Windows XP -I just deleted items by mistake -any hope of retrieval?

hello, I've just just deleted a bunch of files from en external hard-drive (into recycle bin, then emptied bin) and just realised that they were not backed-up… is there any way these can be retrieved? I know, it's a stupid human error caused by lack of concentration and being in a rush… but any advice about retrieval (if it's possible) would be most very welcome!! thanks. Bill.

Hi animatorBill, sorry to hear of the problem with your deleted files…. I know how you feel…. we have all done exactly the same thing at some time!
Here's a free application that may save the day for you…..
http://www.piriform.com/recuva
It's important that you don't do anything on your computer, no surfing or checking email or opening or closing anything…until you have recovered your important stuff…..(you dont want to "overwrite" the files you want to recover)
Good luck and let us know if this does the trick for you.
Regards
paws

thanks for the fast relpy paws…… I'll give it a go and see what happens… regards, Bill.

Good luck, and if I can make a suggestion I recommend that you use the portable version, so nothing gets installed (risk of overwriting etc) Download it to a USB memory stick and run it from there…. if you are able to recover your deleted files then put them on the memory stick as well….. once everything is recovered that you need then you can copy your files back from the memory stick to your hard drive. Regards paws

well, not wholly successful I'm afraid… lots of files from previous recycle deletions, but none from the mammoth-mistake of yesterday… Windows did throw up a message saying one or two of the file-names were too long, and offered permanent deletion (I believe that was it) and I obviously clicked 'proceed' (!) -so I assume that may be why Recuva can't see these files ? I'll await any further advice, paws, but I'll remain philosophical about all this and consider it (another!) one of life little lessons! thanks again for you help so far, Bill.

Hi Bill, This is not looking too good….
It might be worth at this stage trying a free demo version of a "paid for" product to see if it has any joy, rather than just keep on trying the various free versions that are availible…?
Take a look here:
http://www.getdeletedfilesback.com/
let us know if it indicates that it can effect a recovery.

If you prefer not to use a "paid for" product, even the demo version, then I have had good results with this one that you might like to use:
http://www.easeus-deletedrecovery.com/
Its limited to a total recovery of 1GB of your stuff, so may be Ok for you… or may not!

Regards
paws

Thanks for those, paws..

Recover My Files from http://www.getdeletedfilesback.com/ shows all the files I'd deleted (which is promising!)…

as does the Data Recovery Wizard from http://www.easeus-deletedrecovery.com/

-it looks like I'd need to purchase one of them, though, as the data is more than 1gb ( I remember when 1gb used to be a LOT of data!)

I may be a bit cheeky here, but do you know of any freeware that has the same abilities ?
I can understand the need to charge for the use of software that does this kind of thing, but for me it's a toss-up of investing time or money, and as usual, I tend to have slightly more of the former!

thanks again,
Bill.

Hi Bill, I'd be inclined to recover 1GB of your most important files….. as a priority.. (a bird in the hand is worth…..etc etc…..remember not to write or install anything to the disc you are recovering from. Let us know how the 1GB of recovery goes…if it works OK etc. There are lots of free to use software applications available…..but if 1GB is not enough…. how many files did you delete and what sort of size in total are we concerned with? Regards paws

thanks paws… am retrieving the most important files now… in total, I deleted just over 200gb (yes, 200gb!) -not all of it essential …the usual spectrum of "I really need to keep these" …to… "I could grab them again if I can re-find the source…" fortunately, it all came from an external HD, and I'm borrowing another external HD to copy to, (with enough free space) …so I seem to be able to avoid any inadvertent over-writing.. Retrieving specific files seems to be creating the whole folder structure -which isn't a problem at all ( I simply expected the selected files to be dropped into a newly created folder) and picking files from different locations takes some careful selection, but again, not a problem…. needless to say, I'll soon be op to the 1gb limit……

Hi Bill, 200Gb Wow! I'm still reeling from that!… Whilst I put on my thinking cap to figure out the recovery applications to use… I take it that your stuff wasn't backed up … or is there a back up of the files lurking around somewhere? Regards paws

Hi again Bill,
Start with Restoration its a free application and may do the trick….
Here's the link to it and 15 other applications:(all free)
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery…ry-programs.htm
Good luck
Regards
paws

thanks again, paws… I also reeled for quite a while when I realised what I'd done… !! ..that WAS the back-up! -there are other copies of ..most..of the files in there, but that was my main place for storage/access (as I said – big human error!!) …it's probably time to re-think my back-up practices…. nothing like a lesson like this to make one re-assess eh?! -thank you for the new link -I shall have a look shortly…. -and thank-you again for the DRW link -I have the most precious files saved now -I'll let you know how it goes… regards, Bill.

Hi Bill I'm glad DRW did it all Ok and…… 1Gb is better than nothing! At least it shows that recovery is possible in your particular situation and from your external hard drive, so that must be encouraging. Let us know how you get on with "Restoration" and if necessary the other products. Regards paws

Hello paws, thanks for that last link… I did try a few of the programmes in there…. Restoration started working well but froze mid-way through… (this may have been due to the amount of activity from the previous un-delete programmes and no shut-downs, and the only way to unfreeze things appeared to be a re-start (task manager couldn't be reached either). Glary Undelete did do a very good job of identifying more files but these had to be copied per-folder (unless I was doing something wrong) and Pandora, the last one I tried, showed more files (and has a very helpful interface showing the status of the files with a colour coding) and also allowed copying of entire folders… So, as a result, the majority of the files are restored (fortunately, almost all of the essential/hard-to-replace ones) and those that were showing up as corrupted and are lost, I'm pretty sure can be re-sourced again…. I think I may spend an hour or two burning a few CDs over the coming weeks!! Thank you very much, paws, for you helpful pointers/advice.. all the very best, Bill.

Hi Bill, That's good to hear, well done! Regards paws