In
Shab said:
some dummy who shall remain nameless
deleted some files off a partition on my 2nd hard drive
anybody know of a utility that might possibly recover them
no they aren't in the recycle bin
same dummy decided to set files to be deleted, not go to the
bin
partition hasn't been defragged
"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 yours on a floppy to try.
If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
expensive and may or may not work in your case.
