need help with Windows :)

[primalman]

I know, Mac forum, Mac I am typing on, but my wife has an XP machine. A very important file was deleted by mistake. Anyone out there have any ideas on recovering this file? Please help. Thanks.

[fBaran]

1) Check the Recycle Bin?

2) unDelete or something like that can help you out (I think it's Norton).

Good luck!

[Mav451]

[edit]
Oops thought you meant important Windows file, but i was mistaken. I'm not sure about this stuff at all, but I know that Windows does not "really" delete it so I believe there's still a chance for recovery. But this stuff is out of my league...ask someone who has done hard drive recovery to help out with this sorta thing :)

*Oh...you might want to check your Temp folders, as they might still have a copy in there.

1) C:\Windows\Temp
2) C:\DOCUME~1\(insert user name)\LOCALS~1\Temp

[Opteron]

[edit]
Oops thought you meant important Windows file, but i was mistaken. I'm not sure about this stuff at all, but I know that Windows does not "really" delete it so I believe there's still a chance for recovery. But this is out of my league.

Correct, windows just tells the system that the space where the file was is now vacant. In essence the file is still there, but the computer is just programed not to recognise it.

There is a trick in DOS to find deleated files, but I don't know it.

If it's really important, you might want to try a data recovery centre. These places are amazing at retreving deleated files.

[abhishekit]

You can check out NOrton unerase, it comes with norton utilities pack. Whenever you delete a file, except secure empty trash in os x, only the reference to the file is trashed and the file remains on the hard drive, atleast till something else comes over.
IMO, norton isnt that good either. 2 days back my freind accidentally deleted all his mp3 songs from his xp laptop. We tried to recover it with norton, but couldnt get it to work..But you can give it a shot,..
cheers

[takao]

yeah there are a fee free ware tools around
i remeber there was some undelete tool built-in back in the old DOS days
and yeah it even existet a unformat ;-)

but under windows xp i have no idea i guess you need extra software there but it shoukld be possibly

[Apple //e]

I know, Mac forum, Mac I am typing on, but my wife has an XP machine. A very important file was deleted by mistake. Anyone out there have any ideas on recovering this file? Please help. Thanks.

there are many many undelete utilities out there. go to download.com and search for undelete. find one with a high user rating

[jxyama]

btw, i hope you/your wife stopped using that XP. if you want to improve the chances of recovering that file, don't use that machine at all until you can try the recovery. if the disk area where the file used to be overwritten, then there's absolutely no hope of recovering it...

[Brett Jones]

I had the very same problem on my XP machine today and by luck I found this program.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html

I didn't get a chance to see if it worked because I had altered the partition structure after I deleted the files I was looking for, so this program didn't find them. It's freeware, so give it a shot! Good luck! :)



Brett

[applebum]

I know, Mac forum, Mac I am typing on, but my wife has an XP machine. A very important file was deleted by mistake. Anyone out there have any ideas on recovering this file? Please help. Thanks.

With XP, there is an automated backup. There is a way you can go back to a previous date and have all your files back. I don't have my XP machine in front of me to tell you how to access it, but it is fairly simple. I had to do it once with a bad install. You will probably have to go back to before your last software install, but you can always re-install.

[ingenious]

Correct, windows just tells the system that the space where the file was is now vacant. In essence the file is still there, but the computer is just programed not to recognise it.

There is a trick in DOS to find deleated files, but I don't know it.

If it's really important, you might want to try a data recovery centre. These places are amazing at retreving deleated files.


Isn't there a such thing as microsoft undelete or something? or was that win3.1?

[ingenious]

double post mod delete

[ingenious]

With XP, there is an automated backup. There is a way you can go back to a previous date and have all your files back. I don't have my XP machine in front of me to tell you how to access it, but it is fairly simple. I had to do it once with a bad install. You will probably have to go back to before your last software install, but you can always re-install.


Nope! Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is what Sys Restore does quoted from the actual app (check pic).

IT DOES NOT DELETE OR RESTORE FILES. It only restores programs and settings.

[applebum]

Nope! Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is what Sys Restore does quoted from the actual app (check pic).

IT DOES NOT DELETE OR RESTORE FILES. It only restores programs and settings.

Umm - I have no bubble to burst. Just trying to help. Actually, reading the pic you attached, nowhere does it say that it doesn't restore files. It simply says that it returns your computer to an earlier time. It says you won't lose recent work, but doesn't comment on whether you would get back older work. I have actually used system restore before and all I know is that my files were back. I didn't check Office files because I had not deleted any of those, so I guess if it was that type of file it could be gone. However, if it was a program file, that would be back.

[superbovine]

when stuff gets erased on your computer hard drive mac/unix/pc it only gets mark as erased the data still exist.

http://download.com.com/3000-2248-10237713.html?tag=lst-0-2

this is a free utility to recover the data. follow the instruction. do NOT install it on the SAME partition as your data you want to recover.

[ingenious]

Umm - I have no bubble to burst. Just trying to help. Actually, reading the pic you attached, nowhere does it say that it doesn't restore files. It simply says that it returns your computer to an earlier time. It says you won't lose recent work, but doesn't comment on whether you would get back older work. I have actually used system restore before and all I know is that my files were back. I didn't check Office files because I had not deleted any of those, so I guess if it was that type of file it could be gone. However, if it was a program file, that would be back.


well it really doesnt (Sry to bring back an old thread)