Reset Laptop, Lost Files

[LenoreRose]

Two days ago I reset my laptop, and chose the option to keep files.  When it restarted the background was the same, and I saw some folders still on the desktop.  However yesterday I realized most of my pictures are gone!!  I still have documents and videos, some folders of pictures, so I know I didn't accidentally select the wrong reset.  I tried Asofttech to recover them but it didn't work, and I can't afford to pay to retrieve them.  They wouldn't be on onedrive or any kind of backup, the ones showing and ones lost were all saved to laptop.  Are those pictures gone for good? 

[WAWood]

@LenoreRose

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

Sorry, but the answer is likely to be yes.  Files are not physically removed when a drive is reformatted; instead, the partition boot record is rewritten and the locations of all those files is erased.  That allows the space previously used by those files to be reused.  As long as that space is not overwritten, the files can be recovered.

Here are some data recovery apps you can try ...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/recover_data_in_3_steps_with_minitool_power_data_recovery_free_...

Recuva: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

If those do not work well, the best tool out there is this one, but only the trial version is free: http://www.file-recovery.com/

Good Luck

[LenoreRose]

 FOUND MY PICTURESS!!  After downloading lightshot, when I went to save pictures, I saw all of the folders.  So I saved an image to one of them, and chose to open it.  The files had been moved to C drive, under users.  Never would have guessed!  They never came up in search or anything.