How to recover deleted files
Ever deleted something you really wish you hadn’t? Most likely you were trying to clear some space or do some organising. We all have at some point, but few people know how to recover lost documents, or treasured family photos. Luckily, if you’re very careful you should be reunited with your files in no time!
There are two things you need to bear in mind – maybe three if you’re a person who panics a lot.
1. Don’t panic
That wont help in the slightest.
2. Don’t do anything else
There’s a very good chance that the files are still on the harddrive, but you can’t see them because they have been marked for overwriting. Each thing you do after you have accidentally deleted your file runs the risk of overwriting the file on the computer. So do as little as possible. Don’t change any other files or switch off your system. If you’ve been careful you’ll have an un-deletion program all ready installed – unfortunately no operating system comes with this facility built in.
3. Run or install a program to recover your file(s)
If you don’t already have a program installed, you’ll have to grab one now. Your best bet is to install on a secondary drive or even better on a pen drive so it’s independent from your system and can’t overwrite the very files you’re trying to recover!
If you have followed steps 1 and 2 carefully, any program you install should have a good chance of recovering your files. Some programs you might want to try include:
NTFS Undelete http://ntfsundelete.com/
UnDelete Plus http://undelete-plus.com/front-page
