Today, I decided to upgrade to Windows 10. I wanted to keep my old files on the current hard drive, I clicked on the keep old files option. Thanks to Windows, I lost everything. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, my computer crashed and lost all of its data while I was making a back up. FML
Today, my computer stopped working. Me, the technology challenged one, decided to do a system recovery on it hoping that I could make it better. Turns out, system recovery means deleting all the files off the computer including family photos, music and assignments and starting fresh. FML
Today, I got a new computer because my old one crashed, deleting all music, photos, and documents. I still had all my music on my iPod though, and went to sync it to the new computer. By accident, my younger brother pulled the cord out before it was done, deleting all 3,000 songs forever. FML
Today, I lost two terabytes' worth of photos to a friend's incompetence. He said he could save me some money and fix my slow computer for free. He ended up wiping the hard drive, and along with it, my photography portfolio from the last five years. FML
Today, my computer crashed and corrupted my games files and deleted over 100 hours of saved data. I have to now start all over again. FML
Today, I woke up to find out that my phone, which contained all of my pictures and videos from the past year, had completely crashed. Despite trying everything, I couldn't recover any of the data, even from the cloud backup. All those memories, gone forever. FML
Today, my computer decided to upgrade to Windows 11, moments before I presented to dozens of people. I had to go solely by memory with no notes, graphs, or illustrations. FML
Today, I deleted a load of junk that was messing up my mother's computer. I don't know how I'm going to tell her I accidentally wiped out all of her wedding photos. FML
Today, my parents got me a new computer for my birthday. They also took the liberty of throwing out my old computer, with 8 years of photos, videos, music, documents, emails, and bookmarks on it. But that's okay, I had a backup. They threw that out too. FML
Today, I accidentally deleted my entire email inbox. Everything from the last 3 years. EV-ER-Y-THING. FML
Feel like sharing it with the other FML users?
Thanks, your FML was submitted, and will appear in the moderation queue soon!
Top comments
stridick 9
YOU HAVEN'T LOST EVERYTHING!!! in events like this Windows creates a backup. you'll find ALL your files in the "windows.old" folder. just search it up!!!
Mauskau 36
Don't trust them when it says it'll retain your old files, you need to always back up your files before upgrading or changing your OS. Sometimes Windows is nice enough to put your files in a folder on the Windows drive called "windows.old" which would be where everything you had on that drive before would be saved. However I don't know if they kept that feature in Windows 10.
Add a comment · Reply to
You must be logged in to be able to post comments!
Comments (189)
baxtmann 1
There is still a way to get your files back.... Go to your c drive and at the bottom there will be a file called windows old. They will all be in there.
johncage 14
I think you're safe. As the on-screen instructions say while you're doing it, upgrades like that usually throw your stuff in C:Windows.old For future reference, though, it might be a good idea to BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE COMPLETELY OVERHAULING YOUR OS.
jhs578650 9
1) You haven't lost anything. Your files should be in c:windows.old 2) It's 2015. Personal computers in the home have been a thing for like 40 years now, and people have been losing important data ever since. Backup your stuff.
Kougeru 12
What most likely happened is either user error, or hardware error. Two possibilities really. 1. You accidentally clicked "Keep nothing". In your defense the buttons are awfully close to each other. On Microsoft's defense, it does ask to confirm. 2. The installation corrupted due to an issue with the harddrive. Maybe the power surged. Maybe the harddrive bugged out and failed to write an important file. Neither of which is the fault of Windows 10. He said WINDOWS wiped his hard drive. In truth, his harddrive wiped itself by failing, or you wiped it by clicking the wrong button. Though, if the harddrive had an error, the chances of your data being somewhere on there are pretty high if you know how to access it. Still, YDI for not having a backup and blaming Windows when 14+ million people have not had this issue.
mysweetestashes 2
You're a dummy to not back up your files first anyways
Relf 19
There goes all the ****...
josiemorehouse 12
That is why you back up before you do ANY software updates on Windows. Ahh if they could only be as simple as Mac updates, lol.
PO_linesman 4
Not only Windows. I'd backup all my files if I was doing a dist-upgrade in Linux or installing a new version of MacOS too.
Iamnotfat 16
There's a chance it could still be there. Pm me and I'll tell you... Cause the same thing happened to me
FML_14u2c 14
Always make a backup before you upgrade -- and keep a recent backup of your important files, just in case.
dca101 23
Why do people not Google how to solve these problems before making these FMLs?