How to restore deleted file?

[Guest]

I accidentally deleted some big files from my hard drive. These files are
not in the recycle bin because these files are very big, about 20 gb
together. Now I do not re-write anything into this HD. Can I still restore
these files by any chance?

Thank you,

Wilson Chu

 

[Malke]

I accidentally deleted some big files from my hard drive. These files
are not in the recycle bin because these files are very big, about 20
gb
together. Now I do not re-write anything into this HD. Can I still
restore these files by any chance?

What "big files"? What did you delete? Also, what does "do not re-write
anything into this HD" mean? I realize that we have a language barrier.
Perhaps posting to one of the newsgroups that is in your native
language would be better for you? Chinese, perhaps? Here is a list of
all the MS newsgroups:
http://aumha.org/nntp.htm

Scroll down until you find the newsgroups localized for your language.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I accidentally deleted some big files from my hard drive. These
files are not in the recycle bin because these files are very big,
about 20 gb together. Now I do not re-write anything into this HD.
Can I still restore these files by any chance?

Maybe.

"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space as
available to be used. There are third-party programs that can sometimes
recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by the file is
likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes the file
unrecoverable.

So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you try
recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go downhill from
there. If you've been using the computer since then (for example to write
this question and read this answer), your chances are probably very poor by
now.

But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop using the
computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so already. Download
an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several others
to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and bring it to
yours on a floppy to try.

If this fails, your only other recourse is to take or send the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very expensive
and may or may not work in your case.

 

[PaDiQ]

What "big files"? What did you delete? Also, what does "do not re-write
anything into this HD" mean?

What he means is, he has not re-written to the HD which should
therefore mean it is easier to restore the files providing that he gets
hold of the right program in time....

How big are these files???

I will try a provide a link in my next post for some good 3rd party
utilities...

 

[LGC]

Do a google search for "windows undelete". There are several utilities
available.

LGC

 

[Guest]

Malke

I ran by this one, now I have come back to it again, because your response
worries me. I think you are making a mistake. These messages are not just
for Americans, they are for everyone who speaks and writes English. I checked
on Wilson Chu on this site, and his 90 posts in this newsgroup. He has no
language problem as far as I can see. I am no expert, but I could easily
understand what he was asking about in this latest post of his, and what he
meant about re-writing on the drive. He clearly means that he is not putting
any additional material on to the affected drive: sounds good to me.

Now I know from reading these posts for a few years that you are someone
with good knowledge to impart to enquirers after the truth. I am sure you
wouldn't want to give offence or, dare I say it, sound racist. I am sure that
was not your intent; but that is how it looks in print.

So you might like to rethink what you said: if you have some positive advice
to give on the subject of deleted files and the recovery of the same, then I
invite you to give this advice to Wilson Chu.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your advise. So I have to download third party software, and
there is no simple way in Windows XP that I can do to recover the data. My
deleted files are mainly .avi movies. They are in drive E: which is an
individual HD. I now tried not to write anything into it, so I can fully
recover the deleted files.

Wilson Chu

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much.

Wilson Chu

Malke

I ran by this one, now I have come back to it again, because your response
worries me. I think you are making a mistake. These messages are not just
for Americans, they are for everyone who speaks and writes English. I checked
on Wilson Chu on this site, and his 90 posts in this newsgroup. He has no
language problem as far as I can see. I am no expert, but I could easily
understand what he was asking about in this latest post of his, and what he
meant about re-writing on the drive. He clearly means that he is not putting
any additional material on to the affected drive: sounds good to me.

Now I know from reading these posts for a few years that you are someone
with good knowledge to impart to enquirers after the truth. I am sure you
wouldn't want to give offence or, dare I say it, sound racist. I am sure that
was not your intent; but that is how it looks in print.

So you might like to rethink what you said: if you have some positive advice
to give on the subject of deleted files and the recovery of the same, then I
invite you to give this advice to Wilson Chu.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you for your advise.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

So I have to download third party
software,

Yes. I recommend Restoration, as I said, but there are other choices.

and there is no simple way in Windows XP that I can do to
recover the data.

No way at all, simple or otherwise.

My deleted files are mainly .avi movies. They are
in drive E: which is an individual HD. I now tried not to write
anything into it, so I can fully recover the deleted files.

If you haven't written anything to that drive since you deleted the files,
you should be able to undelete them very easily, without a problem.

 

[Richard Urban]

Just the act of starting your computer may write something to the drive - if
you have system restore turned on and a new restore point is completed
automatically.

In the future, when something like this happens, immediately shut down your
computer and physically disconnect the drive. Then you can restart your
computer to go online to find answers.

When you have all your ducks in a row and know exactly what you want to do,
reconnect the drive and do it.

BTW, most good recovery programs run from a bootable floppy disk or CD so
you don't have to start the operating system and chance corrupting the
desired information.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Just the act of starting your computer may write something to the
drive - if you have system restore turned on and a new restore point
is completed automatically.

Good point, and another good reason to turn off System Restore on drives
only used for data. System Restore doesn't do anything for data anyway.

 

[Richard Urban]

For 5 years now I have had system restore turned on only for my Windows
partition. That and TrueImage keeps me confident in my system.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

For 5 years now I have had system restore turned on only for my
Windows partition. That and TrueImage keeps me confident in my system.

Same here, on both counts.

 

[Malke]

Malke

I ran by this one, now I have come back to it again, because your
response
worries me. I think you are making a mistake. These messages are not

(snip)

You misread my post. I asked the OP for more information about what he
had done and what he meant because his post was not clear to me. I
questioned whether the OP did not have English as a first language
because of the way this post (and other posts he's made) was written. I
was being nice to him and suggesting that he might prefer to post in
his own language. Since roughly 90% of the people who post here don't
even know this is Usenet, a lot of them don't know there are many
localized MS newsgroups. It is difficult enough giving technical advice
to non-technical people who all speak the same language; it can be
almost impossible when there is a language barrier.

And yes, this particular group is an English-speaking group. That
doesn't mean someone speaking another language isn't welcome; it simply
means that there may be an easier way.

Malke