the canonical location for testdisk or photorec
o Maybe this?

https://www.cgsecurity.org/
o TestDisk: Partition recovery, file undelete

PhotoRec: File recovery
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step

TestDisk & PhotoRec:
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/Download_and_donate.php/testdisk-7.2-WIP.win64.zip
Name: testdisk-7.2-WIP.win64.zip
Size: 26407735 bytes (25 MiB)
CRC32: D82F2413
CRC64: E2267B4C9455CD69
SHA256: CA9539FD9BA18A3903D48989C35553546D768296AABDC336C3 54F2F8019C1D73
SHA1: 3C5CF15920B82D833662EF2D32243E25E2D79A39
BLAKE2sp: D9EB98406057BFE40BE6C67916DF0CC99E2FB8E683E8FC5F50 39192EA3D686DE

Using an UnDelete utility, can sometimes recover recently
deleted files.

Likewise, finding the canonical location is problematic
o Is this the canonical location?

Recuva UnDelete
o https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva
o https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/download
o https://download.ccleaner.com/rcsetup153.exe?cc2020
Name: rcsetup153.exe
Size: 7638224 bytes (7459 KiB)
CRC32: CAD6818D
CRC64: 049F3BA80A38D26A
SHA256: 189A868B9A175A3C303AED14688F33848A19E439D7B333DC5A E24853DAEE0870
SHA1: 37FC209D42EC49595BEDC73CD0A698E4200EDDE6
BLAKE2sp: 12DBB548F0F1EE3733295D78146D0BA04726D4781045F429CA 7D36A5F46A0F50

Now, the CleanMgr.exe utility (which might be what the Storage
feature uses), it has a *very dangerous* box, or what was
a box there at one time. It offered to *delete your Downloads*.
That's the Downloads folder in your home directory.

CleanMgr.exe?
o Is this that?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cleanmgr
--
Happy New Year! Let's all try to add value in every thread and in every post!

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:23:12 -0500, Paul wrote:

There is TestDisk, if a partition got deleted (partition entry
removed from partition table).

Hi Paul,
Happy New Year!

You're one of the handful of purposefully helpful people on this ng
o Where people like you are what make this Usenet newsgroup worthwhile

Looking up the links for TestDisk to put in my software archive
TestDisk
o TestDisk & PhotoRec 7.2
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/4171-testdisk.html

Apparently this is the canonical URL (AFAICT):
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/

o TestDisk & PhotoRec 7.2
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/4171-testdisk.html

It's not easy to find the canonical location for testdisk or photorec
o Maybe this?

https://www.cgsecurity.org/
o TestDisk: Partition recovery, file undelete

PhotoRec: File recovery
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step

TestDisk & PhotoRec:
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
o https://www.cgsecurity.org/Download_and_donate.php/testdisk-7.2-WIP.win64.zip
Name: testdisk-7.2-WIP.win64.zip
Size: 26407735 bytes (25 MiB)
CRC32: D82F2413
CRC64: E2267B4C9455CD69
SHA256: CA9539FD9BA18A3903D48989C35553546D768296AABDC336C3 54F2F8019C1D73
SHA1: 3C5CF15920B82D833662EF2D32243E25E2D79A39
BLAKE2sp: D9EB98406057BFE40BE6C67916DF0CC99E2FB8E683E8FC5F50 39192EA3D686DE

Using an UnDelete utility, can sometimes recover recently
deleted files.

Likewise, finding the canonical location is problematic
o Is this the canonical location?

Recuva UnDelete
o https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva
o https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/download
o https://download.ccleaner.com/rcsetup153.exe?cc2020
Name: rcsetup153.exe
Size: 7638224 bytes (7459 KiB)
CRC32: CAD6818D
CRC64: 049F3BA80A38D26A
SHA256: 189A868B9A175A3C303AED14688F33848A19E439D7B333DC5A E24853DAEE0870
SHA1: 37FC209D42EC49595BEDC73CD0A698E4200EDDE6
BLAKE2sp: 12DBB548F0F1EE3733295D78146D0BA04726D4781045F429CA 7D36A5F46A0F50

Now, the CleanMgr.exe utility (which might be what the Storage
feature uses), it has a *very dangerous* box, or what was
a box there at one time. It offered to *delete your Downloads*.
That's the Downloads folder in your home directory.

CleanMgr.exe?
o Is this that?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cleanmgr

Most likely links:

TestDisk - partition table repair (attempt) https://www.cgsecurity.org/
Photorec - scavenger https://www.cgsecurity.org/
Recuva - UnDelete https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

CleanMgr - Win10, backport to Win7 (Part of OS)
- Excels at deleting Windows.old
- But could delete your Downloads

Piriform was bought out, Recuva likely still supported by its author,
not really sure.

Paul

On Fri, 01 Jan 2021 07:17:30 -0500, Paul wrote:

Most likely links:
TestDisk - partition table repair (attempt) https://www.cgsecurity.org/
Photorec - scavenger https://www.cgsecurity.org/
Recuva - UnDelete https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva
Piriform was bought out, Recuva likely still supported by its author,
not really sure.

Hi Paul,

Thanks again for being one of the handful of people on this newsgroup who
are purposefully helpful, where these are important tools to have on hand
in our archives, and yet they all have innocuous names; hence it behooves
us all to archive the canonical files for emergency use on our flash drive.

By way of confirmation, and resolve to try to add value in every post,
I agree with you those are the most likely canonical links.

My observations are, mostly unintuitively so:
1. It seems "TestDisk" & "PhotoRec" are in the same "TestDisk" download.
2. There are many undeletes, Recuva seems best (but damn Piriform).

Side note: I used to diligently use CCleaner but, like Chrome, it's no
longer allowed on any system that I have anything to say about the matter.

CleanMgr - Win10, backport to Win7 (Part of OS)
- Excels at deleting Windows.old
- But could delete your Downloads

With respect to %windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe here is my quick survey:

o Win+R cleanmgr [C:] [OK] [Clean up system files] [C:] [OK]
[x]Download Program Files
[x]Temporay Internet Files
[x]Windows error reports and feedback di...
[x]DirectX Shader Cache
[x]Delivery Optimization Files
[x]Recycle Bin
[x]Temporary Files
[x]Thumbnails

o Win+R cleanmgr [C:] [OK] [Clean up system files] [C:] [OK]
[x]Windows Update Cleanup
[x]Microsoft Defender Andivirus
[x]Download Program Files
[x]Temporay Internet Files
[x]Windows error reports and feedback di...
[x]DirectX Shader Cache
[x]Delivery Optimization Files
[x]Device driver packages
[x]Language Resource Files
[_]Previous Windows installation(s)
[x]Recycle Bin
[x]Temporary Files
[x]Thumbnails

Total amount you can gain = 124MB
--
Every thread & every post to this Usenet ng should strive to add value.

UPDATE:
o https://i.postimg.cc/bN875p8b/apk01.jpg 1600 APKs extracted
o https://i.postimg.cc/cLXyGjTH/apk02.jpg 16GB of archive storage

Automatically saving all your program installers is part of a well designed
plan to allow easy (almost trivial) re-installation after a system crash.

To that end, I'm saving my EOY archive of Android & Windows-based apps
installed over the past year, where, on my one Android year-old $100
64GB/4GB Moto G7 phone alone, I amassed 1,600 APKs over the year
(this count includes pre-installed apps & all versions that I installed and
updated, plus any programs which were tested & then deleted over the year):
https://i.postimg.cc/bN875p8b/apk01.jpg

The disk space for those 1,600 extracted Android APKs (including
pre-installed system apps) is 16GB which is stored along with Windows
installers (given Android & Windows both have similar app archive needs).
https://i.postimg.cc/cLXyGjTH/apk02.jpg

Windows:
a. You generally download the app off the net nowadays (most apps anyway)
b. Where you save that download to your archive at that very same time
c. Then you install a copy of that download (and delete that installer)

Android:
A. You set Google Play apps to automatically save the APK upon download
B. You set F-Droid apps to automatically save the APK upon download
C. The only thing left is to "extract" the existing pre-installed apps
(which includes system apps, if so desired)

Note: Android has a huge advantage over Windows in that it's trivial to
"extract" a pre-installed app, even a system app; and it's trivial to
set Android to automagically save all the APKs you install (and every
version of every app APK you install, if you set the right switches)
at the very time you install that app.

Hence, on Android, the archive is completely automatic (if you know how).
o See the Android ng for my tutorials on how to accomplish app autoarchive

In summary, at the end of each year, I suggest it's a good idea to archive
on an external media, all your Windows & Android program installers, both
of which are saved, automatically, at the moment you downloaded and
installed the programs (plus, if desired, all pre-installed programs).

Automatically saving all your program installers is part of a well designed
plan to allow easy (almost trivial) re-installation after a system crash.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to disseminate useful information.

Paul wrote:

There is TestDisk, if a partition got deleted (partition entry
removed from partition table).

No, it's more than that. I've had to use testdisk in the past, and I wish it
was that simple.

My 4tb storage drive got overwritten with a (blank) ~100GB NTFS partition, at
the very beginning of the disk. Not sure what happened or why, but I am not
exactly thrilled, as you can imagine.

Using an UnDelete utility, can sometimes recover recently
deleted files. On NTFS, only one byte per deleted file is
flipped, to mark they have a deleted status. Then the
$MFT entry storage space gets reused at the first opportunity,
and the clusters the file used are allocated when new file
writes call for them. There is an incentive then, to stop
using the disk when trouble is first detected. If you
continue to use the partition, the quality of the recovery
becomes poorer and poorer with time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuva

I'll look into that one. I've been using the free version of R-Studio:

https://www.r-studio.com/free-linux-recovery/

I wish I knew more about how ext2/3/4 works. I have a very basic user-level
understanding of it, but I'm not sure how to use the info presented to me to
recover my files (and believe me, if I can recover instead of restore from
backup, I'll be a happy man).

Man, I miss the simple days of UNDELETE.EXE.

--
Your mileage may vary. Results not guaranteed.
Warranty void in the United States, England, and the planet Earth.

On 02/01/2021 20:35, Auric__ wrote:
Paul wrote:

There is TestDisk, if a partition got deleted (partition entry
removed from partition table).

No, it's more than that. I've had to use testdisk in the past, and I wish it
was that simple.

My 4tb storage drive got overwritten with a (blank) ~100GB NTFS partition, at
the very beginning of the disk. Not sure what happened or why, but I am not
exactly thrilled, as you can imagine.

Using an UnDelete utility, can sometimes recover recently
deleted files. On NTFS, only one byte per deleted file is
flipped, to mark they have a deleted status. Then the
$MFT entry storage space gets reused at the first opportunity,
and the clusters the file used are allocated when new file
writes call for them. There is an incentive then, to stop
using the disk when trouble is first detected. If you
continue to use the partition, the quality of the recovery
becomes poorer and poorer with time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuva

I'll look into that one. I've been using the free version of R-Studio:

https://www.r-studio.com/free-linux-recovery/

I wish I knew more about how ext2/3/4 works. I have a very basic user-level
understanding of it, but I'm not sure how to use the info presented to me to
recover my files (and believe me, if I can recover instead of restore from
backup, I'll be a happy man).

Man, I miss the simple days of UNDELETE.EXE.

Auric

I've not followed this thread but it might help you to know about a
facility called Disk Drill. I have used it with GREAT success!

https://www.cleverfiles.com

It works on both Windows AND Macs.

Good luck! :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_Drill_Basic

(Follow-up set to ACW)

Auric__ wrote:
Paul wrote:

There is TestDisk, if a partition got deleted (partition entry
removed from partition table).

No, it's more than that. I've had to use testdisk in the past, and I wish it
was that simple.

My 4tb storage drive got overwritten with a (blank) ~100GB NTFS partition, at
the very beginning of the disk. Not sure what happened or why, but I am not
exactly thrilled, as you can imagine.

Using an UnDelete utility, can sometimes recover recently
deleted files. On NTFS, only one byte per deleted file is
flipped, to mark they have a deleted status. Then the
$MFT entry storage space gets reused at the first opportunity,
and the clusters the file used are allocated when new file
writes call for them. There is an incentive then, to stop
using the disk when trouble is first detected. If you
continue to use the partition, the quality of the recovery
becomes poorer and poorer with time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuva

I'll look into that one. I've been using the free version of R-Studio:

https://www.r-studio.com/free-linux-recovery/

I wish I knew more about how ext2/3/4 works. I have a very basic user-level
understanding of it, but I'm not sure how to use the info presented to me to
recover my files (and believe me, if I can recover instead of restore from
backup, I'll be a happy man).

Man, I miss the simple days of UNDELETE.EXE.


Then R-Studio might be your best bet.

If Microsoft sniffed GPT, it might wipe the two GPT tables )primary
and secondary), the first track and the MBR, then do a "quick" format of the
partition they had in mind. While the partition size is 100GB, that
doesn't mean there is a 100GB hole. The hole might only be a hundred
megabytes or two.

Using nfi.exe from Microsoft in the year 2000-2003 or so, will
give a "map" of sectors in use on the partition right now. and the
quantity described there, is an approximation to the level of damage.
The pi chart Properties for the partition, gives the same size info,
as an easier to understand single number.

But naturally, scavenging is no fun. I've tried it before in the
past, and the destination hard drive ended up with 100,000 fragments
of unknown parentage, and a quick examination shows there aren't
enough hours in the day to "make" files out of what you're given.

It's possible EXT is more decentralized than NTFS and there might be
portions of the tree that R-Studio can walk.

I guess you'll know soon enough, as long as R-Studio doesn't
give you the usual "teaser" response, where they pretend to
show you the names of the files they "could" recover, but
don't. And then three payments of $39.95, you can have
your files back. With no way of knowing whether they really
know how to recover the inodes belonging to the file.

Paul