Shop RadioShack for Great Gifts
Community Newsletter: Q&A: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data?
- 4/12/07 4:45 PM
anser for loosing files
by dete3tor - 3/31/07 2:58 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
start comp but push f12 or when it ses set up then load windows normaly let the comp work until it ses restart or it may restart its self
Retrieving files
by foxhaven - 3/31/07 3:18 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If the files have been deleted to the unused part of the HDD then they can be recovered using Convar Smart Recovery which is a free program. Download from
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
Cheers
Barry
Recuva!
by stainedcolors69 - 3/31/07 4:05 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When you say that he cleaned out the system, did he unistall and then reinstall windows into the computer? If not, then I believe I might have a solution for you. Last week, I downloaded two, totally free programs called CComputer and Recuva(pronounced recover). They both serve a good purpose on the computer. The Recuva program recovers all of your hidden, deleted programs that you feel are lost forever that you didn't mean to delete. If you are interested, go to one of the websites below and you will automatically be directed to that site. I stand by both programs. There are no gimics and like I said earlier, they are both totally FREE! Just pass them onto a friend that you think might be interested. Good luck!
http://ccleaner.com/
http://www.recuva.com/
Recovering your lost data
by markw7 - 3/31/07 5:45 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Wendy,
Sorry to hear that your files were deleted. I have found an excellent utility that will recover just about any deleted file and it will also restore dseleted partitions. The free utility is called Test Disk and can be found at http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk. It runs on several different operating system platforms. It DOES work and has recovered many files which I thought were gone forever. Good luck.
There is a God, if you are quick
by farrid - 3/31/07 5:59 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello. Here is how it works. When you delete some thing you have a recycle bin and when you empty that is it erased? No! Your computer simply looses the address of that info of where it is on you hard drive. If your computer does not know where that info resides then it can be written over again. To be quick is the key and have an unerase program installed and ready. If you run this program soon after the mishap then you may get lucky and find it. Unfortunately you may have to go through many files that you have previously deleted. Don't have any program names on hand, but I am sure you will find something on the net. Good Luck.
Maybe there's hope
by DrJohnOH - 3/31/07 6:12 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If nothing new has been added in those directories that were wiped, such as no new software installed or new images loaded, then some of the undelete programs might work. CNET has reviews of many of the and all are downloadable. The risk is that the download may overwrite the lost information.
Next best bet is to take the computer, or it's hard drive, to a computer dealer, or Staples or Best Buy, where they have computer "geeks" who might possibly be able to recover the files. It will cost more money than the above-mentioned software and they may use the same software, but they won't risk overwriting your files. Your files may yet be on your drive, but the headers have been changed to show that they've been deleted.
For the future, partition your drive into logical drives using FDSIK, which is destructive but comes with Windows or Partition Magic, which is not destructive but costs almost $100.00, so that Windows programs are in one directory (C:), all other programs are in another logical directory (D:), and all of your files are in other directories such as E: for general files, F: for photos, and G: for music. That way, even reformatting a directory accidentally won't trash the files in the other directories and recovery will be easier.
yes but it'll cost you
by famessano - 3/31/07 6:31 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My daughters computer crashed... I had my office computer guy take a look and he said it's toast so he reformatted the harddrive and reloaded windows.. She lost years of collected photos, videos and music. My other daughters friend said he knew a computer guy who could retrieve the information. I let him give it a shot... Little did I know this friend was a computer forensic specialist.. He retrieved everything..
It was amazing.. all nice and tidy on a DVD.
We were lucky because we didn't pay... I asked him how much does he usually charge and he said several hundred dollars.. He does legal and law enforcement investigations and he has software that can "recover anything". So it depends on how much money you're willing to spend to recover these images. Find your local forensic computer specialist !!!
lost information
by alejoniyi - 3/31/07 6:44 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The burden of blame belongs with you Wendy J. It doesn't matter who or what happens to your computer, you should have backed up REGULARLY. I have heard of a few places that can retrieve info from destroyed computers, but they didn't rewrite over the hard drive. If any info is in a place where it was rewritten, sorry it's gone.
If you know someone with a Macintosh Tower
by talcottconsulting - 3/31/07 6:57 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have run into this problem several times, and have found the program Data Rescue II from Prosoft to be a great way to get these files back. The program runs on a Macintosh, but works for Macintosh, Windows, Linux, Camera Memory Chips, Flash Drives, etc.
Here is what you need to do. (1) Remove your hard drive from your computer and install it into a Macintosh Tower, or install it in an external drive case and plug it into the Macintosh. (2) Boot the computer from the Data Rescue II CD. (3) You will be able to see your drive as well as the Macintosh's drive. (4) You will have a file directory sturcture, just navigate to where your pictures were on your drive and copy them to the Macintosh's Hard Drive.
This will take a couple of hours, and requires you to buy the software and have a friend with a Macintosh computer.
Data Recovery
by mfleitz - 3/31/07 7:14 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Wendy,
I had a similiar thing happen...and I think depending on how the data was "erased" a data recovery company may be able to retrieve it. When had a bunch of files mistakenly deleted, it turned out (or was explained to me) that the PC jsut renames the first few characters of the file names enabli nthem to be written over (or somethign like that!). The data receovery company I went to in Vancouver "found" the files, then renamed them so I could retrive them. I lost a few files, but got the majority back!
good luck
Iain
getting back lost stuff
by jeep43 - 3/31/07 7:34 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
try restoring to an earlier date to see if they will return
Photographic cleanout!!
by billbirchall - 3/31/07 9:49 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had this happen to me and I posted VirtualDr Forum and someone suggested that I use a free download called File Inspector and another one which, the name, I now cannot remember.Although it was a tedious process I managed to recover about 80% of a formatted disk. I believe that you have to search a drive for say jpeg or gif etc and it will try to recover these if it can.There may be other software that can also do this.
Bill Birchall
Answer for Wendy J.
by rkhnav - 3/31/07 9:57 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You might try this website for a recovery program:
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/
Russ H.
Restore Point may be the simplistic way out of your problem
by intrepi - 3/31/07 10:10 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'd try restore first and see if you have a restore point that you could use to restore everything back to a time/date prior to the boy genius escapade. If you do have some restore points try and use the last restore point as it may be the easiest way to get everything back on track.
Finding Wendy's Lost Files
by Fredmoore - 3/31/07 11:36 AM In reply to: Help! What can I do to retrieve deleted data? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Good question, Wendy. The good news is there's an excellent chance you can get most of the data back!
And you're in good company. Most computer users have lost (or will loose) some valuable data--often while "cleaning up," installing a new Operating System (OS), from a virus infection, or when the hard drive crashes. I suspect that the cousin re-installed the OS, which is actually an excellent way to get rid of all the garbage that builds up after using any computer for awhile.
The key to getting back your data is knowing that there are two parts to every file--the actual data (which can be anywhere on the hard drive) and a small directory entry (at the beginning of the hard drive) that tells the OS where the actual data is located.
When you "delete" a file, the OS changes the directory entry from showing the name of the file to showing that the old data location can be used to store new data. If no new data gets stored there, the old data can be recovered with special software. And even if the hard drive was re-formatted (as probably happened in your case), good software tools can read every part of the hard drive and recover any data that looks like its part of a file.
Here's what I would recommend:
1) Immediately stop using the computer for anything and unplug the power cord--that's right, UNPLUG it. Do NOT use the start menu to shut down the computer because lots of data gets stored every time you start it up or shut it down.
2) Decide how much the data is worth, because its going to cost something to get it back. If the data is valuable, your best bet is to find a computer repair shop that specializes in data recovery. Its important to check their references because careless treatment of your hard drive could destroy more of the data. Expect to pay for several hours of labor depending on how badly damaged the data is and how hard it is to recover. Google "data recovery" for more info.
3) Nobody should do anything that stores new data on your hard drive--recovered data should be copied to a different hard drive or to CDs/DVDs for your review. AFTER you've found all the data you need, ask the shop to fix any problems that happened due to pulling the power cord. Then you can copy the recovered data back to the computer.
4) Before disaster strikes again, set up a good backup system so your valuable data will be stored in more than one place. Windows XPs Backup Utility is OK, but there are better programs--Google "data backup" for some ideas. Personally, I like to put a second hard drive (while can be fairly small and cheap) in every computer and schedule automatic backups every night of important data e.g. the "Documents and Settings" folder. If the data is especially important, copy it occasionally to CDs or DVDs and keep them somewhere else, like at work or at a friend's house.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
