Restoring deleted files

[AfterDune]

So.... my parents recently got an external harddrive. They copied a bunch of photos to it, but the day after, the files were gone, the drive was empty.

So now I'm looking for an easy, preferably free piece of software to restore deleted files on a drive. Can anyone recommend me something?

[Kirra]

AfterDune: only serious answers please!

[Masaq]

Not had to do this ever, but I do know that the most important thing is to ensure there's no possibility of the files accidentally being written over until you're attempting to recover them - make sure the drive is powered down between now and the attempt to recover the data.

[AfterDune]

Indeed. I've already told them to not do anything with the drive, until I get some software installed .

[Harrod200]

Strictly free is gonna be a bit of a *****...

You can use GetDataBack (NTFS or FAT versions depending on what was used, most likely NTFS) to scan it and determine if the files are still intact and there, but it'll ask you to buy it to recover them. I don't know of any totally free ones.

Never used it, but this is a possible; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PING_%28Pa ... t_Ghost%29

[Deadfast]

Strictly free is gonna be a bit of a *****...

Not really, Recuva

[AfterDune]

I must say Recuva looks really good. And it's free . I should try this out.

[Dunehunter]

Well, are you 100% sure that the copying went according to plan?

[AfterDune]

My dad copied the files and checked if they were there and they were (he knows how to copy files ). The next day, my mother checked as well and noticed the files were missing. I don't know if she accidentally deleted them (no idea how one does that, but it's possible ), so I'll just see what I can do.

It's a new drive, these were the first files that were written to it, so if anything was on it, we should be able to at least see it. If the program can't find anything..... then I don't know.

[Dunehunter]

No offense to any female gamers, but never, ever underestimate the amount of havoc a woman can unleash upon innocent unsuspecting electronics.

[BloodBane611]

No offense to any female gamers, but never, ever underestimate the amount of havoc a woman can unleash upon innocent unsuspecting electronics.

Truth. My girlfriend has magically made her computer's built-in camera not work. That's not even possible.

Good luck with recuva. That's the first free file recovery program I've heard of.

[General_J0k3r]

try recuva. if it doesnt work try ontrack ezrecovery. maybe the file system is corrupt.

note that many external harddrives are formatted with FAT by default for compatibility reasons. so check that too.

[NyteMyre]

My girlfriend has magically made her computer's built-in camera not work. That's not even possible.

I bought an Acer laptop once with build-in camera. After a week, it stopped working and the same day the laptop started to smoke.

Anyway, I remember being an article in a PC-magazine once where they explained how to do it without software. But seems more risky to me.



-edit-

You didn't lose any dutch forces files did you? :@

[AfterDune]

It's my parent's pc, not mine. Besides, the dutch files are repoed .

[Glimmerman]

AfterDune contact me tonight on msn when i get home from work around 20:00 i think i got what you need.

[AfterDune]

I won't be at home tonight, Glim, but thanks for the offer .
I'll try with recuva, see if it works.

[Robbi]

Recuva is a little dodgy, and can cause problems with corrupting anything other than text files :/

Harrods suggestion is the best one you can get in my opinion, used it many times always with 100% success.

Also, think this should be in tech support really, some of the tech guys may not look in off topic mate.

Be careful with free data recovery tools, as they are usually pretty bad.