Get Those Deleted Files Back!

We’ve all done it before, deleted a file that we shouldn’t have and when you check the recycle bin its not there. So we’ve all done it, but only some of us back up our files on a regular basis and for those people reverting to a version of the file a few days old might just cut it. For the rest of us its usually either fork out few hundred dollars for a data recovery expert to get the file back, or just accept the fact that its gone.

Little of us know that there are literally hundreds of download-able programs out there that can recover recently deleted files. Most of these programs are trials which allow you to list the files that are recoverable and then require to you pay a little money and buy a license to use the full featured programs which of course allows you to recover those files!

I have personally tried out close to a dozen of these programs and have a couple of which I recommend, due to success I’ve have had using them. Before I go on further I would like to give you a few tips for when you are in one of these dilemmas where you have deleted important files.

• Don’t panic, when files are deleted all the computer does, is marks that section of the hard drive as available for writing to. The file is still there, just not visible.
• As soon as you are aware of the file being deleted, avoid doing too much on the computer, which might overwrite the remnants of the file. This means, don’t carry on editing and saving other files, avoid downloading off the Internet and running programs which clean up your file system.
• Run a few searches for the file, a lot of the time you may have accidentally dragged the file into an adjacent folder without knowing.
• Avoid using multiple file recovery programs if the first couple don’t work. The job is now probably best for the experts so the less you play with the files, the greater chance they have of a successful recovery.

The first program that I recommend is simply called Restoration. This program has a basic interface which is easy and straight forward to use compared to other programs out there with a multitude of settings which can be changed. I have had success with this program in restoring thousands of files off my hard drive, almost 50GB worth! This program would definitely be my first port of call. Best of all this program is FREE.

The second program is one that I tried out when the first program had no luck in recovering files that I wished I never deleted. This program is called GetDataBack funnily enough, and there are versions for both FAT (USB sticks, and older versions of Windows) and NTFS (Windows XP and Vista). This program has an easy to follow step by step process, which is a lot less user friendly than the first program, but the upside is that it managed to recover files which the first program failed to! The downside to this program is that you do have to purchase a licence if you wish to recover the files which it detects.

These programs may be the first port of call for most of us which aren’t prepared to empty our wallets of hundreds to recover files. Having said that, if the files you need to recover are very very very important, I do recommend paying a professional to do it right the first time.