How do I recover a really small file I recetly emptied from the Recycle Bin?

(Windows XP)

I downloaded the freeware application, Restoration, to try to recover the deleted file, but it appears it doesn't pick up on really small files. I verified this by creating a really small file (A TXT doc) and deleting it and running Restoration. The file I'm trying to retrieve is only a couple kilobytes.

The file I'm looking for is a downloaded e-mail. I use Opera, and Opera downloads your e-mails as MBS files. Not a single MBS file is showing up in Restoration, so I'm guessing my theory about the file size is correct.

Is there a more adanced app out there that will be able to retrieve the file I'm looking for?

 

You could try Recuva.

http://www.recuva.com/

 

hello noduser.
the file system just like a book with a index. when you write a file on a page, there will be a record in the index. next time you access this file, the system will check the index to see which page it is on.

so when you delete a file(not moveing it into the recycle bin but deleting it), the file (the page where you have writen things on) will not be ereased, but its record in the index will be line-throughed. so the system knows the page you have written that file on has been released.

to recover the file , just remove the line-through mark. that is what most of these little recover tools do, they dont need to browser through your whole book(disk).

but rememeber the page has just been released that means they system can now allocate this page(space) to any coming file. when this page has been written with new stuff, the entry in the index will be REMOVED.
so now its nearly impossible to recover your file. (by the simple method mentioned above)

the smaller the file is, the more likely its original place would be allocated soon.

if you want to make the file safe, dont touch the book (the diskpartion) any more after you have just deleted your important file. and recover it a.s.a.p.
even a single new file written on to the partion may be enough to destory it.
then you need to use tools like Easy Recover to scan through the entire partion(book) to find the original file (the page)
and in most cases if the file is small, even if you have reovered it, it's broken.

the deleted files on system partition, are at risk for there are dynamic page files and temperary files that are beening created by the system at any time. these are things that you cant control. move your valuble data to another partition, if you want them safe.

- my personal understanding, hope it could help

 

Thanks, guys. Recua didn't work (and I tried the most thorough search possible.) Thanks for the explanation, Bensec.

 

Hello noduser. Give Undelete Plus a try. It's freeware at the moment.

Note: When Undelete Plus saves a restored file it reads its content and writes it to a new file with the same name. It is recommended that you save files on another disk because of the risk of overwriting other erased files with the new saved one.

thanatos

 

For me this are the 2 best freeware recovery tools:
pc inspector
Restoration

 

Great explanation !