data deleted, how to restore?

Hi,

I accidentally erased file on NTFS, os W XP. I need it it to be restored now. Is there a way to do this the most relialbe and secure way?

 

Google for UndeletePlus, it's freeware and after a scan will pick up on every file deleted but the best part of it is that it also show you the condition of the file or files you want restored and if still intact will restore right to your desktop.

Sorry i don't have a ready link for it at this time but this program is super at what it does.

 

I have used R-Studio a week ago to restore a whole partitión that was formatted 2 times (50 gb.) and I restored all every thing.

http://www.r-studio.com/

 

stop using the drive


the data is sitting in plain sight for a direct sector scan
unless of course its overwritten by using the OS (if its on a separate data partition, just dont write to it) but turn off any automated defrag immediately

the OS has just "forgotten" the data is there, nothing has been really deleted, but its now considered "free space" and is in immediate danger of being overwritten

the best course is to conduct recovery operations from a parallel install
(install the scanner on a seperate box and move the HDD or add another HDD to that box and do a fresh install, or use a LiveCD with recovery software)

typically you need a safe space to recover to.


recover 1st
repair 2nd

in other words some applications can make the OS remember where the data was
but that entails using the OS and possibly overwriting some of it

 

id had luck with Recuva (freeware) and GetDataBack (shareware)

 

see Ice_Czars post above

UBCD for Windows list of tools

 

Active@ Undelete is my choice. It's last version can create bootdisk to restore data if you can't boot normally
http://www.active-undelete.com/

 

verify all data recovered before overwriting it, reformatting ect
if the "mass" recovery has bad spots, target those files individiually
and even consider other applications if they are important files,
not all recovery aps have the same recovery rate and procedures
some will try a lot harder to read data before giving up.

 

very good point!


Besides, I think "Recover My files" is good enough , I once use it picking up nearlly 3GB files(including multimedia ) successfully.

 

Hi,

If you still experience problems with your data you can use ARAX Disk Doctor to recover
http://www.disk-doctor.com/

 

If I'm fast enough I restore via the Recycle Bin, if not I usually restore a file by mounting an image on my external harddisk.

 

Well, actually recycle bin was long ago dead. I used disk doctor third party tool as one suggested and thet worked, data is back now )