Deleted some important files by accident... can I get em back??

Forums › Desktop computing › Deleted some important files by accident... can I get em back??

stevonz

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#45113 30-Oct-2009 11:35

Late last night I was sorting through some external HDD's so I could blow away the data & put them to good use. They have been used for random back-up's, and mitigating some risk when moving house...
Anyhow I was comparing the data from the HDD to the desptop PC as I cnfirmed that the data was already on the source (PC) I removed the data from the ext HDD... somehow I managed to remove data from source PC (too late, too tired) and I really wanted to keep those files.

Aha receyle bin you say... erm well I'm one of those people that use shift+delete so my deletes never hit the recycle bin...

Any ideas on how I could recover this folder with the data intact...? it only contains about 3-4 years worth of outlook email data files... oops!

Cheers, Stevo

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14116 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4579

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#268503 30-Oct-2009 11:43

Recuva :)
www.ccleaner.com

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

stevonz

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#268508 30-Oct-2009 11:48

Maaaaaaaaaaate, if it works I'll give you a big kiss!

Cheers, Stevo

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14116 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4579

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#268534 30-Oct-2009 12:42

Ill just take a "thanks" ;)

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

wellygary

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#268550 30-Oct-2009 13:36

How much additional deleting/copying did you do on the External drive after you deleted the files, if it was minimal to nothing you may find the actual data still intact, but YMMV.

stevonz

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#268554 30-Oct-2009 13:43

Not much... but I actually deleted the fiel from the PC, not the ext HDD. So what is YMMV then?

Cheers, Stevo

bazzer

3438 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 267

Trusted

#268565 30-Oct-2009 14:09

YMMV = Your mileage may vary (i.e. actual results may differ from advertised).

The point made is the same whether it's the external or internal. The less mucking around you've done the more chance of recovering the data. It might be easier to get the copy of the external HDD. Or maybe part from each.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

wellygary

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#268566 30-Oct-2009 14:09

stevonz: Not much... but I actually deleted the fiel from the PC, not the ext HDD. So what is YMMV then?

Your Milage may Vary,

Ahh, re reading your OP, I see that you did delete it from your PC< that makes it much harder to recover, as there is all sorts of caching, temp files and stuff being written all the time, as soon as space becomes available it tends to be fair game for the OS to write its grubby files over,

Life was soo much less complicated when the OS served you a blinking command line...getting things back in DOS was a piece of cake.

MaiZ

1 post

Wannabe Geek
Inactive user

#274031 17-Nov-2009 20:23

I have used many different recovery programs and believe me...none of them can fully recover everything...Advanced File Recovery is on the top of my list.