Recover deleted audio/video/picture files

[Guest]

Hi,
Please can anybody help, I very stupidly deleted my My Music file which had
a huge library of music. There are also some picture and video files I would
like to retrieve, also stupidlu deleted. I have looked at file recoery
software and have tried them but I find that if one can recover the deleted
wma files it doesn't recover the mpegs etc. Can anyone please suggest some
software that is not too expensive that I could try?

 

[crime prevention]

you could try this, the demo version will show what files it will recover
before you buy

http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoverydatarecovery/

--

 

[R. McCarty]

Continuing to use the PC where the files are orphaned will lessen
the chances of recovery. The more the PC's drive is used, the
space marked "Free" that contains your data will likely have new
data written to those clusters. It's best to use a recovery tool that
will restore the data to an alternate partition/volume. If the data is
important enough, find a local "Competent" PC shop that can do
the data recovery for you.

Having been initiated into the "Lost Data" club, I'd recommend
you spend ~$50 for Acronis True Image and start imaging/backing
up data to Optical disk(s). No magnetic media has permanency
to it, all disk drives are just "Temporary Storage".

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Having been initiated into the "Lost Data" club, I'd recommend
you spend ~$50 for Acronis True Image and start imaging/backing
up data to Optical disk(s). No magnetic media has permanency
to it, all disk drives are just "Temporary Storage".

In my experience burnt CDs/DVDs are more likely
to develop read errors after a while than hard disks.
It would be interesting to hear about other people's
experience.

 

[R. McCarty]

On any Optical disk that I think is important, I'll actually take the
time to copy data from it back to a "Scratch" disk. Nothing is
worse than having a backup you're unable to read/use. Using
good quality disks and a lower than optimal burn speed helps.

There isn't really good data on the life of Optical disks. For me
I keep several iterations of each backup disk. Hopefully, that
provides good protection. For "Really" important data, I put it
on Flash/Thumb drive and make it Read only - but those are
susceptible to erasure. They (Flash) are a good choice for items
that need to be stored in a Bank lock box.

Unfortunately, we've moved to Digital storage faster than the
technology to protect it. I can't tell you how many calls I get for "Lost" -
Pictures
iTunes ( Happens a lot )
Important documents.
Too many computer users do not have adequate backups Just an
accident waiting to happen.

Maybe there is an "untapped" market for some kind of long term,
highly reliable backup.

 

[Guest]

Thanks,
So do you think that as I have tried several different recovery programs and
have still been using my laptop I have now ruined my chances of retrieving
the files with appropriate software?

 

[R. McCarty]

Really not possible to give you a Yes/No answer. However, I would
say that 100% recovery is not a likely outcome. It really depends on
how much disk I/O has been done over the previously allocated space.
Even some that are recovered may have pieces that are corrupted &
won't be accessible or render properly. Good Luck with it.

 

[Barry Watzman]

What about the recycle bin?

By the way, there is no substitute for having backups of everything
important to you outside the computer itself (e.g. on CDs, DVDs, tape
backup or another hard drive used as a backup).