Can't find Corel X3 files after HD crash

[Don Young]

I have relied on this forum to solve a few issues for me in the past but have never been so panicked as I am right now so your assistance is so greatly appreciated. I recently lost my hard drive due to a crash but luckily burned a system image. I am, however, unable to locate any of my .cdr or .aaa files even after a search for them. I know they are there as everything else is. I have hundreds of projects saved and need them very badly. Even when the system was up and running well, I really had no idea where they went when they were saved.
I know there are some Corel "wizards" out there so any help is so greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Don

[Wilbur Harris]

Tell us something about the system image:
Where it is
What software made it
Have you actually used the restoration
...etc...whatever you know....

I don't think this has much to do with Corel - could be wrong.

[Ron Gosnell]

Hi Wilber,

I assume you used system image to install your new drive.
If it's windows 7 you hit your start button and at the bottom of the screen in the box type .cdr
They should pop right up.

also try this if you need help http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/34630/how-to-recover-specific-files-from-a-windows-system-image/

Gozzie

[Glen Monaghan]

Any .cdr (actually, all files) created after you made the system image are lost when you restore the system image. Any files created before, but modified after, you made the system image will lose the modifications and revert to pre-image status when you restore the system image.

So, for .cdr files you created before making the image, you can use any of several search methods (such as from an explorer window or the start menu) to find *.cdr files. For files you created after making the system image but before restoring it, there is some slim possibility that you can recover them with a file recovery tool, but don't bet on it because the image restore and/or subsequent disk activity likely overwrote them.

In future, you should have a system image for your stable system, and then run differential backups (which captures any additions or changes to previous files) as frequently as you deem necessary (such as weekly, daily, even hourly if it's a very active system with high throughput). These backups should be stored separate from your system (at the very least, in an externally connected drive).

[Kev Williams]

I'm assuming you created the recovery onto a new drive?

If so, do you have the old drive?

If so, you might try adding it as a slave drive and see what happens-

I've had a couple of drives that were useable doing this after a crash-
The one drive was making clanking noises when it died, and I thought it was total goner,
and as a slave it didn't work at first, then one day it showed up in the list of drives-
I took that chance to copy everything to a backup drive...

The bad drive worked the next day, then started up with the clanky noises again and quit...

I had another drive that would access files just fine as a slave but it wouldn't do
much of anything as a master...

As for why your new recovery has no cdr files, I have no clue-

does your search find anything "corel"?