Help! Accidentally deleted all my important travel photos :[ Undelete?

[rceee]

Yeah, I know, I'm an idiot. I bought a new Macbook Pro, and was transferring things off of the old one, and reorganizing my three external HDs. I somehow deleted my photos from travels over the past ten years or so.

I deleted them, and then emptied the trashcan at some point after.

I was recommended DiskWarrior to recover these files, but after looking at it more closely, realized it seemed to be more orientated towards recovery from a malfunctioning disk.

Can anyone tell me what the best approach, and/or software, is to accomplish recovering these files?

Thanks!

 

[0007776]

I don't know what the best software is, but I do want to remind you to be sure that you immediately stop using the drive they where on. Otherwise you will lose any chance of recovering them.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Can anyone tell me what the best approach, and/or software, is to accomplish recovering these files?"

Programs you should be looking into (in no particular order):
PhotoRescue
DataRescue3
Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery
DiskDrill

They are all good and should do what you need.

As the previous poster said, DO NOT use the "damaged disk" (the one that contains the erased files) for ANYthing. Preferably, the best thing you can do until you're ready to "attack" it with recovery software is to unplug it and set it aside.

You _WILL_ need an additional, "scratch" disk for your recovery program to store the files as it scavenges them from the bad drive.

Here is a good checklist for what you need:
1. One of the applications mentioned above
2. A new, "bare drive" from a good vendor (I like newegg.com)
3. One of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(various items shown, they all function about the same, pick one you like that's cheap)

Use the "docked drive" as your scratch drive.

It will COST YOU SOME MONEY for all these things. Data recovery is not "free". It will also take time, perhaps more than one attempt, and involves a learning curve.

But as you reach down into your pocket to pay, think to yourself, "do I really want those files back?"