How do I retrieve
files that have been deleted from the Recycle Bin, Part 2
Category: Windows
by Dennis Faas, infopackets editor
http://www.infopackets.com
Last week I received a question, "How
do I retrieve files that have been deleted from the Recycle Bin?"
Since then, I received a few really good suggestions from a few
Gazette
Readers.
The first one comes from Rick K. His answer was very complete --
much more than
mine was -- which is also why his suggestion * might * be a over the
heads of some readers. I've edited Rick's response a bit and have also
added a few comments of my own in an attempt to clear any technical hoo-hoo
( written in green).
Rick K. writes:
The Recycle Bin is an attempt to copy what Apple does, which is to move a
deleted item to a different directory temporarily.
When a file is actually deleted by EMPTYING the Recycle Bin, the File
Allocation Table*
replaces the first character of the file name with a (?) character
indicating that this space is now available; however, the file still remains
on the drive until it is overwritten by another file.
*
File Allocation Table -- "FAT" for short-form -- is a "table of contents"
of where all files are stored on the hard drive. When a request to
obtain a file is made from the computer, the FAT is first looked at, and
then the file is loaded (allocated) from the listed location.
Before attempting to do anything else with the computer which might
overwrite the "now marked" empty space listed in the Recycle Bin, consider
using a utility such as Norton Undelete *.
This program will show a list of deleted files on the hard drive; each
deleted file listed will have a missing character (a
Question Mark).
If the file is healthy (being, that it was not yet overwritten by another
file), you may attempt to "fill in the blank" with the Question Mark and
try to retrieve the deleted file.
*
I am not sure if Norton Undelete is free (I'm pretty sure it's not) --
regardless,
here is a DOS-oriented undelete program that is free.
Here is a quick "help screen" to show the DOS
command line usage.
Please note that it is extremely important that you use a utility to
recover the file
immediately
before any other files are written to the drive -- especially something
which might cause the Windows Swap File*
to grow or shrink. Note that files such as Temporary Internet Files
can also overwrite on any "permanently" deleted files in the Recycle Bin
-- so don't go surf crazy after you've mistakenly emptied your Recycle Bin (although, the first thing you'll probably do is surf the net trying
to find an undelete program)!
*
Windows Swap File = a file that, if set to the default Windows
configuration, will grow and shrink to accommodate a "temporary holding
area" for RAM (random access memory) on the hard drive. Operating
Systems (these days) require a large amount of RAM (256 meg, 512 meg) to be
able to process programs (along with the CPU = central processing unit) at
an optimal speed. If there is not enough RAM available on a computer
system to complete a task, the contents of RAM are dumped on to the hard
drive, where space is usually in abundance. Note: Hard drives are much
slower than RAM (Hard Drive = Milliseconds Access Time, RAM = Nanoseconds
Access Time). The trade off is that hard drives are cheaper to
purchase than RAM, which is why the swap file method was "invented" in the
first place.
Depending on your flavor of Windows, there are Shareware / Freeware
programs to undelete files -- some require technical knowledge as they
simply read whichever formula File Allocation Table you use - FAT, FAT32,
NTFS(4) NTFS5, etc.*
 *
Note: this is why I originally stated that attempting to retrieve a
deleted file from the Recycle Bin would be "over
the heads of most people." Besides
that, there aren't very many decent "free" undelete programs available...
or so, I thought...
Chris B. gave me his
two cents:
I suggest downloading the FREEWARE program "PC Inspector File Recovery"
available from WebAttack at
http://www.webattack.com/freeware; the download is about 2.9 MB. This
program will recover anything -- except erased or wiped files, of course.
Note: this is not
Spyware / Adware. It's really free!
A few mouse-clicks and you will have your file back. There is a no-brainer
short tutorial in the help file. You can recover the deleted file from the
"Recycled" folder (it will have a different name), or even better from the
original folder if you can remember where you originally deleted it from (it
will have the same name as the original). Save the recovered file where you
want. |
