Recover Deleted Files
It's happened to all of us at some point. One stray mouse click, and poof! You've deleted a file that you did not mean to. But must it really be the final goodbye to that file? Happily, there are tons of tips and tools available to recover deleted files from the nether regions of a hard drive... |
The ABC's Of File Storage
Much like a file cabinet, data is stored on your hard drive in sections on a disk drive (called "sectors"). Every time you click "Save As" in the application that opens up the photo of your dog, or in the program you use to create your monthly budget, that file is written to an area of the hard disk. Each stored file has a "pointer" assigned to it. These pointers are used by the operating system to locate where that piece of data resides on the hard drive.
After the inadvertent deletion of a file, recovery is possible because it is the pointer to the file that gets trashed when you hit "delete", and not the actual data. But you have to act quickly to increase your chances of recovering a deleted file. If the operating system sees unused space, it may decide to store another file in the same location.
File Recovery First Aid
On Windows systems, the easiest way to recover an accidentally deleted file is to use the Recycle Bin, the purgatory of deleted files. After deletion, this is (usually) where the file resides. Simply open up Recycle Bin, click on the file you want to restore, and from the left-hand menu select "Restore this item". Your file will be restored back to its original location on the hard drive. You can also just right-click on the item you want to put back into place and click on "Restore". On a Mac, a similar feature is available only it's called "Trash". Open the Trash icon, select the item to restore and click on the "Put Away" option. (But wouldn't "Put Back" make more sense? Anyway...) It's kind of like traveling back in time.
One exception to this "Deleted file goes to Recycle Bin" rule is when you use the DEL command from a DOS command prompt. Files deleted from the DOS prompt are just deleted, with no second chances. It's the same thing that happens when you empty the Recycle Bin or the Trash folder. The file pointer is deleted, and the space occupied by that file is marked as unused.
File Recovery 911
But there are various utilities available to recover deleted data, even data emptied from the Recycle Bin. Some of them are even free to download. One of the most popular for Windows is Restoration. One word of caution, though, this program will find just about everything that you've ever deleted from your PC, including files deleted from program uninstalls, so if you know the extension (DOC, MP3, etc.) of the file that you deleted, narrow your search to only files with that extension. Once you find your file select it, and then click on "Restore by Copying." If you have a file on your hard drive with the same name, make sure to save the restored file on an alternate drive, CDROM, floppy or flash disk so that your currently saved file is not overwritten!
Of course, Restoration is free, so there are no guarantees in recovering your data. For a little more reassurance and financial investment, data recovery software is available for purchase. One of the more popular programs is Recover Lost Data, also for Windows systems. This program allows you to even recover deleted emails in addition to deleted files, for about US$40.
And Mac users, we gotcha covered... check out Data Rescue for one of the most highly touted of the Mac file recovery utilities.
Prevention Is The Best Method
There is an old saying in the technical world -- your data is only as good as your last backup. It is impossible to stress enough the importance of backing up crucial files. You don't even have to deal with the hassle of external backup drives and tapes if you don't want to, particularly if you are not backing up more than a gigabyte of data. After all, we live in a world of USB flash drives and high-speed bandwidth. There are sites available for as low of a cost as $5.00 per month where you can upload your most precious bits of data for safe storage. In the event of a complete computer crash, you will still be able to download your important files from a data storage provider on the Internet. One such company is Box.net which offers 1 gigabyte of storage space.
Microsoft is even getting around to addressing the issue of data backups and disaster recovery for the average home user. Vista, Microsoft's newest OS, has a basic file back up and restore feature. You can schedule when the backup occurs, and disk space is conserved; only changes to a file are backed up (called incremental backup). Vista also comes with a Recovery Wizard to aid you in file restoration. You can even restore files from an old PC to a new one, by following the prompts of the Recovery Wizard.
Got comments about recovering deleted files? Post yout thoughts below...
|
|
Share this article with friends! |
|
Posted by Bob Rankin on 14 Feb 2007
| Need More Help? Try the AskBobRankin Updates Newsletter. It's Free! |
 |
Prev Article: Download Movies |
The Top Twenty |
Next Article: What is Web 2.0? |
 |
|
Link to this article from your site or blog. Just copy and paste from this box: |
There's more reader feedback... See all 60 comments for this article.
Post your Comments, Questions or Suggestions
Free Tech Support -- Ask Bob Rankin
Subscribe to AskBobRankin Updates: Free Newsletter |
||
|
Copyright © 2005
- Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy -- See my profile on Google. |
||
Article information: AskBobRankin -- Recover Deleted Files (Posted: 14 Feb 2007)
Source: http://askbobrankin.com/recover_deleted_files.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Free
Most recent comments on "Recover Deleted Files"
(See all 60 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Theresa
31 Aug 2009
I stupidly deleted a bunch of faxes that were being sent to my pc with paperport. I beleive they were tif files. They did not go in to the recycle bin but just totally disappeared. We used a program called Card recovery that we had for my camera and can see the files but are not able to open them up? Any suggestions.
EDITOR'S NOTE: My understanding of file recovery tools is that they are device agnostic -- they don't care (or know) if you're working with a hard drive, a flash drive, or a pop tart plugged in via USB cable.
Posted by:
tayo
04 Sep 2009
My OS is Vista Homepremium,can restoration work with it too?
EDITOR'S NOTE: I don't see why not.
Posted by:
Eliad007
05 Nov 2009
Thank YOU !!!!
Posted by:
Charles L. Biggs
08 Dec 2009
Thanks; this is the first time I've had to recover files in windows. I have done it in DOS, (yes, I go back that far, DOS 2.0), Restoration worked flawlessly and fast, 12000 files.
Posted by:
Tim
09 Dec 2009
Ok, so I have an external HDD. I cut and pasted some files to it from my video camera. Somehow I deleted these files. I used Iin recuva it says that they have been overwritten but i havent saved or deleted anything from the HDD yet. So i have the files but i just cant open them. any suggestions?
EDITOR'S NOTE: My only suggestion would be to try a different recovery tool.
Posted by:
bev
29 Jan 2010
I'm guilty . . . and stupid. WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM. Started to delete items from SEARCHES/EVERYWHERE then realised I was deleting folders too. Tried to restore but didn't get all of them. Recycle bin now empty. How do I restore the remainder. Most of these are business use. Please help.Tks.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Did you try any of the file recovery tools mentioned in this article? If you deleted a lot of stuff, and it was over-written by other files later, they may not be recoverable.
Posted by:
Younes
21 Mar 2010
hi,
i had download this software(restoration)
but, when iam clicking on search its asking me to log in ????
so how should i log in plsss help?????
Posted by:
Younes
21 Mar 2010
hi,
i had download this software(restoration)
but, when iam clicking on search its asking me to log in ????
so how should i log in plsss help?????
Posted by:
Shelby
23 Mar 2010
I have lost an essay from my computer that is in desperate need! I restored my recycling bin but that didn't recover it. I have no idea where to find it at. PLEASE help me find it!
Posted by:
Adrien
19 Apr 2010
Hi, I HAVE to find a .ppt but restoration doesn't seem to be finding it. I am SURE I deleted it and the program says that there is no such file. Help?
EDITOR'S NOTE: You could try a different file restore program, but most likely the file has been over-written with other data.
Posted by:
partition recovery
14 May 2010
Interesting read, I am definately going to check this out! Thanks!
Posted by:
Bianca
02 Jun 2010
What about when you cut the file instead of copying and forgot to paste, so then copied something else and overwritten the data(i know its stupid but happened)can you still restore the file?
Thanks
Posted by:
Rain
18 Jun 2010
Your the freaking man!!! It worked!! I got some very important files off my hard drive. And to think i was just about to pay some a**hole lying about how hard the process is to make the ridiculous price sound necessary. I used a usb 2.0 enclosure and connected the hardrive then ran your suggested program. Thanks again bro!!!!
Posted by:
Christen Hills
12 Jul 2010
Data Rescue works perfectly!
I've lost a whole lot of important pictures because of my absent-mindedness, and it helped me to restore my files. Fortunately I've found how to recover deleted files mac
Posted by:
Tom Sommer
01 Aug 2010
thank god for restoration, i deleted my whole music library by accident (don't ask me how).
Posted by:
Bob Ashley
12 Aug 2010
hi shelby,
For restoring recycle bin files use this software: http://www.retrievedeletedfiles.net/ .if you have any problem PM mail me.
Posted by:
nisar
04 Sep 2010
can you tell me where is the deleted files are stored in a memory device ?
Posted by:
MaricelB
06 Jan 2011
I have to say may be are other programs on internet for recover deleted files I appreciate the work from a company called Piriform they have a good recover program called "Recuva". You can visit their webpage. If you want to download the recover program called "Recuva Installer" look for the link "http://www.filehippo.com/download_recuva" or visit their website at "http://www.piriform.com/".
Posted by:
MaricelB
18 Jan 2011
I can't restore any good files after empty my trash, I will tell you that the "Restoration" program si good to repleace up the clusters.
Posted by:
Nasief
30 Mar 2011
I downloaded the restoration program but when I tried to search for files, it tells me to log on to an account with administrator privilege and then run the program again. What does this mean?
EDITOR'S NOTE: On Vista and Win7, you can right-click the program icon and then click "run as administrator".