How can I retrieve a lost file?

Question

Okay I was trying to write my picture files to a disk and after the pop up came up and said that I was finished then I went back to make sure it moved the file to the disk correctly. Turns out the files did not write to the disk at all! After searching all night to try and find the files I came up with NOTHING!!! That file contained about 150 pictures of my kids so please help!!

Answer 1

Where were your writing them from and to?



Normally you would do a Copy operation, which would leave the original files in place on the source media. NEVER do a Move operation from one drive to another. Always Copy, then verify, then delete the source after verifying.



The important thing if you are going to recover files is to stop using the machine. Every minute you continue using the machine increases the chance that the spaces on the disk where the deleted files are will be overwritten with other data.



You can try various software to see if the files can be recovered



DataRescue http://www.prosofteng.com/

FileSalvage (Mac) http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1

ActiveUndelete http://www.active-undelete.com/

PCTools FileRecover http://www.pctools.com/file-recover

Recuva: http://www.recuva.com/



There are some websites that have tools you can try, and then if it looks like it can recover some data, you have to pay to do the recovery



VirtualLab http://www.binarybiz.com/



If all else fails, you can send your drive to a data recovery service, it will cost hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on what the problem is.

If you are going to send it out for recovery, the less fooling around with software you do with the drive on your own, the better.



Seagate Data Recovery http://services.seagate.com/consumer_solutions.aspx

DriveSavers http://www.drivesavers.com/

ActionFront http://www.actionfront.com/

TotalRecall http://www.totalrecall.com/

Answer 2

If you remember the name of the file do a search on your computer.

If the files are not on the disk then they should be on your computer if you didnt delete them. If you deleted them from your computer after putting them on the disk then you should check your Recycle bin. If you still can;t find them then they are not on your computer anymore sorry.

Answer 3

there a program called recuva, it searches old deleted parts of you hard drive , run the program search for the folder and pray , try not install new programs or move files around to much before you do the search , could overwrite were the file were, hope it works out



http://www.recuva.com/

Answer 4

Try googling "undelete files". Here's something I found - http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete

Answer 5

Retrieval isn't all that complicated. Check out http://www.mikkelworld.com/backup

they have some good articles about retrieval