Data recovery tools?

[marekkurlmann]

Earlier today, I inadvertently deleted two mailboxes from Mail.app - and now two years' worth of messages have disappeared.

The files I need, mbox folders, which used to be in the Libraries/Mail folder are gone. I want to know if there is any data recovery software I can use that will allow me to go in and get those files.

I'm running 10.4. Leopard arrives tomorrow. If only I'd had Time Machine installed. But I don't - so if anyone knows of data recovery software that could let me access these files - it would be most appreciated.

Something interesting about these deleted files is that they were never sent to the Trash - they were simply deleted without a trace after I selected preferences, accounts, delete. Will it be a problem for a data recovery program to recover data if the deleted files never went to the trash?

Any help is sincerely appreciated.

 

[Makosuke]

Data Rescue II:

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php

May not work, but short of very expensive data recovery services, it's your only realistic chance.

Note: If you haven't already, shut down NOW, and do NOT do anything else with your Mac--the more you let it run or do, the more likely the deleted files are to be written over and permanently lost. Also, Data Rescue II lets you see what files it can see before you pay, so you're not wasting money if it won't help.

 

[unity]

Data Rescue II:

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php

May not work, but short of very expensive data recovery services, it's your only realistic chance.

Note: If you haven't already, shut down NOW, and do NOT do anything else with your Mac--the more you let it run or do, the more likely the deleted files are to be written over and permanently lost. Also, Data Rescue II lets you see what files it can see before you pay, so you're not wasting money if it won't help.

FIRST make sure whatever you use is compatible with the version of the OS you are using, in this case Leopard. I used a utility once under Tiger. It ran, but corrupted the ENTIRE drive and I lost A LOT.

Second, its ok to use the comuter. Not to contradict the second post, but in OS X files are not overwritten unless needed to. Basically it uses up all the free space first (areas never written to since last drive erase) and once those areas have been written to it starts to recycle. So unless you have less than 20GB of room remaining on the drive you should be "ok" for now.

 

[VoidBoi]

FIRST make sure whatever you use is compatible with the version of the OS you are using, in this case Leopard.

Incorrect. He's using Tiger.

Second, its ok to use the comuter. Not to contradict the second post, but in OS X files are not overwritten unless needed to. Basically it uses up all the free space first (areas never written to since last drive erase) and once those areas have been written to it starts to recycle. So unless you have less than 20GB of room remaining on the drive you should be "ok" for now.

I wouldn't trust that.

 

[CanadaRAM]

ProSoft themselves say that OSX aggressively overwrites space with temp files, and they do not guarantee recovery of files that have been deleted.

 

[unity]

"Incorrect. He's using Tiger."

My bad. Thought the title was something like 'data recovery tools for Leopard?'.

"ProSoft themselves say that OSX aggressively overwrites space with temp files, and they do not guarantee recovery of files that have been deleted."

Hence the comment that no less than 20GB should be free. Any less and the temp/cache/VM files will chew anything up.

Obviously the sooner the recovery is done, the better.