I recently returned my laptop computer under warranty to the manufacturer (Medion).
A new motherboard and various things (mouse buttons) and CD/DVD drive were fitted.
On receipt a message stated:-
To verify that your device was fully functional a test account was set up.
As far as I know, the hard drive
wasn't changed, but when I got it back and switched it on it appears to have been 'wiped' and was set up with an identity that had been used for testing - User
Medion:-
Switching it on opened the test account - and no sign of my data (or installed programmes).
I restored the backup that I had made immediately before sending the laptop away, but this has installed itself under a different
User (my original user name) and I now have
three User accounts (Medion, Public and G-CPTN), but whenever I reboot it opens as the
Test User and I don't have direct access to my documents and pictures.
What I have effectively got back is a new ex-works installation (though I suspect that the original hard drive might still be the same item).
My
first question is whether I can, somehow, 'recover' completely my original setup (together with all the various programmes that I had installed - these have not been restored by the backup - just the data files) or is that now completely gone and lost forever?
Windows doesn't show any other partitions (other than the standard D:
Recover Partition that contains drivers and the bundled programmes - which are now already installed within the 'Test' User identity on the C:drive.
Are there any programmes that will 'unhide' whatever is stored on my hard drive?
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My
second question is, having restored the backup, how can I arrange for the system to boot directly into my 'G-CPTN' User identity with direct access to all my documents and pictures etc?
Selecting '
Switch User' in the start menu doesn't offer alternatives (only '
Medion' - though I
can locate
Public and
G-CPTN by selecting '
Computer', '[/I]C[/I]', '
Users'.
Assuming that question one is negative, how can I 'overwrite' the User '
Medion' with the attributes of '
G-CPTN'?
I am prepared to start again from scratch (I have the backup dated early May 2010). If necessary, how do I undertake this?