Can I Recover Deleted Files?

Our geek mines his computer for that lost novel

By Adam Pash Posted 05.23.2008 at 11:00 am 4 Comments

Lost Files Peter Hoey

So you finally finished writing your novel and then somehow accidentally dumped it? It happens. Luckily, when you delete a file from your computer’s trash bin, it’s actually just marked for deletion. That means it can be overwritten on your hard drive by other data, but there’s a good chance it’s still intact—for a while, anyway.

First, step away from the computer. The more you do after the file is deleted, the more likely your PC is to overwrite it. As long as it’s around, though, there are several software options you can use to scan for and recover it. For Windows users, the best bet is the simple Undelete Plus (free; undelete-plus.com). On the Mac, there’s Data Rescue II ($100; prosofteng.com). If you’re looking for data from removable media such as your digital camera’s flash card and you don’t mind using tools with a higher geek quotient, try the free text-interface application PhotoRec (cgsecurity.org), which works on any platform.

If you’ve exhausted the DIY options or your computer has been damaged, you can hire professional data-recovery services for more heavy-duty retrieval. Just remember, depending on the quantity of data and other factors, they can cost a few thousand dollars. But if it helps to dig up that literary masterpiece you thought was gone forever, it’s a small price to pay.

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4 Comments

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whatever

05/25/08 at 8:27 am

You forgot to mention that there is another option, Apple's Time Machine, in the newer versions of Mac OS X (10.5.2 +). You can revert to previous versions of your files / OS / etc by restoring a previous backup version. No extra software to buy, it's built in....only disadvantage is that you'd lose any "newer" files and would need to save them externally on a hard disk or flash drive.....but you could probably do a Time Machine backup of the current state of your computer onto 1 Hard drive, then restore a previous version, grab the old file, save it externally, then revert to the previous "current" version of the computer, get the old file from the external drive.

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centurion

05/26/08 at 4:25 pm

looks like my earlier comment was swallowed by the internets. I wanted to add that having a data protection in place is very important to safeguard valuable data. The two important components of this are (1) regular backups (2) good file recovery software. Backups will help restore data in case of a hard drive failure. File recovery software (already installed) will help quick and hassle-free retrieval of files that were modified and accidentally deleted after the last backup. Searching for solutions after data loss is not much fun, so it's important to be proactive in this matter.

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Rockingham500

11/17/08 at 7:25 pm

If you are looking for a file recovery product for Windows, then I highly recommend, File Restore Professional. It will preview most file types before you recover them... it will even play deleted video files, and deleted iPod files before you recover them. It will recover all file types, from all types of Windows digital media, including recovering files from, corrupted PC drives, iPod's, CompactFlash cards, smart Phones, PSP's etc. File Restore Professional, is available for download here: www.pcrecovery.com

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helen

09/15/09 at 9:55 pm

To recover lost files for Mac, I recommend AppleXsoft Data Recovery, it can recover data from a formatted hard disk, lost partition or unrecognized drive, deleted or Windows-recycle bin has been emptied, Altered file size due to virus, deleted files from your SD card on Mac, lost data on Mac OS X, your pictures from digital cameras or removable media, etc. http://www.applexsoft.com/