Sydney · Australia-wide
A Windows update rarely deletes your files.
It usually signed you into a temporary profile with an empty desktop, or left your old installation in a folder called Windows.old. Both take minutes to check and cost nothing. This is a genuine do-it-yourself case, and you should try it before paying anyone.
Before you do anything else
Protect the only copy.
- 01
Power it down
Every minute a failing drive runs can overwrite the bytes you need.
- 02
Skip consumer scanners
Desktop recovery apps write as they scan. That is the opposite of imaging a dying disk.
- 03
No repair, no format
chkdsk, First Aid and reinstall fix the disk; they do not preserve what was on it.
- 04
Call, then decide
Free triage: lab job, cleanroom referral, or Recovery Studio.
When / stop
Check four places, then stop if they are empty.
Start in C:\Users. If your real folder sits next to one called TEMP or yourname.000, Windows signed you into a temporary profile. Sign out and back in, or restart once, and the desktop usually comes back. Next open C:\Windows.old\Users and look for your name. A large update keeps the previous installation there for about 10 days, then removes it on its own. If neither has your files, search the whole drive in File Explorer for a file name you remember, because an update can move a folder rather than delete it. System Restore rolls back system files, not personal files, so it will not bring documents back.
If none of that finds them, the files were removed. From that point every restart, update and save lands on the space they used. On an SSD the drive erases freed space on its own, often within minutes, so time matters more than it does on a hard drive. Stop saving, installing or updating on that drive and have it assessed. Do not run the update again to see if it fixes itself. The troubleshooter will narrow it down if you are not sure which drive you have.
What we do
Image the drive, then read what the update left behind.
We image the drive read-only before any recovery attempt. The copy is what we work on. The original goes back to you as it arrived. Recovery Studio is the Mac app we run in the lab, and a licence exists if you want to work an image yourself.
On a hard drive, a removed profile folder usually leaves its index entries and its content in place until something writes over them. We read the NTFS index from the image and rebuild the folders with their names. Where the index is gone we carve by file type, which recovers content but not names. The mechanics are on the hard drive recovery page.
On an SSD, TRIM tells the drive the freed space is unused and the controller erases it in the background. Files an update removed from an SSD are often already gone by the time you notice. We check this at assessment and tell you before any quote. The SSD and NVMe recovery page explains why. Many recent laptops also encrypt the drive with BitLocker by default. Where keys are missing, money does not decrypt the media. You hear that at assessment, before any quote.
We do not run a cleanroom. Mechanical failures (clicking, non-spinning, head crash) are referred after free assessment. We will not open the drive on a bench and make it worse.
Checklist
Where to look, and what you will see.
Work down the table in order. Copy anything you find to another drive before you change a setting or restart again.
| Where to look | What you will see if it is there |
|---|---|
| C:\Users | Your real folder next to one called TEMP or yourname.000. Sign out and back in, or restart once. |
| C:\Windows.old\Users\yourname | Desktop, Documents and Downloads as they were before the update. Copy them out now. Windows removes this folder after about 10 days. |
| File Explorer search on This PC | The file under a new path. Note the folder it is in and copy the whole folder out. |
| Recycle Bin | Anything a cleanup step removed. Restore it. Do not empty the bin. |
| System Restore | System files only. It can undo a broken update. It does not bring personal files back. |
If every row comes up empty, the files are not on the drive under any name. Power the machine down and start a case. Sydney drop-off or Australia-wide by tracked post.
What it costs
Published band, then a fixed quote.
Healthy-drive logical work from $249. Failing or degraded drives that need imaging from $449. Cleanroom mechanical work is referred at no charge after free assessment. No recovery, no fee. Assessment is free. The figure you agree is fixed before recovery starts. Full lab bands and Recovery Studio licences are on Pricing.
First response within 24 hours. Scan and initial feedback on what is recoverable within 72 hours. Recovery within 14 days, usually much sooner. Scanning is the long part, especially on large drives. The amount of data and the method decide the rest.
FAQ
Common questions.
Can a Windows update delete my files?
Rarely. It usually signs you into a temporary profile, leaves the old installation in the Windows.old folder, or moves a folder. Open drive C, then Users, and then Windows.old, before anything else. If the files are in neither place, treat them as removed and stop writing to the drive.
Where is Windows.old and does it have my files?
It sits at the top of drive C, with your old profile inside its Users folder. It appears after a large update and Windows removes it after about 10 days. Copy what you need out of it now rather than later.
Why is my desktop empty after an update?
Windows signed you into a temporary profile. Open drive C, then Users, and look for your real folder next to one called TEMP or your name with .000 on the end. Sign out and back in, or restart once. If it keeps happening, copy the files out of your real folder to another drive first.
Will System Restore bring my files back?
No. System Restore rolls back system files and settings. It does not restore personal files and it does not undelete anything. It can undo an update that broke the sign-in, which sometimes puts your real profile back in front of you.
Next step
Tell us what failed.
Free assessment. Fixed quote before recovery starts. No recovery, no fee. Sydney drop-off or Australia-wide by tracked post.